Something Strange about the Andover Wait List

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>I work with a bunch of students, and I have 6 who are on the regular Andover wait list, and 3 who are on the "short list" who received a letter saying that they are one of only 25 kids on the wait list, and they will go to this list of 25 first.</p>

<p>There are two things that I think are strange about this. What are the chances that of all the Andover applicants, 25 are put on this priority wait list ,and 3 of them happen to be my students? 3 out of 25? It makes me suspect that maybe they are saying that there are only 25 on this list, when in fact there are many more. How many of you are on the wait list of 25? meaning, you got a wait list letter that clearly said that you were on a list of 25 students?</p>

<p>Secondly, the parent of one of my students on the short list called to say he would not be attending Andover, and rather than just making note of that, they wanted to discuss it and to find out if Andover was his first choice. The father got the feeling that if he had said that Andover was his first choice, he would be off the special wait list right then.</p>

<p>Do you think that Andover is trying to keep its acceptance rate low by offering this priority wait list? This way, Andover can use it to accept only students who will attend, thus keeping their rate low? </p>

<p>I don't know if they would go to that extreme just to have a lower acceptance rate. But I am suspicious. Anyone else care to comment?</p>

2

<p>I have a theory FWIW. This is not intended to be critical of Andover. D was waitlisted. No such encouraging statement was included in her waitlist letter. Andover was the only school at which we "knew somebody" and asked them to look into her application. My theory is that without the "somebody" they would have rejected D outright. But by sending an unencouraging waitlist letter they can keep the "somebody" happy without really risking that D would be admitted since they don't really want her. Again, this is not intended to be critical of Andover, nor of D. I did not think Andover was a good fit for her, and I think she applied there thinking it might make her parents happy (since we were slow to come around to this BS thing - see Parent's Forum for our tale).</p>

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<p>I had no idea there were two "waitlist" letters.</p>

4

<p>I DO think schools work hard to maintain a low acceptance rate and a high yield rate. If your child is qualified and but they think they might be likely to attend another school, then they could be put on this "priority" waitlist. I wouldn't be surprised if some kids, if they expressed interest in the school as their #1, were then offered acceptance. </p>

<p>I think another way schools manage this is by accepting very few and putting tons on the waitlist. From my observations over the past few years, this is what Deerfield does. Their waitlist always seems very large.</p>

5

<p>Okay, so I was just under 2 hours too early with this rant:</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1059947112-post8.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1059947112-post8.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Yup, d'yer maker, I agree, especially since many of the top schools did not go to waitlists at all last year.</p>

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<p>I got an attachment with my waitlist letter saying there are 25 people/grade. So then, it would be very possible three people were on this list, because there would actually be 100, and that the other three, when you mentioned the top 25, thought that it was a top 25 out of the whole list, when in reality, there are only 25/grade.</p>

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<p>So there's a better question, to repeat:</p>

<p>Post if you are a) waitlisted at Andover, b) what grade you are applying for, and c) whether you received a "top 25 letter".</p>

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<p>Well, I'm on wait list and received "25/grade" letter. 9th grade now applied for 10th.</p>

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<p>Should I call the admission now say I would like to keep on the list or I could wait until (before) April 10? I haven't make decision yet.</p>

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<p>My son was waitlisted last year and received the 25 letter. It looked as if it was the standard letter.</p>

12

<p>March10success2 - you should call as soon as you know that you want to STAY on the wait list and let them know. </p>

<p>A placement counselor we know got a call about a student who had applied to 2 top and 1 typically ranked slighlty below that. The one called and asked if they were the student's 1st choice. If so, they would accept . If not, they were going to waitlist. In that case had the student not been accepted to the others they could have called waitlist school told they were first choice...maybe been accepted. I'm not sure of the results as counselor didn't go into the rest of the details, but it could explaing the feeling that parent ny22 works with got?</p>

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<p>It's all nasty business! They are not appointing Supreme Court justices here! They're playing with the minds and hopes of teenagers in order to improve their stats. I find it disgusting.</p>

<p>We should have a thread for the "Andover Top 25" and see how many are listed!</p>

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<p>I certainly don't find it digusting---a little confusing, but not disgusting. I can't believe there are admissions officers somewhere cackling over the fate of the poor "hopes and minds of teenagers". The Andover Admissions Office is not the castle of the wicked witch of the west. They simply want to ensure that the kids most likely to be pulled off their waiting lists know that they have better odds, so they will stick around. If it were me, I'd rather get a "top 25 letter" than not. </p>

<p>So is it unfair to the kids who got the "regular waitlist letter"? No, they're in the same position they would have been in, had the "top 25 letter" not gone out----on a waitlist, with no guarantees. I don't see the problem.</p>

