<p>My son applied to ten schools; he's been accepted to all three EA schools and to three more RD schools (this week); he hears from four more RD schools next week. There were four reaches (accepted at one so far), five matches, and one safety. He could have applied to fewer match schools, but this is easy to say in retrospect; the anxiety during the application process actually seemed to increase as each application was completed! He clearly applied to one or two extra at the last minute, so to speak.</p>
<p>mariusz360 - you may not be familiar with the number of students who move off the waitlist. I was just looking at Lehigh - 2 kids got off the waitlist last year. The admissions officers and schools bear some blame for this process. In order to increase their ranking in US News & World Report they market heavily to students to encourage a high volume of applicants to increase their selectivity. Then, they attempt to increase their ranking by increasing their yield - the number of those who accept after being offered. Some schools actually use an "enrollment management" program to meet these goals. One very well known university uses an algorithm to predict acceptances based on previous year's yields using various characteristics (distance, GPA, SATs, hometown type, etc.). I think we should stop blaming kids for applying to l8 schools. Applying to 2 or 3 would be incredibly foolish in this reality, which is nothing like what I experienced 35 years ago either.</p>
<p>The sad truth is that there are literally HUNDREDS of wonderful small colleges all over the country that would LOVE to see your applications and throw money at you..but since they aren't "name schools" that kids talk about, nobody bothers to apply.</p>
<p>Its sad. Some wonderful little schools out there in almost every state.</p>
<p>Kids apply to WashU and forget all about schools like St. Louis University on the other side of the park that has WONDERFUL programs and throws money at outstanding students. Just ONE example.</p>
<p>Rolling admissions too.</p>
<p>I've worked at slu and have been in various labs at washu and there is a massive difference in terms of sheer quality, resources, equipment, etc. The people I worked with at slu were great (although i was never too fond of some of the premeds...), but the resources of the two schools simply don't compare. Sure, you could get a good education at both schools but there is a reason kids choose washu over slu. Ultimately, I guess it depends on what you're looking for from an undergrad experience. </p>
<p>But yeah... college admissions are a crapshoot and thats why kids are applying to so many places.</p>
<p>My son is a college frosh; one of his best friends at his college got in from the waitlist. My son applied to 6 schools: 3 safeties (hindsight, could have cut that to 2), 2 matches and a reach. The reach waitlisted him; his response was, "Good, see ya later, now I only have to choose between 2 schools." </p>
<p>Truth is, my son could have done well at ANY college (except possibly MIT or CalTech, he's not a techie). Even the school that waitlisted him admitted in their letter that students on the waitlist are fully qualified to attend there (otherwise they'd have been rejected) but unfortunately they just didn't have room on campus to admit all the qualified students that want to go there without overcrowding their dorms and increasing their class sizes.</p>
<p>I understand why colleges are using the waitlist as a tool; but I feel bad for the kids caught in the middle. It's a Catch-22; colleges have to use waitlists because too many kids are applying, and kids apply to a ton of schools because the schools odds of being accepted have dropped so low.</p>
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College's have the right to/should place students on the waitlist. Why accept an applicant who they are fairly certain is using the school as a back-up? If I was an admission's counselor, I would do the exact same thing. I want students who absolutely WANT to be in the incoming class, not students who wouldn't mind being in the incoming class, or even just want an acceptance letter to hang on their wall rather than attend.
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</p>
<p>Not everyone will get into their first choice school, people need to apply to safeties, not just matches and reaches, so they will actually be able to go to college if they get unlucky at the matches and reaches. People should apply to safeties that they like and could be nearly as excited about going to as their first choice obviously, but there is nothing wrong with a college being a safety for some students imo. Not every college can be as selective as Harvard, and safties have an important place in the college admissions process. I mean if a kid doesn't get into their first choice, and then doesn't get into their safety as they practiced yeild protection and were mad about being a safety where is said kid supposed to go? This is why now a days its necessary to apply to several safeties rather than just one like people used to. If people could just choose one maybe two safties that they actually really liked and that they didn't have to worry about being wait listed to protect yeild it would be better. </p>
<p>That said most of the places I applied were places I was very sure I would get in and I haven't been waitlisted anywhere, and have been offered merit money at many of them so I guess yield protection is not all that prevalent or I got lucky. Still have to hear from my reaches though, where I will probably get rejected.</p>
<p>So... according to the article, colleges PWN us all the way...?</p>
<p>If anyone read the posts today who was accepted at BC and who not, when asked the accepted ones will you attend? most said "dont think so, waiting on others" While those who were rejected said it was my first choice... Something has to change... this whole process has been anything but fun. UCB, 48,000 apps for 10,000 spots. Cornell, 30,000 apps for many 1500 spots. This list goes on and on...I dont know what the answer is... But this whole process has made sr year unbearable. While I and my family visited app. 27 schools thru out the Jr/sr year, there was maybe only 3 that I would even want to give my money to. They are too expensive and just not a place I would want to live for the next 4 years. I thought the college experience was going to be so different.</p>
<p>I applied to nine schools, have heard from seven. Out of those seven, I've been wait-listed at three. I will be pursuing one of those wait-lists, albeit in a realistic and healthy manner - I have no expectation of being admitted, but I would be thrilled if that were to be the case.</p>
<p>Those other two wait-lists might as well be rejections for all practical purposes.</p>
<p>I applied to 8 schools: 2 safeties (2 acceptances) 2 matches (will hear back this weekend or monday) 2 low reaches/high matches (1 waitlist and 1 acceptance) 2 ivies (anticipating being waitlisted but...who knows?)</p>
<p>I will most likely be attending my high match school, and I'm absolutely thrilled. I feel extremely fortunate to have escaped the worst of the waitlist effect.</p>
<p>it's a relief to see this thread, frankly, ive heard back from 4 regular decision schools....and all have been waitlists. plus 2 were backups...yeah, i didnt have the demonstrated interest i should have had, but my confidence is still shot.</p>
<p>It is increasingly frusterating, since two of them i genuinely would have considered going to. I was rejected to NYU ED, and lafayette was my second choice. I applied ED2 and was deferred. I worked so hard that semester, had an alumni who i am close with who happens to be friends with my regional admissions officer and called her, and i have my advanced academic writing teacher write a glowing recommendation on what an asset id be as a student, particularly as an english major...all the energy for nothing. its funny that they think they can tell me im STILL within range and would do fine at lafayette, encourage me to write letters and stuff...already done and at this point, not worth the effort at all in my opinion.</p>
<p>luckily i was accepted to a a reach school i visited recently and ended up loving (international, ironically) or else id be in the midst of a mental breakdown.</p>
<p>i really think at least at this point there should be a limit to the number of schools one can apply to. i mean, its restricting but if there is a good balance of backups, matches, and reaches with decrease competiton, its unlikely you can go wrong....it terrifies me how ridiculous the whole system is, and it will only get worse. itll be interesting to see what happens when the bubble bursts.</p>
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If anyone read the posts today who was accepted at BC and who not, when asked the accepted ones will you attend? most said "dont think so, waiting on others" While those who were rejected said it was my first choice...
