<p>@ Oura54, I would not hold back in calling SG and inquiring, you have nothing to loose. But please don’t have your hopes up.</p>
<p>Thank you ops!</p>
<p>What’s the news on Exeter?</p>
<p>I think all hope is lost for me</p>
<p>Exeter wait list closed.</p>
<p>@magged: Are you intending on applying next year? What year are you? And I totally understand how you feel on the topic of getting off the wait list this year.</p>
<p>I am applying for next year, I’ll be class of 2016. And yeah the wait was really hard but I am determined to go to boarding school. Are you applying for next year?</p>
<p>Does anybody know (or would care to give a guess at) the waitlist percentages, in relation to acceptance rates? Acceptance rates are common knowledge, but I’ve never heard anything about waitlist rates. I was WLed at 75% of the schools I applied to last year, and I’ve been wondering this for a long time.</p>
<p>I would guess that the WL pool is quite large. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that the AdComs try to build a well-rounded class. Therefore, if a sophomore female tuba-playing swimmer declines the admissions offer, then the AdComs will try to backfill from the WL with someone with a similar profile.</p>
<p>Plus the school needs to further hedge, because the Adcoms know that many of the WL kids will take offers at other schools. So the AdComs will need to account for the fact that these kids may not be available when they are called.</p>
<p>@GMTplus7: “Quite large” would be… twice the amount of the acceptance pool?</p>
<p>I’m sure it varies from school to school, depending on the percentage of applicants who typically accept/reject their offers of acceptance.</p>
<p>Here is a table of #Waitlisted students compared to the #Enrolled students for different schools. The schools are colleges, not prep schools, but the principle applies.</p>
<p>You can see that the ratio of WL kids varies enormously from school to school.
[Waiting</a> Lists Have Plenty of Company - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/waiting-list-2011/]Waiting”>Waiting Lists Have Plenty of Company - The New York Times)</p>
<p>At Carnegie Mellon, the WL pool is almost 4X larger than the class size.</p>
<p>Is coming off a FA wait list even less likely than regular wait list?</p>
<p>Could someone tell me what the word HADES means? I assume it’s an acronym for some sort of school.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
1 Like
<p>It is an acronym that was made up by a CC poster several years ago. It stands for “Hotchkiss, Andover, Deerfield, Exeter, Saint Pauls School.”</p>
<p>Some people use it as “shorthand” for the “very best schools,” but I for one do not agree with that assessment. There are many, many GREAT boarding schools out there - in all areas of the country, not just New England. These schools may be “more famous” but that doesn’t mean that they are “the best.”</p>
<p>Time to resurrect this thread: [thread=1251453]Ban the Term HADES[/thread]</p>
<p>The acronym “HADES” came about honestly because the letters actually spell out something that is memorable. If you look around at many other websites (or even ask around), people don’t even refer to Hotchkiss, Andover, Deerfield, Exeter, and Saint Paul’s School as the Top 5 schools.
I go to Choate… So I’m a little biased 
But I can agree with mountainhiker when you said that there are many other great schools, all over the country. The fact that people refer to HADES as the “Ivy’s of boarding schools” makes me upset.</p>
<p>Ok, so some advice for those who have found themselves on the WL.</p>
<p>First-- well done, you. If you weren’t qualified the schools would have rejected you. That you are on the wait list means that you have the goods. In many cases it was bc of the “tuba player” issue-- they needed a tuba player and you played the violin. It can come down to just that,</p>
<p>Second–Arrgh, no closure. unlike a rejection WL means that you can’t “move on” as easily as you otherwise could–BUT, despite what I will write below, if you have been accepted elsewhere start getting excited about that/those school(s). Get the sweatshirt, start imagining yourself there–because regardless of where your dream school may be you will have an extraordinary experience at wherever you attend–all of these schools are incredible and if you promise yourself to suck every bit of marrow from them you will have an outstanding time at your boarding/day school. </p>
<p>Ok, but I still REALLY want to go to XXXXXX-- Here is where having a split brain will help because while I meant every word of what I wrote above, if you still want to attend XXXX (and if you aren’t too sure, let the WL go–get closure from that school, and because of the reason I will mention below, the chance of you getting off the WL isn’t high if you aren’t positively and completely sure you will attend…Remember , just because you were offered a spot on the WL does NOT mean you are bound to accept it…) then you have to really show the school you WANT it. You got the little post card or reply email with your WL notification-- fill it out TODAY. </p>
<p>Then write a letter that first of all tells the Adcom how happy you are that the school placed you on their wait list and makes it absolutely clear that you will immediately accept an offer of admission if proffered. No hedging, no wiggle words–if you can’t write “I promise I will attend” then leave the WL. Adcoms if they go to the WL want to know that any offer they make will be accepted–no questions asked.</p>
<p>Lay out what you have done-- your new grades (if you are on the trimester system or have third quarter grades) any SIGNIFICANT achievements (made the State finals in MathCounts or have a piece accepted in the school literary magazine, Gol/Silver medal in the NLE–you get the idea). Emphasize what you can bring to that school’s community–what makes you unique. Offer to have an additional interview if they would want you to have one. Go and speak with your present school’s placement advisor. She or he may already know of the results, but there is a chance that he/she does not. Tell the PA that you will be accepting the offer from the school to which you have been admitted (it will be the first thing she/he will tell you to do anyway) BUT that you REALLY want to attend XXXX. Ask straight out–again no hedging here–can/will the school support me in getting off the WL? If the answer is yes ask if the head of the school would call the admissions director on your behalf. The head’s intervention is very very helpful. Frequently the head and the AD will have had a longstanding relationship and that conversation, if your head is strongly on your side may make a difference-- remember that the numbers off the WL aren’t as high as they will be at college so the fact that the head calls may not be enough, but it will be very helpful to your case. You may (not will, but may) also get a sense from your school after such a call if you have much of a chance of moving from the list-- </p>
<p>It means more work-- it means that while some of your classmates will be easing off the gas pedal for the next few months (but not too much or their acceptance will vanish <em>poof</em> just like that) YOU will have to double down-- getting the best grades you can–etc…</p>
<p>Again, congrats on making it to the WL–be excited about the opportunities ahead at the places that have offered you a place in their class but get to work if you really want to go through the purgatory of the WL (remember if you do get to Heaven no one cares if you spent anytime in purgatory!). </p>
<p>Best of luck, whatever you chose to do.</p>
<p>@etondad.
I agree with all of your advice. As a parent of a student who WAS WL for Exeter last year. We called and called and called. We accepted a spot where he was admitted. We and he emailed, all of it. The result…he was admitted to the Exeter the day after commitments were due in April. He is now part of Exeter class of 2016.</p>
<p>I wish I could say this outcome could happen to everyone, but sadly it won’t. However if it is what you really want then be prepared up until September to accept if called and potentially walk away from the deposit that you made to the other school, (Exeter wanted an immediate decision, but then gave us 24 hours to accept) and follow the advice from above. There is hope.</p>
<p>I was waitlisted at Milton, and am going to do whatever I can to get in. @etondad I’m going to follow your guidelines</p>
<p>Good luck @NikDangles</p>