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<p>Not to add to any "conspiracy theories" but I did find it very odd that of all the schools I applied to last year Andover was the only one that had me send in a copy of the SSS financial aid form to them. I felt a little weird about this because on it is listed all the schools you are applying to. I do think they are very concerned with their yield rate, and may waitlist students that they think do not have Andover as a first choice and who will be getting into other schools. Obviously, this is just my opinion, and you know what they say about opinions! ;)</p>

16

<p><strong><em>Speculation Follows! Parental Musings, NOT the Opinion of Anyone who Knows Anything</em></strong></p>

<p>Maybe they're being super cautious about their yield. Not to artificially create a higher yield, but not to surprised by an unexpectedly high yield? Their 9th grade class this year is 233, and their 10th grade class is 264. What if they decided not to make any allowance for yield? That is, they accepted 235 students, or whatever their ideal 9th grade class size is. The "top 25" would have been admitted in other years, but this year they're going to use the waitlist as a waitlist, that is, as accepted students decline, their places will be filled by kids from the waitlist, first the "top 25," should they have decided to remain on the waitlist, and then by the students on the unranked waitlist.</p>

<p>In this version, it comes out to the same thing in the end as accepting 260 students, in the expectation that 25 will choose other schools. They do run the risk of losing students, even on the "top 25" list, to other schools, but they don't run the risk of having too many applicants accept. Schools have been surprised by higher than expected yields at times, and it's not pretty. As I look at the way the class size grows each year, it's obvious that Andover believes in admitting students in later years. After all, if they were to end up with 260 students, they wouldn't have places for 10th grade applicants next year.</p>

<p>For a student on the "Top 25" waitlist, it would mean that the chance of ending up with a space is pretty good. NOT GUARANTEED, by any means, but most schools do have a percentage of kids who choose to go elsewhere, so spaces would open up. For the kids on the unranked waitlist, it would mean that it's...a waitlist, just like other schools offer.</p>

<p>This system would also accept that the difference between the "top 25" students and the students on the waitlist is not worth the school worrying about it. The school's taken the risk that they will lose students whom they could have held by gambling on yield, and thus they're acknowledging, in effect, that the kids on the waitlist would be just as appealing as Andover students as "those who got away".</p>

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<p>I still think it stinks, Periwinkle.</p>

<p>They are trying to induce kids to make choices based on nothing but hot air. I see how that helps them, but -- absent any objective information offered to the students they're writing to about where they stand, etc. -- they're giving nothing to the kids (except some ego-stroking) in order to cover their rear ends if their yield predictions are skewed. Now, there's nothing that expressly tells these kids to make choices...but there's no other purpose of dangling that "top 25" point out there other than to have them -- hopefully -- act on it. And if they do act on it...it's possibly to their detriment, and at a cost to Andover not-to-exceed $0.41.</p>

<p>At best, it's pretty darn slick.</p>

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<p>It really did not say 25 people. I read it as 25 girls, 25 boys in 9th; and so on for other grades. Also, they said as people drop out of this list, they add them from the other list - so always 25</p>

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<p>My "top 25" letter said that the number of students on the list would change as late applicants were added and some waitlisted students got off the list... And it said that there were 25 total students for each grade, not 25 for boys and 25 for girls.</p>

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<p>My humble opinion is that the "top 25" list notification is a poorly thought out concept, that in the end will backfire on them.</p>

<p>Here is my thinking....</p>

<p>So they want to keep 25 great candidates potentially available? And even make them feel "special" in the process?</p>

<p>They forget that the other applicants who are human beings and that some of them are on CC finding out that they got an "ordinary" or perhaps I should call it a "courtesy" waitlist letter. And perhaps one (or more) of these "courtesy" waitlist letters went to a regular donating alum's kid who just happens to be reading this thread? </p>

<p>Guess what? That donating alum just figured out that he is being played for a fool. Why did his kid get the "courtesy" letter and not a denial? Look in your checkbook lately?</p>

<p>And as much as tongues wag on forums like this, the phones will ring within the legacy community. Word will spread. And it may cost them $$$.</p>

<p>Now really, if they wanted to be a bit more subtle about keeping a few kids on tap to fill the class, they would do it with a phone call. Much more personal. Don't have to tell them the magic 25 number even. Just let them know that they are high up on the list. Nobody outside of admissions know how many calls are made. When you can't put a number on your position in line, there is nothing concrete to say where the others who haven't gotten that call yet. They can even make the reason for position on the list very personal (we think we will need your particular skill), which also eliminates the whole ranking rudeness.</p>

<p>Somebody from alumni development needs to take the Admissions Director behind the woodshed...</p>