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<p>Well, yeah, duh. The ones who were accepted more likely to have had BC has match-reach school rather than a reach because the ones who were accepted were more qualified. And since they were more qualified they would have better options overall to chose from. This is NOT a justification for more silly yield protection policies.</p>
<p>I think yield just shouldn't count for rankings or prestige so colleges won't feel the need to protect it so much.</p>
<p>I agree with the Catch-22 idea
on one hand, applying to a large number of schools is what is perpetuating the "waitlist effect"
but, then again, if there are such high chances of getting waitlisted at both schools that are safeties and schools that are reaches, applicants feel it necessary TO apply to a lot of schools, to hedge their bets
it's a vicious cycle</p>
<p>I hope this entire process backfires on them this year.</p>
<p>SPeaking to one of my d classmates moms.Her child DYING to go to Delaware, has the stats to go, has not heard a word, so it will probably be a wait or denial.</p>
<p>About 20 other kids got in past week or two, have already sent their acceptances into other choices,peer schools not using Delaware as a safety, have zero interest in attending Delaware. </p>
<p>Val at daughters school 2300 SAT 11 APs did not over shoot, denied Boston College, her only top choice, got waitlisted at all her lower tier schools.</p>
<p>It's more than just students applying to a lot of schools and colleges waitlisting students at a lot of schools. It's also the financial aid packages offered. If you get into your top school, but can't afford it, you have to go to a match school or a safety school that may not be your top choice. That is why so many students are applying to so many schools if money is at all important. My sister applied to 10 schools. The ones she thought she would get into based on her stats she didn't get into or was waitlisted there and a few of the ones she didn't think she would get into she did. As a result, when admissions were all over, she had to entirely re-think where she wanted to go. It came down to an excellent private East Coast school (not an ivy) and UC Berkeley. Since Berkeley only can offer $9K to out of state students, she went to the east coast school. It also helped that the schools were vastly different in terms of the numbers of students, class size, etc. which made the decision a little easier. She is very happy at the east coast school but it wasn't where she originally thought she would end up and she was glad she applied to multiple schools. No school is a slam dunk these days.</p>
<p>Ignore this message, it was a duplicate of above message.</p>
<p>C'mon, let's put the numbers into perspective... MIT waitlisted 50% more, so what? Last year they accepted, what, 1% of those waitlisted? This year they will accept 0.75%. Big deal. Anyone wailisted is best advised to withdraw their application from consideration and move on with their life. Harsh? Yes... Good advice? You betcha...</p>
<p>Parental and applicant anxiety have a lot to do with the escalation of the applicant numbers. However, high schools bear A LOT of the blame. My D's school has ONE counselor for 600+ kids. Her answer to any inquiry is "this is your job". If the HS would give some guidance whether a school is a match or a reach the number of applications will go down. They have all the stats in the world to make these predictions with a fair degree of certainty, but my guess is that a lawyer somewhere somehow decided that this is a bad idea. Can't say I blame them, there are plenty of morons who will sue for anything.</p>
<p>This very sane waitlist article, entered yesterday by Dory Streett, the official Colby admissions blogger, should be widely read IMO.
Actually, I will make a big plug for this blog, which always manages to put things into perspective. For those not familiar with it:</p>
<p>This very sane waitlist article, entered yesterday by Dory Streett, the official Colby admissions blogger, should be widely read IMO.
Actually, I will make a big plug for this blog, which always manages to put things into perspective. For those not familiar with it:</p>
<p>"If the HS would give some guidance whether a school is a match or a reach the number of applications will go down"</p>
<p>Not so sure about that.....</p>
<p>1) In our particular NJ public, admissions this year have been infinitely more successful than last year at all the top schools....Go figure.....GPA's higher, SAT's higher, but who would have predicted that.....( and the hs rank went down in the New Jersey Mag ranking.....)</p>
<p>2) In terms of match/reach business.....Every school my daughter is a match for based on stats has seen double-digit increase in apps.....they have all become reaches...GC could not have possibly predicted that for those particular schools.....</p>
<p>3) this whole "enrollment management" business is over the heads of even the best college counselors</p>