Wait list: is there a "got in off the wait list" thread?

Prep School Admissions
21

I suppose any and all wait list movement will occur between now and with in a week or so of April 10th. I was thinking the first to hear might be athletes? Or maybe they wait for all rejections before deciding on who to offer admittance to…

22

Hello all: sorry to be late to this thread, I just saw it today.

Actually I think that @center has a good point. There are kids who get in off the waitlist at schools. Its not a lot, but it does happen.

At my son’s school, I remember receiving access to the parent portal in early summer. All of the new members of the incoming freshman class were listed, along with contact info for the parents. Later in the summer about a week before school started, I looked at the list again and remember seeing 3 new names that I didn’t see earlier.

So these 3 kids clearly got in off the waitlist. I don’t know anything about these kids, or what characteristics made the AO pull them off the waitlist. But having a thread would be useful for future readers. There are lots of kids on the waitlist here on this forum, and having any sort of information would be useful. Simply saying that there is little to no chance isn’t really that helpful.

23

“I suppose any and all wait list movement will occur between now and with in a week or so of April 10th.”

There can be waitlist movement up until the day school starts in September. I’ve seen kids get in off a waitlist over the summer. Sometimes people get cold feet or some current students decide not to return or are asked not to return opening up spots well past April.

24

After some more digging, here is what I was able to find out. In Aug 2014 three kids were added:

  1. Boy - day student - athlete (varsity starter on 2 sports). Looks like another male (day student) withdrew in the summer to open up this spot.

  2. Girl - boarding - athlete; mom has some connections with the school; repeat 9th grader. I don’t see any other girl boarder withdrawing before this student was added.

  3. Boy - boarder - URM from an inner city area, part of a summer program for disadvantaged students. No other boy boarder withdrew before this student was added.

For anonymity sake I am not going to provide more details, so please don’t ask for any

25

@sgopal2 Thanks. Even if only a few that we learn about it could be illuminating. I believe that there are sub waitlists: meaning that if a recruited lacrosse or soccer player rejects a school or schools then they go to another soccer player that they have waitlisted. Schools need their teams filled, musicians and so forth. One poster here has a soccer playing (serious all star as I recall) son that got into severals schools. Well he can only go to one school.

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@sgopal2: I disagree. I think fostering a glimmer of hope will inevitably get inflated into a beacon in people’s minds (“So you mean I have a chance?”)…causing them to make decisions based on an unlikelihood. Just my 2¢.

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@SevenDad actually I disagree. I think it would show how narrow the list really is… I can think of a few waitlists on here that may have a shot due to the sport they play…

28

…and it doesn’t really matter. if people choose to share or not, or extract some value or not …

29

We agree to disagree, then. But at least we can do it respectfully, right?

When 7D1 was accepted to SPS and SAS a few years back, I was in correspondence with a dad whose daughter was waitlisted at SPS (their first choice). When we chose SAS post A10, I let him know…and a few days later he let me know that his daughter was admitted off the SPS wait list. And of course, Stargirl was admitted to Groton off the waitlist (on her third — I think — app cycle). So yes, I’ve seen it happen. But I am also very much in the “love the school that loves you” camp. Best of luck to your kid.

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of course @SevenDad !!! Did you think I wasn’t being respectful? I just meant either way it doesnt matter. What is SAS? I havent had coffee …

31

@Center: No, on the contrary, I think the disagreements in POV on this particular thread have been quite respectful.

SAS is St. Andrew’s School in Delaware.

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@SevenDad Great. SAS I thought thats what you meant… Great school.

33

I was admitted off the waitlist in mid-June as a day student lower at Exeter. I had SSAT scores in the mid-high nineties, a couple years of piano, involvement in different theater camps/plays, and several poems that I submitted along with my application. The interesting part was that they gave me a spot without knowing my FA status. They took another few days to see if I qualified, and once they gave me full FA my family was able to make the final decison for me to go. That seems to prove admissions really are need-blind. Exeter was the only school I applied to (because of location… my parents didn’t want me boarding) so I didn’t have the problem of cancelling commitment at another school.

34

I know a 9th grade girl (international student) got off the waitlist for Choate recently.