From past posts, it sounds like most wait list movement occurs shortly after 4/10, when the schools know who accepted, and later in July when tuition payments are due.
@skieurope Oh I LOVED IT!! Heeeheeee!!
@Saucerking27 it sounds like you are a great candidate who did not understand how hard you needed to work on the application process. I hope you choose to reapply and take the time to create an application that shows schools how great you actually are. I donāt think most schools need to work hard to get good applicants so if you are great but donāt show that they will not see it because they have 100s of other kids who did show it.
Possibly the other kids you know who got in poured their heart and soul into the application process (or possibly both their parents and all their grandparents went to the school and have given a ton of money- youāll never know).
If you are planning to reapply start taking game film now - you need a lot to create a good highlight film!
Best of luck.
Actually Taft just emailed regarding their waitlist. Apparently, I was not accepted off the waitlist. it seems their process is a little different than some of the other schools as they give a formal decision instead of making calls to invidivuals. Has anyone else heard from taft? Personally, Iām fine with it since Iām perfectly happy attending peddie or looms next year and considering taft doesnāt have a swim or water polo team, I probably wouldnāt have attended anyway. However, I hope some people got good news.
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FYI, at our Exeter revisit day, the AO stressed that you had to let them know by noon on the 10th. Iād assumed it was 5PM or even midnight! So if you are holding out on a waitlist until the last possible moment, you might want to contact your school to find out exactly when they need to know.
Your track in life is just that,YOUR track in life. People shouldnt compare their success against their peers and right here is where they can begin learning. Wearing some school swag should not crush another person because everybody cant dance at every party. This is life and where real parenting kicks in! Teachable moment folks! You canāt control others actions, only your reaction to them!
@wjeanj2005 Maybe itās cheesy to say this knowing nothing else, but man, good parenting for your son to have that weāll-get-'em-next-year attitude. Congrats.
Meanwhile, I was here fishing for commentary on the email from Deerfield - which dances around the topic then lays it out: youāll have a better chance getting off the waitlist if you donāt need financial aid: āIt is important to note that Deerfield does not admit any students who applied for financial aid if we cannot also offer appropriate funding. A student will not be notified of admission if we cannot appropriately fund necessary financial aid. Therefore, if you are a Wait List family that has applied for financial aid, our ability to admit and fund your student will be a function of the budget remaining on April 10; if we are over budget, any Wait List admissions will not carry financial aid packages.ā
As noted elsewhere in these forums, Deerfield appears to have used Waitlisting more liberally than others (at least among CC posters.)
@DevonAultorBust, Assuming Deerfield has continued its previous methodology, they most likely waitlist 800 applicants. I believe this article from the Deerfield Scroll gives a good understanding of Deerfieldās waitlist process (even though it is from 2014 I have heard it is relatively the same method and breakdown). See the article here:
Please, letās not throw salt on wounds by giving any kids the idea that if they had tried ājust a little bit harderā or, somehow, poured more of their soul into the process, their outcomes would have differed. Plenty of applicants (and Iām sure ALL of our CC applicants) gave it their absolute best shot and still didnāt get a spot simply due to supply and demand and what any given school needed this round. There was nothing more they could have done; they just werenāt selected this time due to the competition, institutional needs, space and, perhaps, FA need. Heart and soul were not the missing components in their applications. Given the number of qualified applicants to all of these schools, most schools could craft multiple identical classes before even hitting the middle of the pile.
If you didnāt put your best application forward, then you know who you are and what you need to do next time. But, for all those here who poured every ounce of their being into their applications and were still WLād or rejected, your outcome was not determined by lack of effort. Donāt beat yourself up over that.
And, @saucerking27, your friendās SSAT score is fine but, apparently, he outperforms you at golf and PA needed a golfer or two this year. He did not take your spot as you werenāt competing against him in the golf bucket just as he wasnāt competing against you in the hockey or trombone buckets.
What do you think those steps are? You say that you have not been given any feedback from direct requests to AOs, so you are just guessing at this point. If you think you sold yourself short in some area, then certainly rectify that next round, but understand that without direct feedback, @skieuropeās #2185 is as close as youāll get.
As a parent Iāve been on both sides of the wait list/accepted. Last year anxiously hoping a place would materialize from the WL which it didnāt. This year having a choice of schools.
I can now see why the WL hardly moves prior to decision day. Schools work very hard to persuade accepted students to go there and thatās where their focus is and the revisit days go close to the decision day.
Many students leave it to the last few days to decide which puts schools in a position where they just canāt go to their WL until decision day.
