My son was wait listed at Bates. Anyone have experiences with the waitlist there? He has some other acceptances and not really sure what he will do but was wondering if anyone had experience or advice.
Look st the Common Data Set (Google it) for last year to see how many students were on the waitlist and how many got off. If he is still interested, he should continue to send updates on any accomplishments to the main admissions email.
When we were at a Bates info session this past year, the admissions counselor spoke a bit about the wait list. Said that since they are a small school and target a class of around 500, they have to be careful with not over-admitting, because if they end up with extra kids, they can end up with housing problems. So they would rather admit a few less during the process and then use the wl to get to the right number. But sometimes that is easier said than done. Went on to say that for the current freshmen class, they took just a handful of the wl, but the year before if was a much bigger number.
They had a huge increase in applications this year which may have made yield prediction difficult. That could mean a very large number taken off the waiting list or a very small number. I know this isn’t exactly helpful but it is additional information!
My daughter is a sophomore at Bates. She got off the waitlist a couple of years ago, very early in July. She emailed at least twice to confirm it was her top choice. She also updated with grades, and talked about what she planned on doing while at Bates, and some research ideas for her planned major. Bates did admit a lot of kids off waitlist in her year. She’s very happy and it was the right choice for her, but she never expected to get in and she really forgot about the waitlist. He should do the best he can to express interest, but he should also carry on as though it won’t happen.
Thank you for all of your responses. My son was admitted to a few schools he likes so I guess he will move forward with that while keeping Bates in mind on the off chance he gets in.
I saw the increase in the numbers this year. Any idea why so many more applications?