Apologize if it a repeat questions but I can’t find a straight answer anywhere. I am not seeing students being waitlisted when choosing ED, EA or RD, Not sure if it a common practice among universities, Students having multiple acceptances would choose only one. I was wondering what happens to seats that get vacant after May 1st. Lets a university accepted 120 students and has 100 actual seats, let say 90 student accepted. Even if universities maintains waitlist some kids will just accept and won’t join, seems like too complicated for universities to manage
You may not be seeing but most schools do have a wait list - and that’s basically a rejection, but hedge for them in case they need students.
Just look at the common data set - especially the 2nd tier privates - they wait list far more kids than they enroll…a nauseating amount.
You can see the waitlist #s in section C2 of each school’s common data set.
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Schools do not create waitlists for ED and EA. Only after the RD round.
Students that are not accepted or rejected in the early rounds are deferred to RD, not waitlisted.
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I agree that is generally true. But there are some schools who do waitlist in the early rounds. I was surprised to see that UMass Amherst waitlisted quite a few people in the last “wave” of their EA round, rather than deferring them to the RD round.
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UNC waitlists after EA also.
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Let’s concede that there is a microscopic number of colleges that wait-list early applicants so future posts can concentrate on the OP’s question rather than minutiae.
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Universities track their yield numbers very closely so they generally have a good sense how many students will actually matriculate. They hedge those bets with having wait lists (and most schools do have wait lists). It’s been done for decades (I even had a WL decision back in the stone ages ; )). As noted, the school’s common data set will have the specific information about the size of the WL and how many students came off. Bottom line, it’s not “too complicated” for them to manage.
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The straight answer is easy: colleges go to their waitlists when they need to fill seats. They’ve been managing it for years. It’s not difficult for them.
When seats become vacant after May 1, they go to their waitlist. It’s very common for colleges to ask students if they want to remain on the waitlist, so they have a huge number of people who they know might accept if they offer admission. My own kid got a waitlist offer in early July after paying her deposit at another college.
One thing that is opaque and that colleges don’t often reveal is who gets off the waitlist. I’m guessing there are myriad factors. A college might rank their waitlist. Perhaps a few kids might be in that list who were fantastic and were originally in the admit pile, but there just wasn’t room. Or they might have a smaller pile of waitlisted students who are children of alumni, or full pay, or kids who wrote in to say it was their very first choice and showed a lot of interest.
Edit: Some colleges go to their waitlist before May 1. There could be a few reasons for this, but the most likely one is that they want to ensure they are meeting their yield.
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The Common Dataset will have this information for the schools you are interested in OP. But high yield schools (brand names) take very few waitlisted kids in my experience. Like others have said, most schools have a good idea of how many students will accept spots with a margin of error built in.
I will say though that WL kids do well over the summer at larger colleges and unis.
Also after May 1, participating schools that still have seats left will be listed on the NACAC site.
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They may be seeing a trend in early (before May 1) matriculation or not predicting an under yield result.
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Thanks so much for the wonderful insight everyone. From a student/parent point of the real game begins after May1st if they are waitlisted out of RD. Can we expect a student’s ranking from a college in waitlist ? Is there a universal or college specific deadline on waitlist ?
THAT was a bummer - since it looks like they only took about 7% if I am reading it correctly last year I wish they would have either deferred or just said no. Most kids would rather know either way then left hanging - they certainly aren’t sparing any feelings of my kids by doing that!
Most colleges will not rank waitlists and many colleges will have waitlists many times larger than they expect to accept off it.
The deadline to accept a waitlist offer will vary by college.
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No.
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Honestly I think it’s better to look at a WL as a “no” and move on to getting excited about schools where there is an acceptance. If you win the lottery and come off the wait list, great, but the odds are slim.
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That is exactly why I think they should just say No - why bother with the WL. Especially when they put so many students on it at some places.
Someone’s going to get off the WL, usually. It’s fine to accept a WL spot so long as the student goes in with zero expectations. At the end of the day, love the school that loves you back.
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Some schools take hundreds off the wait list. Others none or a handful but put thousands on.
No reason not to put your name on but then forget that you did it !! My kid stayed on one of two. Personally I’d have gone on both. Why not ?
Sue was 0 for one. Maybe she could have been one for two 
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My point is if schools put many many on the waitlist they obviously just don’t want to say No to these kids but why not - afraid to hurt their feelings? I do not need to keep going back and forth I get what you are saying but I stand firm with my belief that they should keep it to a minimum to be realistic - we could go round and round this but that is mine take on it and I understand yours - this is not my first time to the college rodeo and have seen a lot!