@ChoatieMom to be honest I was completely overconfident going into the application process. I believed that I could be admitted to at least two of the schools. The essays completely caught me off guard as well, I had no idea how to approach them and got little done even when I was pulling all nighters and working almost entire days to get the damn thing done. I eventually managed some decent essays but I didnāt put much personality into them and they were simply plain and boring. I ended up writing about too similar topics to the parent statements which resulted in a less thorough application. I couldnāt get into contact with coaches or Teachers from any school to be able to meet them and I sent a really short and lackluster highlight reel that was frankly really bad. In addition to the mistakes that I mentioned above. I didnāt express my interest well enough and maybe thatās also a contributing factor to why I wasnāt accepted in addition to all the mistakes I made. I couldāve brought up the fact that I was a Musician, debater, and did lots of charity work up in my essays. But I completely abandoned them to focus on my academic and athletic achievements. I couldāve done so much more and I regret being an overconfident prick. But I still poured everything that I had into that application. Anyway my parents are getting into arguments about whose fault it was (probably mine). Theyāve been pushing me harder than ever, I practically donāt have any free time now due to training and preparing for the numerous math competitions / olympiads that Iāve decided to do after the admissions results were released. I realised why People like my golfer Friend got in and maybe not me. He was incredibly one dimensional and put all of his focus of the application on one area, perhaps thatās what they needed that year in their class so they took him. I can do a multitude of different things and do them at a high level but Iām not āthe bestā at any of them. Iām sure that there are better ice Hockey players/students/musicians out there who based their application solely off of those things. So why would they take me? And coming as an international student from the most competitive region in the world why did I even expect to get in? I donāt even know, but Iām going to keep working towards excelling in all the different subjects that I focused on and due to the lack of information and contact regarding the waitlist status, Iām guessing my WL is a soft reject. I was unprepared and overconfident this year, but next year Iāll be prepared. Ok but the thing is I donāt know why I got waitlisted, so I Guess waitlist means I have the capabilities but for some odd reason I wasnāt accepted. And Iām stuck in that void where Iām constantly trying to figure that out
@Saucerking27 Smaller schools really value kids who can wear multiple hats. They simply canāt afford to have kids who only play one sport or who are deeply dedicated to a single extracurricular activity. Larger schools can afford to āinvestā in specialists with deep expertise or advanced capabilities in a single area. If you decide to apply again next year, you might want to consider schools that will appreciate the fact that you are multi-dimensionalā¦ and yes, work hard to put more personality into your essays. Use the essays as an opportunity for AOs to get to know what makes you tick, and not as a place to brag about accomplishments.
And as an international student and go above and beyond. Hopefully bringing something to the school that no American student can. Which is difficult. But The advice on applying to smaller schools is really helpful. Perhaps thatās where I went wrong this year @CaliMex
@sauceking27. What we told our son about WL. It means you were competitive. Think about all the ones that just got NO. And if you got WL from more than one school, you were more so than most. Just think, more than one school read your app and thought the same thing. Keep us updated. Hope to see you where youāre supposed to be SOON!
Hard to swallow news todayā¦but not entirely unexpected coming from the FA waitlist at my DS dream school. No money coming our way. He was waitlisted at 2 schools and rejected at 4. So waiting on 1 more school. Not holding our breath as waitlisted feels like playing the lottery. Most likely not gonna win, but you never know unless you play. He applied for Junior year. Heās already older so he didnāt want to repeat Sophomore year. Trying to process info and figure out what options are available now and also possibly next year. Repeat Junior year isnāt an ideal situation and we would need some FA.
@Harshdog suggest you call the BS and discuss FA. If DS was accepted and only WLād for FA, and you can make a case for FA, maybe worth a call? If so, I would do this ASAP.
Best of luck!
@Saucerking27 Please do not second guess your qualifications to ALL of these schools. From what i see the schools are on the prowl for something different every year, so dont beat up on yourself for not playing into their game. I appreciate your honesty and your truth and please allow me to make a suggestion to you. If you reapply next year, let your statement above be the heart and soul of your essay. Your statement moved me because it took bravery and huge self awareness not to mention courage to share. You already possess all the tools, you just need to dig in and truly understand all you have to offer and express it.
You are gonna be good wherever you land. See u at the top.
Blessings
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@mynameiswhatever we had been in contact several times between M9 and today. Even went to revisit dayā¦They sent us an email today saying they could not support our financial need due to limited FA budget and not enough coming back in at this time.
@Harshdog Waitlisted is bigger than a flat out rejection! Even tho its not what u wanted to hear but now its time to focus on the College game. You have already been exposed to the game so use what you earned to land the College or university of your dream. No looking backā¦Onward and Upward!
@harlemgirl121 you have an amazing world view! Agreed totally.
@Harshdog I really wish you and DS the very best. If he got accepted and WLād for FA, donāt give up. Keep trying. If heās WLād generally, then itās a bit different.
I frankly think itās ludicrous for a BS to accept on merit but WL on FA.