A future engineer ought to admire any organization which finds a simple and cheap methodology to manage demand and maximize utilization given fixed capacity. Which is all a wait list is…
^^ Which makes sense, except when the “wait list” are those with super high stat kids b/c the school feels that those kids won’t pick their school anyway, so they put them on “deferred” to ensure the high yield, instead of just accepting talented kids to begin with. Hence the “low self-esteem” comment.
@blossom. Ah, but! He feels it diminishes demand. Some wait-listing is as you say. Nearly 100% wait-listing is not bothering to vet applicants at all. Lazy. I kind of agree.
@Nhatrang My s20 spent a lot of time studying his HS’s Naviance. He noticed that pattern for a few schools and had a rare weak moment where he felt the need to ask me a question about it. He seemed to accept that (yours) answer reasonably well. But one school (which actually was one which could have been a contender for him), had 18 applicants from our HS in the past 5 years. 2 were accepted and 16 were wait-listed. My reading here on CC suggests this college is famous for ‘really liking demonstrated interest.’ He crossed that school off the list and absolutely would not consider it. There was no scenario he could conjure up to explain this practice which would make the school look good. They were either wait listing kids they should never accept, or those they know they can’t really reign in. That practice puts all the burden on the applicant to create a ‘match.’ The college was not good enough on paper to get away with that practice, according to my 17 year old who has already achieved all the wisdom the universe has to offer.
In other words, if a college wants $70k of his family’s money for four years, they’d best not make us beg for the privilege.
Kinda hard to argue with him on that one. It is all part of his frequent refrain of “don’t fall for it” during our brief conversations about fancy schools.
Note this attitude does not run in the family. His older brother insists that my s20 het himself an elite university degree. But not necessary for undergrad. In fact his older brother has been pushing tOSU all along. Grad school is the time for the fancier schools, as told by my also erudite (he would suggest) but older son. This older son had a LOT of fun in college. Mucho fun. He wants that for his lil’ brother, too. His sister (in-between in age), however, was not encouraged to make this choice. He wanted her to enter a convent.
My kids are interesting.