<p>Let's say, it's April 1, and my son calls the admission office of the H-Y-P-Wharton-Columbia where he is wait listed, and ask directly "are you sticking to your need blind policy for wait listed candidates also". What their answer/position would be?</p>
<p>(1) "Yes, we apply our need blind policy" AND THEY MEAN IT.
(2) Some kind of obfustication designed to be politically correct, and then in reality favor the full paying candidates.<br>
(3) Honest answer: "We are NOT need blind for the wait listed candidates".</p>
<p>Answer (1) and (3) will allow me to play a straight game. Answer (2) is forces me to play a head game, because I will not know for sure what they are really going to do</p>
<p>We applied for fin aid. Paying a sticker price is a major sacrifice dipping into the savings (what little is left after the melt down) due to the life style choice decision we made about a year ago, but we are willing to do it. </p>
<p>(Please, no discussion on why in the world we are willing to pay sticker price for schools mentioned above, when S can get wonderful education in public schools full ride etc. That's a different line of discussion all together. I am trying to draft our "wait list management strategy" well in advance so that come what may, we are ready to fire immediately without wasting time loading the gun)</p>
<p>Honestly, the colleges you mentioned remain among the richest non-governmental, non-business institutions the world has ever known. They are nearly as rich today as they were five or ten years ago, when they were need-blind and provided excellent financial aid (though less than today). The difference between financial aid or not for their waitlisted students isn't even a rounding error on their financial statements. I imagine that the dilemma you imagine could be real at smaller, less comfortable LACs, for which marginal tuition dollars have real meaning. But at HYPS, etc., even if ability to pay is a decision factor, it is going to be way down the list of factors considered, and is not likely to make a difference in more than, at most, a handful of cases.</p>
<p>Either way, I think those 3 will tell you the truth. I know of other ivies that have large endowments that have been honest in the past that they are no longer need blind when the budget is spoken for. </p>
<p>I simply don't understand how any college is going to find the money this year to not favor the full paying. Those budgets must be being severely tested just by the increased need of so many existing students.</p>
<p>My gut tells me those not needing aid will fare better everywhere.</p>
<p>
[quote]
first of all colleges accept a larger number of students than the actual freshman class size. They base this on statistical models, based on their experience that xx% of accepted students usually attend their school. When they guess this correctly, let's say they have a class of 1000 and they know that 75% of accepted students usually attend. They increase acceptances by 25%, and hope they're correct. If they are, plus or minus a couple of students, they might stick where they are, or go to their wait list for a couple of students. If they're off in either direction, they either risk overcrowding their class or going to the wait list.
[/quote]
Yeah, maybe that's how it worked once upon a time...</p>
<p>However there is no rule that requires just putting enough kids on the waitlist to provide a reasonable buffer for a shortcoming in enrollment. So some smart college adcoms realized they could have it both ways. They could use the waitlist to have a stock of kids to cover any shortfalls. And they could use the waitlist to pass out "acceptances" that didn't require actually enrolling the kid!!</p>
<p>Parents and kids began to view a waitlist letter as practically the same as an acceptance; you were "in" if there was space available. So clever adcoms began sending out "waitlist" letters by the carload. They knew, of course, that the school had taken 1-2 dozen kids at most in the past years, but they'd send out hundreds of "waitlist" letters. This helps the college in the future; kids with similar stats will say "If Julie got in last year, I got a shot too" and apply. Thing was, Julie didn't get in; she was waitlisted and somehow never made it off the list. Colleges love this because the more apps they have the more selective they look. </p>
<p>You can do a little searching on this forum and find out which colleges are known for just sending out floods of "waitlist" letters.</p>
<p>The colleges you mentioned: those that send out flood of wait list letters....</p>
<p>Well, to us, it's the HYPWC (wharton, columbia). Do these schools do that? </p>
<p>Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... Life would have been much simpler if my son did not bother to apply to other schools when he got EA from U Chicago: we would know exactly where he is going! (just kidding).</p>
<p>I think the reason Amherst's waitlist came up is because they are one of the schools that clearly says they are increasing their class size. And if you're revenue conscience you're not going to take 20 additional students who need full tuition. I don't think it takes an accountant to figure that one out.</p>
<p>And I don't think any of the other "richest" or "wealthiest" of schools are much different. Harvard is laying off 10% of workers. Dartmouth, who said they would freeze hiring and reduce by attrition only laid off quite a few employees at the beginning of February. Some schools are just more honest than others.</p>
<p>Our GC has been pretty clear about saying wait lists are a little different than original deferrals and the rules change a little bit. Why else write the letter begging your way off of it for most of these top schools?</p>
<p>Yes, those colleges have had thousands of kids on their waitlists in the past. I don't think it's for the reason mikemac says, since I don't know anyone who considers being waitlisted at those schools anything other than a nice rejection coupled with a lottery ticket. In many cases, it serves as a polite kiss-off to rejected legacies or others the college staff hopes they aren't insulting too much by rejecting them. </p>
<p>Every spring, it is painful to read the posts by waitlisted students, each convinced that he or she will be one of the handful to get an offer. But, yes, we'll see how things go this year.</p>
<p>MY children's waitlist strategy was to be happy with the places that actually accepted them, and to decline their place on the waitlists.</p>