<p>yea... W&M totally needs more stupid black people.... I'm sure that's exactly what the admissions office was going for?</p>
<p>WM is trying to put together a class. Not everyone admitted is going to have the stats of a Monroe/Echols scholar. WM knows what it wants its class to look like and has had enough experience in admissions that it knows what it has to do to achieve that class. There is a method behind the madness.</p>
<p>If you know the campus and it's extreme diversity, why the great difference in stats, ethincities, EC's etc. If you want homogenized, UVA is for you. If you want to stand as an individual, you must realize WM is quite different. D2 was waitlisted. D1 is in her second year and absolutely LOVES the place. And for those person who think the highest of GPA's and SAT scores should auto admit.....many of those that seem to struggle in high school, thrive now. And quite often, those with perfect stats have difficulty. I think admissions knows what they want to accomplish. Fingers crossed D2 gets in off waitlist.</p>
<p>gonavy_beatarmy:</p>
<p>"It's not personal. It's business."</p>
<p>Listen to the Godfather. I know that being waitlisted (or rejected) from a college can be disappointing and dispiriting, but you should try not to take it personally. Colleges cannot accept everyone who is "qualified" as good schools have far more qualified applicants than they have slots for. </p>
<p>They have to make very hard decisions and have to base those decisions on many things beyond the easily quantifiable (GPA, SATs, activities). They have to make some determination of level of interest and most give that some weight in the decision, some more than others. They have to look at what majors they are needing to add to or slow down, or what particular skills or talents they need (do they need jazz saxophone players who will major in economics and are from Ohio? or do they need Hispanic females from the East Coast who will major in engineering?) </p>
<p>They will look at many odd little statistics/characteristics that have historically told them that the applicant is more likely or less likely to accept the admission offer or that the applicant will be more likely or less likely to fit in/find a niche at that school and, therefore, are more likely to thrive and contribute and graduate or more likely to be unhappy, withdrawn, and flunk out/drop out/transfer out (or worse, suffer for four years and leave unhappy, wishing they had been somewhere else). </p>
<p>They also have found, as have just about all other colleges, that a balance of skills, talents, aptitudes, passions, etc. infuses the college community with variety, diversity, and vivacity. They cannot simply accept all superstars. In sports, teams with all superstars rarely do well as egos and personalities clash. Those with a good mix of a superstar or two, lots of very good players, some role players, some utility players, and some aging but wily veterans are the teams that tend to enjoy success. (Can you tell I'm a baseball fan?) A college community is the same way, so some with high quantifiables are waitlisted or rejected on the basis of some of those other factors or in favor of someone with slightly lower quantifiables but who offer something else unique or unusual. </p>
<p>Finally, the people working in admissions are experienced professionals who can discern all of the above and are good at finding the applicants who are a good fit for their school. And, sometimes, it's just an unfortunate series of events - too many from your HS or zip code applied or some other unknown (to you) thing happened (budget cuts?). </p>
<p>Although my own college experience was in the dark ages (the '70s!), I've been through it with my son three years ago (now a junior at William & Mary) and am in it now with my daughter (7 acceptances so far and waiting for the last two, including W&M - then it is decision time). Between the two of them, we've toured some 35 or so colleges and talked with a lot of admissions people - they all stress that waitlisting means that they do find you qualified and they believe you would do well at their school and would be an asset to their community but that they just had to draw the line somewhere and, sadly and regretfully, you ended up on the less desirable side of it. On the other hand, take heart - my wife was rejected twice from W&M, then waitlisted, and only got off the waitlist a week or so before classes started. She enrolled, we met, we graduated, we got married, we have two great kids, and she makes about four times the money I make (I'm a teacher and she is really good at getting things done and getting other people to get things done so she has great value to her company). Things work out. And if you don't get off the waitlist, then you have the opportunity to go to another great school and have the great experiences that school can offer. What was the old country song? Be thankful for unanswered prayers - it often works out better in the end.</p>
<p>There is a school out there that will find you are an offer it can't refuse.</p>
<p>K9, thanks a lot for the reality check.</p>
<p>That was awesome. It made me feel better about getting waitlisted at UChicago. lol</p>
<p>giving a shoutout to the w&m waitlist mafia ;)</p>
<p>i got waitlisted from here in jersey so they definitely aren't just making it an in-state waitlist. i'm not really bummed out about it, i was expecting flat-out rejection; my sats, my essays and my ecs were, i'm sure, good enough but i should have tried harder in high school. whatever.</p>
