When you are contemplating the cruelty of the WL and the needs of the school, note that in most cases I’ve seen, the percentage of WL students who choose to stay on the list is often low, say 25-30%.
My kid had a number of WL offers (6). Of those, there were only 2 he would have chosen over those he was accepted to.
But what this effectively means for the school that extends 800 WL offers when it has a class of 600 is that the active WL is likely to include 200. Of that, they can’t control for gender, FA need, interests in and out of the classroom. If they need 40, it’s not as vast as it seems.
I think this again is one of those things where context helps. You can’t control your fate when you are on a WL. Many students – and we see them here on CC – don’t comprehend what a long shot it is. But it is a shot.
I don’t think the waitlist is cruel or the hardest outcome. It depends on your perspective.
If a student has an acceptance to a school they like, then a waitlist can be seen as a “bonus.”
My D22 had nine acceptances in hand when she was notified she was placed on UCLA’s waitlist. It felt better than a rejection to her. (Like ending a soccer game in a tie, she remained “undefeated.” )
I can see how a student who received only waitlists would find them agonizing. And the lack of certainty is tough for a student who chooses to stay on a list but also wants to find a roommate at another school, etc. But I don’t think it is the worst outcome for everyone, either.
Cruel - because what seemed like it was out of reach academically is emphatically not out of reach. Made cut from 10x candidates to x candidates. But what could have been done with extra-curriculars to get the nudge. And also, maybe should have applied to more reaches.
Uncruel - well, made the cut - top x% of candidates. So that feels good. The list of reaches wasn’t totally delusional.
DD22 is focusing on where she has committed and not thinking about either waitlist. Would accept if offered, and would even accept a sophomore transfer.
What we have learned from this is - will definitely hire an outside admissions counselor as well as get reads of essays from outsiders. Including writer friends:)
I was glad kiddo had straight rejections instead of waitlists for the couple he would have been unrealistically pining for. The rejections let him move on. There’s maybe one or two rejections that I would have preferred waitlist for - that he would maybe choose to go over where he got in, but the emotional toll of a dragged out rejection wouldn’t be too hard.
The ones he was waitlisted for aren’t the ones he would choose over the ones he got accepted at, so that decision is easy.
I wonder what would happen if colleges added a sentence or two in their waitlist offers indicating that students should make other plans, consider it unlikely to get off the waitlist, etc. That way there’s clarity for the students, but the university has a list of students it can tap should it need to.
ooof, 10? I thought my DD had it bad with 5 WLs. sending you sanity. . . mine will only stay on 2 WL max. she needs/want closure at this point. . . Good luck to you!
Blockquote Seriously though. The schools can enter their “needs” (e.g. a tuba player), while the students can enter what they have to “offer” to the school’s milieu (maybe they play the tuba!) Then a computer match will be made like a dating program from the 1980s!
This is how athletic recruiting works in some sports FYI. Not all sports / team sports… but for individual sports like tennis or swimming, you’ve got sites that have you put in your data, and claim to be able to “get you seen” by colleges that will be looking for someone in your tier. They don’t disclose how their algorithm works, and I really it’s just to get foot in the door - you still need to sell yourself to the coach.
Thanks so much for the article, it was a really interesting read. When my kid was going through this process, the kids in the very upper SES zip codes got mailers from all over, yet my D (middle class town) received very few outside our region except U Chicago & Notre Dame. I was only surprised by this because I thought some of the colleges would have been trying to generate more geographic diversity.
She has declined a couple of them that she’s no longer interested in. Wants to see how the others turn out (but of course, not banking on any of them).
My son DS23(Junior now) is getting college letters from all over US(Georgia Tech, Swarthmore etc). We live in Bay Area and he goes to a ok good public HS. I will be coming to the forum to chance him once he gets his AP scores(Exams in May).
The higher SES zips had a better rate of return. If you could’ve seen us trying to cut down lists because a client was over budget, it’d make more sense. It’s easier/faster to delete a state or zip at that stage of the process. It was the same with the big non-profits; the main goal was always to reach those who are most likely to apply, donate, etc while spending the least amount of money.
Is there some musical instrument recruiting at colleges?
You mentioned something about violin in a earlier post which I didn’t understand. I was thinking how does the AO know that they need a tuba player or violinist.
Here at NCSU, there is a certain humanities faculty member that selectively works with top students to achieve just that at $2000 per person. Don’t be so gullible.
The same AOs want 17 year olds that sound and act like 35 year old successful adults.
Without knowing your specifics it is hard to know why but I am going to assume that you did not pick the right colleges. Outside of a very few elite colleges and public ivy schools, $$$ matters.
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