I think the waitlists should be shorter. Take only 25 or so kids. Kiddo has a friend that said they took 25 of each gender. They can get their “types” in that category or call others. We got a call from AO on April 9ththat kiddo was likely to be taken if they moved to waitlist. Thrn we got a follow up letter that was very nice. Still kiddo didn’t feel any better. The school still hasn’t moved to the list for our category and are over the numbers. We couldn’t wait and moved on. Of the two waitlists kiddo was on, one was a not a chance and the other was a definite close to in. We didnt care about that waitlist yet stayed on it. Why? Curiosity? Just want to get off the darn list ( maybe).
I know some will defend the waitlist and that’s fine. Life is hard and you don’t always get what you want. That said, a system with 200 kids holding their breath isn’t really a good thing.
And that’s why many of us say, “don’t hold your breath.” 
They can’t build a waitlist with 25 kids. Some might say no when called or otherwise move on. They need to balance gender, grade, and factor in kids who could fill holes on teams, in orchestra, etc., etc. That really isn’t practical with a list built only of 25 students.
Bottomline, they are in the driver’s seat so they will do what fits their needs and plenty of folks willingly wait and hope to be one of the chosen few.
Where do you have the power? You can choose to not stay on the list. You can help your children understand the context of the list and that the chances are fat, slim, or none.
We were a full pay family. Not recruited athletes although both of them joined varsity sports in their first year at school.
I understand why the schools waitlist so many kids; it IS a business and it serves their needs. That said, I believe it’s still quite hypocritical in the way it’s implemented. The admissions (& development) offices at these schools are not committed to the educational philosophy of their own institutions, for - if they were - there would be no way to justify putting kids and families through so much prolonged stress. I’ll be honest, the SSATs and doing the applications weren’t nearly as difficult as this month - AT ALL. At least my kids had some agency; they knew what to do, and they did it. The purgatory of being left in limbo is unconscionable - kids have no idea what to do or how to “wait” for weeks. Toss these kids a bone, for god’s sake: After April 10, send an update or close your waitlist when you’re full (instead of people hearing about it through websites like this). I know they want to keep their yield numbers close to their chest as it is some kind of future marketing advantage/trade secret, but - again - that’s NOT in the best interest of the young people who applied (nor even for the young people already enrolled). As institutions who claim to be fully committed to doing what is best for young people, the way these schools use their waitlist is most definitely against most (if not all) of their own educational mission statements. In an era when student stress is at all time high, seems like these schools should be working hard to mitigate the impact of their own practices. Pisses me off (can you tell? ha!).
If a school sends an email closing the WL to one student and not the other, the reality is that the school closed its list to a student like X. And may have the list open for students like Y and Z. Unless you call specifically (as suggested by many) and get the answer for your own specific child, you cannot know the communications that others have received apply to your family. That has tried to be stressed throughout this thread. I agree limbo is the worst scenario. I hate hate hate the unknown and need to have something to work with (see posts I’ve had regarding reenrollment contract). But the WL actually is not the unknown. Families have something to work with, especially if they took @PhotographerMom’s advice regarding plan B. And plan C. Right now, those on the list are literally holding a lottery ticket…they can choose to put their life on hold in hopes their number is called (extremely unlikely but it happens) or they can continue on with life working toward an alternative goal and outcome. There are still many fine BS out there with openings and rolling admissions. There are numerous quality day schools should you be fortunate to be near one. Most people don’t quit their jobs when they buy a lottery ticket, so life shouldn’t go on hold because one is on a WL.
I’m not trying to be harsh but realistic. And please realize that most of us realists had kids on the WL.
Oh…and if all people are doing at this point is finding a place to vent because they have no other place to do it…I’ll quit trying to be the helpful husband and trying to answer the problem and I’ll realize that what I should be doing is just nodding my head and patting shoulders and handing over tissues. Because I do get that sometimes you just need to scream…hugs.
do schools always email to notify that they will not be moving to WL? We never received any letters like that from any schools… In fact, we didn’t hear anything from schools except for Ravenna “you are on the wait list” notification, I’ve read here that schools send out paper mail as well - never received anything.
^we received emails only. Even from a school we asked to be taken off of the list. They kept telling us to hold tight. After the third email (June, sometime I think) I finally called them and said no thank you. I think it definitely varies by schools.
I do believe Waitlists used to mean something at one time. When I got on the WL for Dartmouth Medical School, I was told I was #4. That year, they took the first 3, and you guessed it, I had to reapply. It’s still painful not to get in from the WL, but at least I knew where I stood. Now, the WL is usually a whole set of a waiting class from which the school plucks to fill a hole. I doubt they tell you when they go to the WL.
Exeter: Record applications; record low acceptance rate; record yield. Not surprising = no one comes off the waitlist.
