Deerfield, Choate, Hotchkiss, Groton and Milton
@CC4life ^^ accidentally forgot to @ you
It is very hard to say that you were waitlisted because you applied for FA as these are schools with large FA budgets, while withdrawing MIGHT help slightly, I donāt think it will be a make or break factor in making it off the waitlist. To put it really bluntly: you could have won a super bowl ring and have 2 oscars and have all Aās and if the school is overenrolled or has met its yield, there is no way to be removed off the waitlist. As long as you have decided to stay on the waitlist you will have to wait until late march/April to truly figure out what your chances are, because by then the schools will have a better sense of who has enrolled and who hasnāt. I understand it is really frustrating, but there is just nothing that can be done at this point to be 100 percent sure you get off the waitlist.
My dd was WL at one school, her first choice. She applied as a day student. The school sent a very detailed FAQ about the situation as a whole (i.e. # of students on the WL, the WL isnāt ranked, how to let them know of your continued interest, how many kids typically get off the WL in a given year, what she could do to let them know why they are her first choice, etc). It was very well done. Did any of your schools do something similar? If not, Iād call your AO and ask. For this school, the WL is 60 kids and about 3-5 are accepted in a given year. I think it really all depends on the school and their needs. Best of luck.
@laxswim29 Thank you so much! Choate did send an FAQ, but it didnāt say anything about the numbers. I donāt want to be naggy and call the admissions office right now since theyāre probably really busy with the accepted students. I have been working on emails and such but Iām not sure whenās the best time to send them in.
@CC4life Thanks for the info! By any chance, do you know approximately how big the WLs are for those schools? I heard that DA has about 700 on its waitlist 
@PhotographerMom: Pour another glass of Prosecco Sangria. Iāll take over for a bit.
No one can possibly answer either of those questions for any individual with any satisfaction as no one has that crystal ball. As mentioned a few hundred times upthread, itās time to move on.
Anyone wondering if they should hold out hope for a spot off a WL needs to understand how they work. I will summarize:
- You were considered qualified, but there just aren't enough spots at that school for every qualified applicant.
- But, sometimes, a WL decision is a soft rejection given when the school has a reason to not want to offend a family (often legacy/donor) with an outright rejection.
- WLs aren't ranked and they are there to benefit the schools, not you. The WL is a pool of applicants whose profiles closely match those of the students who were offered admission. They exist for the schools to fill the holes left by those who choose not to matriculate. Because you can never know what those holes are (male/female, day/border, instate/out-of-state, athlete/sport, etc.), you can never know your chances of coming off a waitlist.
- A WL could be 500 deep and if you are the one who matches an empty hole, you'll get off it. A WL might be only 5 deep (they never are, but go with me here) and if you do not match an empty hole, you won't get off it. In either case, regardless of the size of the WL, you have zero ability to assess chances.
- One person declining to attend does not open up a corresponding spot on the WL. If a school has 100 spots to fill and sends out 120 offers of admission, only after the 21st person declines is there an empty spot. The better the school is at managing its yield, the slimmer the odds of any movement on the WL. That's why many schools never go to the WL at all and even end up a bit overenrolled (which means they will send out fewer offers the following year).
So, if you are fortunate to have an acceptance, take it, and donāt look back. Love the school that loves you. Consider a WL a rejection and move on. If you happen to be one of those who gets the call, you can deal with that news when it comes, but you should plan as if it will never come because, most likely, it wonāt. But, if you DO decide to remain on a WL, #1952 says it all. Please (re)read it carefully.
@PhotographerMom, my glass is getting a bit low. Could you pass the Sangria?
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I have heard the DA waitlist has been very inflated and I know that they hit over enrollment by the end of march last year and have been over enrolled for several years now. From looking at the 2019 decisions thread it does seem like there is a very large portion of deerfield waitlists this year as well (I couldnāt find a single person who was rejected from DA).
I received my decisions for M9 and was rejected from four schools and waitlisted at five. Unfortunately, I wasnāt accepted anywhere. Do you think Iāll have a chance at just one of the five waitlists?
Oh my @PhotographerMom. Iām just speechless
Perhaps we could come up with a prize for the person who posts a question on this thread that hasnāt already been answered multiple times.
@ChoatieMom I agree wholeheartedly. I want to make this AS CLEAR AS POSSIBLEā¦As someone who has also been waitlisted at several schools it is time for ALL OF YOU to recognize that there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING you can do to ensure you get off a waitlist. I also want to reiterate what literally every waitlist decision letter in the history of the boarding school world has said: there is no way to know what your chances are until around April, and even then the odds will always be slim. IF the Admissions office says they donāt know if there will be waitlist movement or how much waitlist movement there will beā¦DEFINITELY NO ONE on here can tell you the answer to your question. Rather than spending time asking the same questions. PLEASE FOR THE SAKE OF BOTH YOUR PARENTS AND THOSE OF US ON CCā¦PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY OVER TO THE LIST OF BOARDING SCHOOLS WITH ROLLING ADMISSIONS THAT IS LINKED BELOW AND FIND A PLAN-B:
http://www.boardingschools.com/find-a-school/quick-lists/rolling-date-application-deadline
@sadpotato I got waitlisted for three schools, including Deerfield also. The weird thing is that I did apply for Choate but we canāt seem to find out any information regarding their decision. We applied through gateway to prep, and ideas?
^^^Yes. Pick up the phone.
I also got accepted into Middlesex School. We didnāt do much research about it before I applied because it was one of the safety schools. Does anyone have any advice about it?
@MAboarder ā Reach out to Choate if the decision is not in your GoChoate portal (which can be accessed through the several emails they have sent out regarding decisions), and If your decision ends up being a rejection or waitlist, confirm your spots on the waitlists (if you want to remain on it). Then attend Middlesex revisit days and then assume that is the school you will attend unless you are accepted off a waitlist. Congrats! Middlesex is an excellent school and Iām sure you will thrive there just as much as you would at the schools you are waitlisted at!
@ccforlife Thank you, we will double check the emails and my mom is going to call them tomorrow to verify.
Congratulations. But as a note for the future when applying to college - schools with acceptance rates as low as Middlesex (or lower) canāt be considered safeties.
Questions about Middlesex should be asked on the appropriate thread:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/2129977-middlesex-q-a-discussion.html#latest
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Any examples of schools that werenāt as popular this year that are great schools to contact for admissions