<p>i just hope they give me a final verdict before tcnj's deposit day - tcnj's a great school and i can definitely see myself having a good time there, but w&m was always my first choice.</p>
<p>hopefully all those 2400 sat ivy league wonderkids turn my school down, and do it soon! :D</p>
<p>Waitlisted from MA :). I'm only sad because it was the last college that I was waiting to hear from. I was hoping to finish strong...oh well. Accepted to 13 and waitlisted (basically rejected) from 1 isn't half bad :). It wasn't my top school anyway :p. Sooo congratz to those who did get in, and good luck to my fellow waitlistees.</p>
<p>Waistlisted and pretty upset as W&M was my top choice. Im a male from NY so its not just instate.</p>
<p>cheers,
Mike</p>
<p>waitlisted from NC
i liked it but honestly I have gotten into 2 schools that I would to to over WM in a heartbeat. It is an awesome school though, and congrats to everyone</p>
<p>yeah i was just waitlisted... oos from ny. i won't be staying on the waitlist though b/c i have grinnell, colby, kenyon, and bates to choose from. gl to anyone staying on the list!</p>
<p>Waitlisted. oos white female from Colorado
This was a really surprise thought my chances were great... but it happens
Not quite sure what I will choose to do about it</p>
<p>goodluck to everyone else who still needs to hear from WM, i hope the news is much better than mine was :)</p>
<p>No acceptance here either (waitlisted, but what's the diff).<br>
Funny (not), but I had posted a 'chance me' post below back in January and people thought I was doing it to brag. I guess not.
Even drove 7 hrs round trip for the optional interview and wrote the optional essay.</p>
<p>What was I missing?</p>
<h1>1 rank in class of 460</h1>
<p>GPA of 4.00/4.00 (weighted 4.30)
Rigorous class schedule; will have 7 APs by graduation
Two AP finals taken so far with 5 on each (World Hist and US Hist)
SAT of 1390/2020
Featured in Time magazine as one of 25 high school leaders of tomorrow
Nationally recognized award and published research by Amer Museum of Natural History
National Alexander Hamilton Leadership Award
Over 400 hours community service
Volunteer tutor to low-income kids
Elected to County Board of Education
Several leadership positions in school organizations and student gov
Played 2 HS sports
US Senate Page
State Senate Page
US Congressional internship</p>
<p>^Maybe they are WLing you because they think you might have other options that are better than W&M, and they were protecting their yield. You seem well-qualified. Write a sincere letter saying if you get off the WL, then you would definitely attend. I am very sorry about your WL, but I am sure you will get into other AWESOME schools.</p>
<p>Rocker, I could see a JMU or George Mason or Towson as a safety fallback, but WM as a safety school? Would colleges as good as WM really overthink things to this degree?</p>
<p>(call me naive)</p>
<p>^Well, no only thing I could possibly see that is remotely on the low side is her SATs (which still in the upper-half the W&M percentile).</p>
<p>The fact that she is :
[quote]
Featured in Time magazine as one of 25 high school leaders of tomorrow
[/quote]
</p>
<p>That's a really great accomplishment. To be featured in that article must be mean that she has done some pretty great things while in HS. I remember her posting a chance thread a few months ago, and I thought she was just bragging. I can easily see her get into more higher ranked schools than W&M with her credentials. IDK, maybe W&M didn't like her essays? There must have been some sort of red-flag for them to waitlist her, because she seems like a student that merits an acceptance.</p>
<p>I’m in DE and still haven’t heard? Do you think this means it’s bad news?</p>
<p>I can’t follow W&M’s standards. My daughter was waitlisted. Top private school in a major city, 3.7 GPA unweighted, 2050/2400 SAT, conservatory quality musician, fluent in an exotic foreign language, excellent writer, great recommendations … what more could they want?</p>
<p>She’s certainly a well-qualified student. But it seems that the pool of students like her is getting larger. I keep remembering the advice of a friend who has a daughter now at Berkley, “Whatever you do, don’t let her (my d) get emotionally attached to any one school.” It seems her daughter had a friend whose dream it was to go to Princeton. She was admitted to Harvard, Yale, and Stanford…but not Princeton. </p>
<p>I hope your daughter gets past the waitlist!</p>
<p>Maryland asked …
</p>
<p>That’s easy. More spaces …especially for top-shelf out of state young women. And probably especially top-shelf Maryland crabcakes, that little state just next door with a gazillion high end students in the Philly-Balt-DC-Annap corridor and its white suburbs.</p>
<p>When one looks @ W&M’s overall size, its public mandate to utilize minimally 2 outta 3 spaces for Virginians, and then figure less than half of the remaining 1/3 of the pie for gals from all over the planet. Well it tells the tale too well. Put simply …there is no space, and it doesn’t much matter how good she is. And she is.</p>
<p>Nothing personal. While you may have but one magnificent, stellar student in your house, W&M has 5, 10, 110 with stats equal or better. Especially in this peak year of demographics. Just numbers.</p>
<p>If you really want to point a finger of blame? Look in the mirror, Mom. VERY POOR PLANNING on your part. 
