Has anyone heard from SPS?
SPS said, āwe are over enrolledā. She asked is i āwant your son to be put on the Summer WL?ā I told her we did and she took his name and said she noted it.
My guess: there are top 30~50 boarding schools (BS) for about 5,000 students in total for each gradeā¦ (A)
Also my guess: there are another 200 good private schools for another 20,000 studentsā¦ (B)
There are 500 (at least) great public high schools (each with 30% strong students) for 65,000 studentsā¦ Ā©
Then there are 30,000 international students and some home students to make up 100,000 students for the top 30 colleges and universities.
If I am not (A)ā¦ I can still get on with my college by path (B) or Ā©.
I read elsewhere:
āAccording to Princetonās latest common data set (published 2016-17):
Number of qualified applicants offered a place on waiting list: 1237
Number accepting a place on the waiting list: 840
Number of wait-listed students admitted: 18ā
If the situation at Andover were like this, we are looking at 200 being offered a place on the waiting list, 140 accept the place to wait, and 3 might get off.
@Heading2HS , lots of students go to top colleges or ivy leagues through path B and C you defined.
From looking at the results posted on CC (which are obviously only a subset of all students applying) it at least seems some schools such waitlist way more students than they accept and perhaps even more than they reject.
My child was accepted at several great (non-GLADCHEMS) schools. Some with offers of academic scholarships. My child was also waitlisted at 2 GLADCHEMS schools. We opted to stay on waitlist. Kid went to revisits, struggled through decision making process, kid made a choice, I sent a check. We were thrilled.
Then the next day on 4/11 we got the call offering a spot at a āhighly selectiveā GLADCHEMS school. With 24 hours to decide. Kid ultimately decided to stick with the original choice.
I know these schools are a business. I know they need to fill the spots. But there is something distasteful about the waitlist process. Seeing all the kids here hoping for the āgolden ticketā and watching my child struggle through the decision and then second guessing the choice left a really bad impression.
Anyhow - I guess my point is that the idea of loving the schools that love you is important. If we were to do this again Iād say no thanks to waitlist.
Hear, Hear @birdingmom !!! Congratulations on your successes and bravo to birdingkid to realize one bird in the hand is worth moreā¦(of course pun intended, but so fitting!)
@birdingmom , congrats! Caught one bird, plus offering out of waitlist. Some schools like Deerfield have already over booked for the first round admission, but they still keep a long waitlist. It plainly made waitlist nearly useless. This gives waitlisted kids false and fake hope.
There are many posts on this thread that nicely detail how the waitlists actually work. They are a pool of candidates that are willing to be considered should an opening arise that specifically matches them (grade, gender, sports, academics, etc.). It is not a rank order. Keeping the pool large (not long, as implies a rank order) allows the school to build and maintain the very best community up to the first day of classes. So many things can happen, like a parent losing their job 2 weeks before classes start, creating an opening for another student on the waitlist. Maintaining the waitlist in the manner that they do keeps these schools great and makes them the places we want to apply to.
Consider the alternatives - a match system like in medical school does not build a community and rolling admission brings more stress and pressure tactics IMO.
From the first decision letter, all schools have indicated that it is unlikely that they go to their WL, you should accept other offers if you have them, but theyāre happy to keep you on the list. The only guarantee is to not be on the WLā¦youāre guaranteed to never be called. Staying on the WL is no more false hope than buying a lottery ticketā¦and itās free. The choice to stay on the WL or not is clearly a personal one, but not a reflection of a bad system.
āI know these schools are a business. I know they need to fill the spots. But there is something distasteful about the waitlist process. Seeing all the kids here hoping for the āgolden ticketā and watching my child struggle through the decision and then second guessing the choice left a really bad impression.ā
I disagree. Waitlists are necessary. As parents, it is up to us to make sure our young teens understand how they work. Hope for the best but realize it is a long shot. In the case here, the student was fortunate to get asked to have and make a choice. Many would love to be in those shoes. Life will present our kids with many instances where things arenāt āfairā and where hard decisions need to be made. This is nothing compared to decisions that will come with college, careers, relationships and raising a family of their own. My advice is to guide your kids through the process while making efforts to keep your own emotions out of it and let them know that there are many, many paths to success in life and that both choices can be the right one. Happiness and success is driven more by oneās individual efforts than what boarding school they choose at 13 or 14 - or whether they stay home and go to their local public school. This isnāt life or death decision-making here after all. Perspective is important. 
Not sure why some of these schools are bragging about their yield, then making a waiting list 10-100 times the number of students they have ever taken off it. We know of late applicants accepted at a number of highly selective schools over waiting list applicants, so they should probably call it āpermanent limboā or ā purgatoryā or something.
@doschicos, well said. Iām glad that my son understands this and we try and make sure he realizes, āLife is not fair!ā Itās life and you deal with what comes your way. Thanks!
Love you avatar, @wjeanj2005!
I love the adage: Lifeās hard, get a helmet.
I admitā¦I hate the WL. Just look at our posts last year It is a hard concept to come to terms with (hence this thread being pinned and over 100 pages). But it is a reality, I do believe it is necessary. And like other necessary, undesirable things in lifeā¦you come to terms with it for what it is and you move on. Figure out a way to either conquer it or walk away from it.
Iāve been trainingā¦next go round, Iām ready for you WL. :ar!
The experience with the WL for high school will better prepare you and your kids for the harsh reality of the college WL. This practice is even more prevalent in the college admissions world and has higher stakes.
@Garandman , totally agreed with you. They made the wailist 100 times more than what they took, sometimes infinite times (as they drew none from waitlist), Do they have to do that to make that extreme? Personally, as life is unfair and tough, I prefer a hard deny on applications, instead of soft rejection. Making the waitlist 100 times more than needed seems very very unfair to applicants. I know waitlist is a good system for both school and applicant. Making waitlist 100 times is not a right thing to me.
If the school usually takes 5 students off waitlist, making the waitlist 50 seems appropriate, and it gives some hope to the students on the waitlist; Make the waitlist 500 is statistically nonsense. I know some people here will defend for 500 even longer waitlist as school can always find a replacement, but thatās totally for the benefit for the school. Do you really think 50 applicants on the waitlist wonāt have the same effect as 500+ on the waitlist for a replacement?
The WL IS totally and only for the benefit of the school, and the school does not (and IMO should not) have to convey how many are on it as that is irrelevant to YOU. A WL could be 500 deep and if you are one they want and need, youāll get off it. A WL could have only 5 and if you are not one they want or need, you wonāt get off it. In either case, you have zero ability to assess chances.
Consider a WL a rejection and move on. If you happen to be one of those who get the call, you can deal with that news when it comes, but you should assume it will never come.
Two years ago, both my kids were taken off the WL from their dream schools. Both (one applying to 9th and the other applying to 10th grade) applied to 5-6 schools and were WLād or rejected by all of the schools they applied to. It was cruel M10 for us. We were ready to move on to LPS. Then, on April 11, one of GLADCHEMMS schools called first offering admission for 9th grader. We werenāt sure if we should take it because of the 10th grader. Then, another GLADCHEMMS school called about an hour later for the 10th grader. We accepted the offer without any hesitation and called back the other school to accept the offer. It was such a happy-ending journey for our family. Both kids are happy and doing well at their schools. I just wanted to share a story with you that getting off WL actually happens however rare it may be.
@momof2calkids : Were/are you a full pay family ? Significant financial aid ? Athletes ? Thank you in advance !