My son applied EA and was placed on the waiting list….anyone have any information regarding % that get in - he emailed “his” admissions counselor but never got a reply. He’s been accepted at 3 other schools and waiting on 2 more - RPI said it’s waitlist could have activity starting in late April but it could take May or June to hear anything.
Have you looked at the common data sets available for RPI? The most recent one I could find was 2020–2021, which has information for students who applied for fall 2020 so it might be thrown off because of the pandemic.
But, that year of the ~16,500 people who applied:
Approximately 9500 were offered admission
Approximately 2300 were offered spots on the waiting list
About 1300 took spots on the waiting list.
72 students were accepted off the waiting list.
Oh, I found the more recent CDS in a different place (the website of the RPI Provost had it).
So for students who entered in the fall of 2022 (all numbers approximate except those admitted off the waitlist)
16,800 applied
10,800 were offered admission
1700 were offered a place on the waiting list
1100 took a waiting list spot
2 were admitted off the waiting list
If your S prefers RPI to other options he has he can take a place on the waitlist.
BUT he needs to choose a college from his (affordable) acceptances and move forward assuming he will attend that school.
IF he gets into RIT down the road and it is affordable he can consider it to be a happy surprise. At that point he can withdraw from the college he accepted an offer from (losing your deposit) and accept the offer to attend RIT.
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I’ll say this. A student who makes it clear that RPI is his top choice and that he will attend if accepted has a much better shot at getting off WL. WL acceptances at some colleges can even start happening in April. And if he is full pay, even better.
Meanwhile, as we can see, getting off WL is no sure thing. Deposit at another school and assume it won’t happen. If it does, it’s a nice surprise. Get excited about the school that’s accepted him, and encourage him to do that same.
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Echo what the others have said but will add…
WL statistics are incredibly variable from on year to the next.
The number missing from the tables above are how many kids were offered a spot off the waitlist? So for 2021, 1,300 accepted spots on the WL and 72 accepted enrollment but they likely offered 300-400 kids a spot and only got 72 takers. Virginia Tech has good visibility into their numbers and the take on offers off WL for them is only ~20%. Remember, at this point most kids have made their decisions, done a deposit and may be well on their way through dorm selection, registration, etc.
Thanks to all…yes- he’s actively looking at the other schools and he took a place on the RPI waiting list….I’m very much a “if it’s meant to be it’s meant to be.”
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My son was accepted off the waitlist this past week. He had pretty much written it off as an option so it was a nice surprise. So for those wondering, it is possible and hope you get good news soon too!
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