Of course, 18 years hindsight makes it all very clear. </p>
<p>Hey, there are only 3,500+ other campuses, virtually all of which are dying for daughters like yours. Tell this would-be suitor to hit the road, and be doggone glad she didn’t end up w/ one unable to return her heart-felt desires. Good luck.</p>
<p>Maryland:</p>
<p>It’s not personal. It’s business. I know that being waitlisted (or rejected) from a college can be disappointing and dispiriting, but you should try not to take it personally. Colleges cannot accept everyone who is “qualified” as good schools have far more qualified applicants than they have slots.</p>
<p>They have to make very hard decisions and have to base those decisions on many things beyond the easily quantifiable (GPA, SATs, activities). They have to make some determination of level of interest and most give that some weight in the decision. They have to look at what majors they are needing to add to or slow down, or what particular skills or talents they need (do they need jazz saxophone players who will major in economics and are from Ohio? or do they need Hispanic females from the East Coast who will major in engineering?)</p>
<p>They will look at many odd little statistics/characteristics that have historically told them that the applicant is more likely or less likely to accept the admission offer or that the applicant will be more likely or less likely to fit in/find a niche at that school and, therefore, are more likely to thrive and contribute and graduate or more likely to be unhappy, withdrawn, and flunk out/drop out/transfer out (or worse, suffer for four years and leave unhappy, wishing they had been somewhere else).</p>
<p>They also have found, as have just about all other colleges, that a balance of skills, talents, aptitudes, passions, etc. infuses the college community with variety, diversity, and vivacity. They cannot simply accept all superstars. In sports, teams with all superstars rarely do well as egos and personalities clash. Those with a good mix of a superstar or two, lots of very good players, some role players, some utility players, and some aging but wily veterans are the teams that tend to enjoy success. (Can you tell I’m a baseball fan?) A college community is the same way, so some with high quantifiables are waitlisted or rejected on the basis of some of those other factors.</p>
<p>Finally, the people working in admissions are experienced professionals who can discern all of the above and are good at finding the applicants who are a good fit for their school. And, sometimes, it’s just an unfortunate series of events - too many from your HS or zip code applied or some other unknown (to you) thing happened (budget cuts?).
Although my own college experience was in the dark ages (the '70s!), I’ve been through it with my son three years ago (now a junior at William & Mary) and am in it now with my daughter (9 acceptances - she has narrowed it to two and one seems to be standing out). Between the two of them, we’ve toured some 35 or so colleges and talked with a lot of admissions people - they all stress that waitlisting means that they do find you qualified and they believe you would do well at their school and would be an asset to their community but that they just had to draw the line somewhere and, sadly and regretfully, you ended up on the less desirable side of it. On the other hand, take heart - my wife was rejected twice from the college we both graduated from (W&M), then waitlisted, and only got off the waitlist a week or so before classes started. She enrolled, we met, we graduated, we got married, we have two great kids, and she makes about four times the money I make (I’m a teacher and she is really good at getting things done and getting other people to get things done so she has great value to her company). Things work out. And if you don’t get off the waitlist, then you have the opportunity to go to another great school and have the great experiences that school can offer. </p>
<p>There is a school out there that will find you are (or your child is) an offer it can’t refuse.</p>
<p>P.S. One of those nine my daughter has to decide upon is W&M, and it is not one of the two in final contention (no engineering, alas). There’s a spot for someone from the waitlist. Hmm, I wonder if we could sell that spot on Ebay?</p>