There is a school we were going to revisit today–and since checks are due Sunday (or by noon on Monday at this particular school) it would be a tight window and would likely involve an extra trip there on Monday to deliver the deposit check! Glad we aren’t looking at that scenario right now!
You don’t actually have to deliver the check in person by the deadline! If you call the AO and promise them that the check really is in the mail, they’ll be fine with that.
We took a check with us to revisit. The visit was just to make sure we had chosen the right path (i.e. boarding) and to have a chance to stand on campus as an admitted student vs. an applicant. The majority of decision-making was already done. We went, we saw, we paid. 
In addition, I would never ever have asked for an extension. AS @photographermom said so nicely, at this point a month is plenty of time. If you are faced with a decision between schools and they both seem equal in your mind, then it won’t matter which you choose. The important thing is to remember that there are MANY kids on the waitlist and, if you ask for an extension, you are just delaying the agony of those kids. It is a selfish move which I could not bring myself to do.
We did the same, we went, we saw, we paid 
a week before April 10th.
@london203 Agreed with you and @PhotographerMom . I must say we attended a revisit recently and thought many of the undecided were putting on a bit of show. Almost as though it was some ego trip–as though they were playing hard to get and they wanted to be begged to come . My husband and I both said we hoped that they went elsewhere!! I get that there can be legitimate reasons for being unsure but I dont think that it typical.
Just to put waitlists in perspective, some schools waitlist TONS of applicants. Deerfield is a big culprit of doing this and historically has waitlisted between 40-50% of those who applied, or basically anyone that met certain thresholds, despite taking around 4-5 students off the list per year. So, yes, at some schools it only means a gentle no.
Hi @doschicos, Deerfield seems to indicate a change in policy and no longer puts people on the WL who they don’t think they could ever be admitted. See https://deerfield.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Minutes25Apr15.pdf. But it doesn’t mean that they don’t put many on the waitlist…
Yup, they dropped it from 50% of applicants historically to 41% of applicants last year. Still seems like a lot to me. They are not alone as I’ve heard that Exeter has been doing something similar. I wonder what the reasoning is?
Deerfield is good about transparency. There a lot of interesting info in those reports. For example, I never would have thought they would dip so low on standardized testing, although its a teensy percentage.
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Is everyone else getting the Choate waitlist emails? I shouldn’t read into these, right?
Correct - read nothing into them.
I think the reason for WL so many is to keep the applicant pool high so that they can keep their acceptance rate as low as possible.
Any news on specific school waitlists? Any schools with lower than expected yields?
What are the average yields?
Why would schools start accepting waitlisted students now? Students have until May 1st to decide, don’t they? How will they know how many spaces are available until then?
Decisions are due on Monday April 11. Most college decisions are due May 1.
Decisions for what are due on Monday? Sorry, I’m just really confused…
@Shuester the April 10 deadline is the for accepting places offered at most prep/boarding schools.
@london203 thank you for clearing that up. I was freaked out for a second there that I had to decide on a college by tomorrow!
I know someone that was accepted with FA today off of the wait list for St. Marks.
I also know someone who was accepted off of the Andover waitlist.