I’m a 9th grader and I was recently waitlisted at a school I applied to for 10th grade. Since I wanted to attend the school since 8th grade and worked hard on my essays, I was quite disappointed with the decision but hey, I’m just glad I didn’t completely break down as I thought I would lol
That being said, is there anything I should do / can do to possibly increase my chance of admission, like writing a LOCI? I already submitted a form stating that I will remain on the waitlist, but since the chances are slim, I’m preparing for the most likely scenario: staying at my current school or transferring to a public.
I will also resurrect my recurring post answering these questions that I’m sure many of you are wondering:
Do I have any hope?
Do I have a chance?
No one can possibly answer either of those questions for any individual with any satisfaction as no one has that crystal ball, and you need to understand how WLs work. I will summarize:
You were considered qualified, but there just aren’t enough spots and/or FA at that school for every qualified applicant.
But, sometimes, a WL decision is a soft rejection given when the school has a reason to not want to offend a family (often legacy/donor) with an outright rejection.
WLs aren’t ranked, and they are there to benefit the schools, not applicants. The WL is a pool of applicants whose profiles closely match those of the students who were offered admission. They exist for the schools to fill the holes left by those who choose not to matriculate. Because you can never know what those holes are (male/female, day/border, in-state/out-of-state, athlete/sport, etc.), you can never know your chances of coming off a waitlist.
The size of a WL is immaterial. A WL could be 500 deep, and if you are the one who perfectly matches an empty hole, you’ll get off it. A WL might be only 5 deep (they never are, but go with me here), but if you do not match an empty hole, you won’t get off it. In either case, regardless of the size of the WL, you have zero ability to assess chances because you can never know what the holes are.
One person declining to attend does not open up a corresponding spot on the WL. If a school has 100 spots to fill and sends out 120 offers of admission, only after the 21st person declines is there an empty spot. The better the school is at managing its yield*, the slimmer the odds of any movement on the WL. That’s why many schools never go to the WL at all and even end up a bit overenrolled (which means they will send out fewer offers the following year).
So, if you are fortunate enough to have an acceptance, take it, and don’t look back. Love the school that loves you. Consider a WL a rejection and move on. If you happen to be one of those who gets the call, you can deal with that news when it comes, but you should plan as if it will never come because, most likely, it won’t. But, if you DO decide to remain on a WL, @PhotographerMom’s posts say it all. Please (re)read them carefully.
*I would add for this year that Covid may affect yield in unpredictable ways. May those ways be in your favor.
I can only comment on my son’s experience last year. He was waitlisted at Middlesex and Brooks as a day student. I think the Brooks WL was a soft rejection bc he was a recruited athlete. We didn’t hear anything from them at all after learning on M10 that he was waitlisted. For Middlesex, we were told that he would have gotten off the waitlist if we did not need FA. But we did, so he never got off. It depends on so many things- grade, girl vs boy, boarding vs day, full pay vs needing FA, etc. A lot of things need to fall into place in order to gain admission off of the waitlist. I would agree with @ChoatieMom - assume it’s a rejection and put it out out of your mind. My DD was waitlisted at Clemson this year, and I gave her the same advice.
Reading other posts, I think I should treat WL as rejection. My son only applies to 1 school. So his only option is to continue with his public school. Do you get accepted to any other schools? What is your plan B?
AP or honor classes at public school can also be very advanced. It would be best here to rely on those to challenge your son. I assume your son was waitlisted to the school he applied to, so meanwhile, accept a place on the waitlist and perhaps email or call on April 8 or a few days before A10 to know about any movement on the waitlist, but don’t count on it. It seems public school is the only option here. I was accepted into another private school, so I will be attending there.
Hi, posting again and really hoping for some help! our kid was waitlisted at Peddie and the other at Pennington. We requested FA from both. Does anyone know if these schools would accept only if they could provide FA? My kids were accepted to other schools but denied FA.We are really trying to make this work…
I have heard several cases of acceptance but WL for FA at Pennington. Not sure at Peddie. I know cases of people being accepted but not offered aid who ultimately attended.
Does anyone know of recent years’ waitlist admission rates for PA and PEA? If there was any movement at all recent years. I’ve read some in 2011 saying waitlist hadn’t had action for years in a row. I know the chances already are slim, and this year was hectic but I just wanna know if there’s any hope for this year. Thanks!
Please see my reply upthread. Knowing WL movement numbers for any school from any previous year is not informative for any individual for the reasons I outline in that post.