@ab0101 I know some schools have a “fake” waitlist for soft rejections, but others have actual waitlists. And they don’t know which candidate they might choose because they can’t predict what kind of accepted student will decide not to go the the school. You know how BS’s find a “replacement” in the waitlist to replace the student who left them.
All school’s have those “fake” waitlists. Just sayin’
Colleges also have those “fake” waitlists.
Are those fake waitlists for the applicants that the school had a personal connection with (example: alumni, BS is connected to applicant’s school)? For what other reasons would a school have fake waitlists?
@elielieli: ski and I were being sarcastic. There is only one waitlist. Soft rejections and everyone else the school sent a WL letter to are on that list. Some schools might also have an FA WL, but there is no separate list for soft rejections. There are lots of reasons applicants are wait listed, but they are all on the same list, they just might be categorized on that list differently, though.
@ChoatieMom Thank you for clarifying. I meant the “fake” WL as a category.
This is an interesting article. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/04/16/top-colleges-put-thousands-of-applicants-in-wait-list-limbo-and-some-wont-admit-any/?tid=paid_fb_keywee&kwp_0=135900
Having a kid who ended up on several WL, I think that at the college level (and in some cases, the BS level), the WL is partly to encourage the CCs to continuing encouraging kids to apply to that college. If a CC goes through several cycles in which kids who seemingly have decent stats are rejected, they’ll stop recommending that college. If, on the other hand, they are WL, they can at least suggest that a kid with those stats apply even as they acknowledge that few kids have been accepted. It preserves the possibility.
A typical WL letter makes a point of saying something to the effect of “We are confident that if you enroll here, you will succeed here.” (Yes, even when they offer WL positions to 2x the number of kids in the incoming class!) I suspect that’s true at these very competitive schools where they accept 20% of the applicants. Clearly the other 80% weren’t all the bottom of the barrel! Which is all a long-winded way of saying that I think some of it is about marketing. If you tell a parent at your current school that your amazing child didn’t get into XYZ, they’re far more likely to think, “We haven’t got a chance!” than if you were WL. That sounds more like circumstances.
Just a quick question, could someone clarify on what a “soft rejection” is?
Some people are put on a wait list as a “soft rejection,” instead of being rejected.
A soft rejection is like when you break up with your significant other and say “it’s not you, it’s me!”
Or when your boss tells you there has been a lay-off and you ask how many have been laid off and he says just one.
In the private school world they can either reject you outright or they can “wait list” you with no real probably of you getting off the wait list. At the end of the day the reality is you were dumped/fired/rejected.
“You’re giving me the “it’s not you, it’s me” routine? I invented “it’s not you, it’s me!” Nobody tells me it’s them, not me! If it’s anybody, it’s me.”, George Costanza
Well said, @laenen
Some of the boarding schools accept late applications even though they have a wait-list.
Actually, some of the schools automatically put late applications into the WL pile. Since WL is not ranked, a late applicant is just as likely to be accepted than the other WL’ed. More reason to not count on a WL spot.
Thank you for the explanations! So would it be correct to assume that legacy applicants would be on the “fake waitlist”?
That seems to be the category that has the most soft rejects, although I am always hesitant to use adjectives like “all” on this forum. 
Has anyone heard about Milton yet?
@98677zoe I suggest you just call Milton directly and ask whether they are planning to “go to the waitlist”. It would be a faster and (potentially) more accurate way to get an answer.
We had contacted a half dozen schools after March 10 to see if they were still accepting applications. Many responded positively, though they said FA (especially substantial aid) was unlikely. I suspect that many schools will accommodate extras into the summer (executives move and need to find a late spot for their child, or the expected goalie is injured). If you are what they are looking for, you may get a spot.
An international student was just accepted off the Exeter wait list, if anyone wanted to know. 9th grade boy.