W&M Waitlist

<p>I was wait-listed at W&M, rejected by W&L and Princeton, and accepted to UNC-CH. I wasn't too worried about not getting into W&L and Princeton because they're so difficult, but being wait-listed at W&M kind of baffled me. I felt like a good fit there. W&M and UNC are very similar in quality. I wonder if this had anything to do with being an OOS student (I live in NC). Any Public Ivy will be hard to get into from out of state, but it appears that Virginia schools are known for really helping Virginia residents first, in admission and financial aid. Any thoughts on this?</p>

<p>nc2011grad, You are correct regarding IS vs OOS. It’s simply a statistical issue with roughly 2/3 from Virginia and 1/3 OOS. I believe the number of applications submitted is about the same IS vs OOS so you are competing for fewer OOS slots. Having said that it’s not a given that someone IS will automatically get into W&M even with excellent credentials. I’m from Virginia and I personally know some students who got into excellent schools (ND, Duke, UVA, etc) that did not get into W&M for whatever reason. You can look at what admissions generally looks for (GPA, SAT, etc.) but it is never a done deal until admissions makes the call. UNC-CH is an excellent school and will serve you well if you decide to go there next year. Good luck.</p>

<p>We certainly understand that you are disappointed by the waitlist decision. We do wish we could admit more students but our relatively small incoming class size and our selective admission process simply don’t lend themselves to admitting more students.</p>

<p>W&M and UNC are actually both public ivys but of course you are IS at UNC and out-of-state at W&M. UNC’s student body is only 18% OOS while W&M is 35% OOS so W&M is actually able to admit more OOS students to its incoming class.</p>

<p>Our applicant pool is actually 60% OOS so 60% of our applicants are competing for 35% of our spaces. Our OOS admit rate is only 27% so don’t be baffled. That’s a pretty low admit rate and we are highly selective for both in-state and out-of-state students (approx. 33% admit rate overall).</p>

<p>As a public university, we are going to be more generous with admission rates and fin aid for IS residents (just as UNC likely is for NC residents). That’s simply how public universities operate.</p>

<p>Thanks so much everyone! These statistics really help. They give a better view of the admissions process and exactly what an OOS student is up against when applying to a strong public university. I understand the situation, and feel much better about the decision after reading these answers. Thanks again!</p>

<p>Glad it’s helpful nc2011grad. Oftentimes students and families are unaware that W&M is a public university because our name and our campus seem much more like private universities but we’ve been public since the early 1900s and thus are more competitive for out-of-state students.</p>