<p>In the article, UPenn said that they waitlisted so many people to tell them that “they did everything right.” I don’t think they actually needed to waitlist that many people; their yield rate is usually over 65%.</p>
<p>Yes, they did say that.</p>
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<p>I think this idea of putting qualified students on the wait list to soften the blow flies in the face of having a wait list that is meaningful. Penn will probably go to their wait list this year, all the colleges probably will. Admission rates are at record lows and it isn’t clear to me there are any more people applying than there were last year. I know people are sending out more applications but I don’t think there are more people applying.</p>
<p>Does anyone think Penn will accept more than 200 off of their wait list? 3,000 is way more than they need and it makes the wait list much less meaningful. It would be nice if when a student finds themselves on a wait list there is some reasonable chance they will be offered admission. That is what it is supposed to mean to be on a wait list. If the school wants to send a positive message they should think of something else.</p>
<p>Virtually all of the top schools significantly increased the size of their waiting lists this year, as discussed in this New York Times article:</p>
<p>[Top</a> Colleges Have Bigger Waiting Lists - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/education/14waitlist.html?partner=rss&emc=rss]Top”>http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/education/14waitlist.html?partner=rss&emc=rss)</p>
<p>Penn actually bucked that trend by DECREASING the size of its waiting list. And, given the size of Penn’s entering class, its waiting list is somewhat more proportional than those of other schools. Also, remember that applicants are not fungible, and schools like to keep all types of applicants in reserve so that they can maintain a well-rounded class even with acceptances from the waiting list.</p>
<p>I think you also have to keep in mind that not everyone accepts a spot on the waitlist either. I’m not sure what the number is for Penn, but for Brown last year, 1400 were put on the list and 450 accepted a spot. That’s a lot less than 50%, so that might be part of the reason they put so many on the list.
As one who was put on the list this year, it definitely did soften the blow and I did feel really good about, so I’m glad they do this.</p>
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well put
I don’t have enough pride for that though ;)</p>
<p>I am senior faculty- over 20 years- my S was extremely qualified by grades, scores etc- and was WL’d. This is an example of how little Penn cares for its faculty and punishment for not applying ED. My D is completing her soph year at Penn. Freshman “advising”- a joke, study abroad office- incompetent and ill informed. For those accepted at other schools- Penn is similar to a state school in many respects, except price- you will be happy elsewhere.</p>
<p>I also understand that many legacy applicants were also denied admissions since they did not apply ED. Has it always been like this at Penn?</p>
<p>^^it has been this way for a number of years; but it is still extremely annoying to hear a story like dufay’s…and add to that, the dissatisfaction w some of Penn’s programs…</p>
<p>Alumni association makes it very clear that legacies are only flagged in the application process if applying ED…</p>
<p>no idea about faculty…</p>
<p>Just to be crystal clear on this, legacy applicants are NOT PUNISHED for applying RD, they simply are not given the boost they would otherwise receive if they had applied ED. As rodney points out, this has been the explicit policy for quite some time now, as the alumni association unambiguously explains:</p>
<p>[Penn</a> Alumni: Alumni Council on Admissions<a href=“see%20table%20at%20bottom%20of%20page”>/url</a></p>
<p>Also note these statements:</p>
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<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.alumni.upenn.edu/aca/earlyregdec.html]Penn”>http://www.alumni.upenn.edu/aca/earlyregdec.html]Penn</a> Alumni: Alumni Council on Admissions: Early Decision vs. Regular Decision](<a href=“http://www.alumni.upenn.edu/aca/overview.html]Penn”>http://www.alumni.upenn.edu/aca/overview.html)</p>
<p>Of course, this year the RD pool was even larger and more competitive than the 19,000 cited above, with about 23,000 applications.</p>
<p>This policy should be well known to anyone with any knowledge of Penn admissions.</p>
<p>Additionally, while it’s unfortunate that dufay’s daughter apparently has had some unsatisfactory advising experiences at Penn, it’s a bit unreasonable to generalize those experiences to the entire undergraduate experience of the 10,000 undergrads at Penn (“Penn is similar to a state school in many respects, except price- you will be happy elsewhere.”). Even a cursory review of this forum reveals many, many Penn students and recent alums who generally have been quite happy with their years at Penn.</p>
<p>Any word from the waitlist from Penn yet? I heard other ivies have notified the first wave. How big are these waves, anyway?</p>
<p>Dufay - “This is an example of how little Penn cares for its faculty”</p>
<p>I don’t think Penn should have an obligation to accept faculty children. I think it’s safe to say that your S applying RD did not actively hurt his chances; maybe he just didn’t get a boost. I know faculty children get a boost in ED (like legacies), but you can hardly hold it against the school because you think they rejected a qualified applicant. No offense, but most parents think their children are qualified. There’s no other explanation unless you have some theory that the admissions officers purposefully rejected your S as punishment for applying RD… which is preposterous…</p>
<p>Freshman advising is a joke…? My advisor is the department head of my major… maybe your D got unlucky =/ Sorry to hear about your son though :(</p>
<p>To those asking about the wait-list, I talked with an admissions officer and who said they will begin the wait-list process around mid May.</p>
<p>Ooh does that mean they’re taking people off the WL? Was kinda worried about that since Princeton and Yale has begun WL actions already.</p>
<p>^I’m not sure that’s what swaggerer meant. I think he means that they will have a better idea then. Still, I wouldn’t get my hopes up… I already got shafted by Princeton and it’s pretty painful haha.</p>
<p>Yes, parents think their kids are qualified- S had 2330, 800/770 SAT IIs, 3.9 in rigorous public school, activities all 4 years. I am on the med school admissions committee- faculty kids get special consideration. I just hope he doesn’t get off the WL, despite the financial boost going there would bring.</p>
<p>You are probably a ■■■■■, Dufay, but if you’re truly upset Penn WL your 2330, 800/770 SAT IIs, 3.9 GPA student, why didn’t he apply ED? If it’s because Penn wasn’t his top choice, why the angst? And if you’ve been at Penn for 20 years, you undoubtedly knew of its incompetance, so why did you allow your daughter to go there? Nothing you say makes much sense to me.</p>
<p>so stressful waiting to hear from the wait-list, but let me tell you, it is worse knowing another school at which you were waitlisted (Duke for me) is admitting people. I sorta failed w college admissions so yeah.</p>
<p>anyways I have a question: none of the three kids who were admitted from my school accepted the Penn offer (five were wait-listed, only my friend and I stayed on the wait-list). do you think this will improve my chances? I mean, they accepted a bunch of kids who didn’t want to go there, so maybe they should admit a couple who would LOVE to enroll?</p>
<p>I’ve always wanted to see a waitlist letter. Random. But I was never able to. What does it say? Is it like a half congrats, half we’re sorry type of letter?</p>
<p>^Here you go</p>
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