It seems every year kids apply to a higher number of schools because admit rates are dropping; the schools wait list more kids because they can not be sure, due to kids applying to so many schools, who will yield. Admit rates drop even lower and the wait list balloons. The next cycle families tack on another 2-3 schools to be safe in light of low acceptance rates. Rinse and repeat. The same thing is happening at the college level so consider this a practice run, like the SSAT vs the SAT. I wonder if boarding schools will ever go to early action and early decision options. It might make it easier for schools to secure that tuba player early on and lessen their need to pad the wait list. Schools do not like the wait list either. It is a lot of uncertainty for them as well as the decision to admit or wait list is made without real certainty that the admits will attend.
Perhaps this thread should split into a “Waitlist info” thread with completely objective sharing of information about what folks have heard from schools, and a “Waitlist opinion” thread to allow venting and the like, which has its own value.
At the risk of sounding like my grandfather, perhaps the WL is an opportunity for this generation to learn about and experience delayed (or absent) gratification. Not to be dramatic, but consider it training for more challenging experiences to come in their lives, like loved ones battling chronic diseases, friends/family deployed to warzones, etc.
" The purgatory of being left in limbo is unconscionable - kids have no idea what to do or how to “wait” for weeks."
But as an adult in the equation, you should, IMO. You should understand the chances and be pragmatic and less emotional about it and help your child understand that and that they should move on. And, you can also call them up and ask.
“Most people don’t quit their jobs when they buy a lottery ticket, so life shouldn’t go on hold because one is on a WL.”
Spot on.
@preppedparent , what I suggested, like some other shared my thoughts here, BS should not make the waitlist that deep, like over 500. I am not saying waitlist is all bad. Intentionally making the waitlist long is not a good approach. Based on statistics on this site, roughly 20% was accepted, 40% rejected, and 40% waitlisted.
My daughter was a late applicant to Pomfret. We just found out she was accepted! Because we were so behind, we did not get a chance to visit the school at all. Would love any and all info about the school. From the school website and what I’ve been able to gleam from this website it looks like a really good school.
Any pros and cons is welcome. We only have a couple of days to reply.
Shortly after M10, it looked like most (at least a LOT) of the kids on CC who had applied to Andover had been waitlisted. Our family thought being WL’ed is not a big deal – a lot of kids must have been waitlisted, right? Maybe not.
Sometime in the past couple of weeks, DC was shown a list a teacher at DC’s school had made of kids that had applied to private schools – from DC’s school, almost 30 kids had applied to Andover. Between 1 and 3 were accepted, only 2 were wait listed – one was legacy and the other was DC who had no hooks (and had applied for FA). We were so surprised!
A lot of the kids at DC’s school who were rejected are most definitely academically qualified to attend Andover, so they clearly only waitlisted kids who were an overall good fit for Andover, could potentially fulfill some need, or were a soft reject like the legacy.
The 2 waitlisted kids (one of each gender) are at the top of their class in middle school, had excellent SSAT scores, great ECs, and probably had decent recommendations. Accepted kids had major hooks – without going into detail, let’s say the parents of those kids are VERY well connected.
DC understands that life is not fair and people get a boost sometimes for whatever reason. Maybe it has happened (or will happen in the future) to us as well – haha! At any rate, seeing that list really opened DC’s eyes to how hard it was to get on the waitlist! Completely different from our initial impression from reading CC on or just after M10.
My point in writing this is to tell folks that if you made it to the waitlist, you did great! I know it’s not the ideal situation to be in, and I hope you get off it or have a backup option. Worst case scenario: review your application, make yourself a slightly stronger candidate and re-apply next year – we’re all rooting for you kiddos!
PS I don’t know why I hang around here when DC will be attending LPS, but I think I got addicted to CC!
Congratulations @bump219 !!! I hope you get great feedback from people in the know, but make sure you research older threads, too, that may answer your questions regarding Pomfret!
Congrats @bump219 ! Pomfret School is fantastic.
The campus is gorgeous. The art room, for example, has life size paintings all over the walls which are 2 stories high.
The whole campus meets in the stone chapel twice a week, once for chapel and the other to listen as seniors throughout the year get up individually to give a senior speech which is a culminating experience there.
The math classrooms have tables to write on to facilitate problem solving. There is a strong emphasis on working in teams throughout the campus.
They have a project week between Thanksgiving and Christmas when students take non-academic classes in nontraditional subjects that give an unusual experience or participate in themed travel based on a question.
The school has about 355 students so it has that small, everyone knows everyone size. 80% boarding. There is a special freshman area of the campus that provides a really bonding experience for them.
The students have great school spirit. The academics are challenging, but there is a supportive feeling rather than competitive. (At least that is the feel that I got. I went to their revisit day on April 5 with my son.)
Their college guidance is excellent with students matriculating at top universities.
It is such an impressive school.
Many good points… some hearsay and more educated guesses.
It could all be changed if one or a few leading schools are willing to publish their data. The data do exist. But I have yet to see one good reason not to publish the data.