<p>I recently attended a visit back day with my son at one of the boarding schools regularly discussed on these boards. I had the opportunity to have a cup of coffee with the Admission Director who volunteered to me that last year they admitted only one ninth grader off their wait list.</p>
<p>Hope for the best, expect the worst. Consider and be excited about alternatives. Everything happens for a reason.</p>
<p>I guess it depends on the school and its size. I was WL at 2 schools (out of 9) and was accepted at one of them just this past Friday.</p>
<p>what school were you accepted into?
sorry, if you dont mind me asking :)</p>
<p>Probably then waitlists are mainly for insurance and courtesy?</p>
<p>how is that possible? ONE person? their yield can't be that high that only one person decided not to attend, right? or am I just missing something here</p>
<p>Well, they admit more people than they have places for because they know quite a few of them won't accept.</p>
<p>that really sucks. so the waitlist is basically a list of people who they dont really want but will have to refer to just to fill in the spots?</p>
<p>wait a minute.... would it be the same for juniors? Im waitlisted at milton for junior year... but t hey only accepted ten. would they really accept more people than spots available if there is only ten spots?</p>
<p>No, at least some of the wait list is for people that they want but don't have space for. I'm not sure about your situation.</p>
<p>Exeter didn't let anyone off the waitlist last year. my interviewe told me that waitlisted people rarely get off the list. sorry :(</p>
<p>Admission counselor at one of the top tier schools indicated to me that the applicant pools are so strong that practically everyone who is not accepted could realistically be waitlisted. I concluded that waitlists are safe hedge and way to soften the blow.</p>
<p>Yes, please see all info on waitlist from d'yer and myself.</p>
<p>Wow! That's insane! How is that possible that only one student was accepted off the waitlist! Although, I guess waitlist is really a list of people who are the school's "material", but there isn't enough room for them. Perhaps it is a way of saying: Try again next year.
But do we really know? Does boarding school offer any true reasoning and answers to admission questions? </p>
<p>Nope....</p>
<p>well, i know that practically no one will get off the wait list, but tom said something about accepting more students than they have spots for because they know not everyone will attend.</p>
<p>I'm questioning if that's the case with my situation though because there were only ten spots offered. Could they really be that sure that not everyone will come and admit a few more people if there are only ten spots?</p>
<p>They know that not everyone will accept so they depend on their yield from previous years.</p>
<p>even with that few of numbers? which could be 5 girls and 5 boys</p>
<p>What do you mean? I'm talking for the kids who got accepted - they accept more than those who come because they know how strong their yield will be.</p>
<p>ill IM you</p>
<p>Sure! :) Wait ... are you on?</p>
<p>this is what i know:</p>
<p>say a school has 50 spots for freshman year. In the past, about 50% of students accepted later chose to attend (call the yield rate). If they only accepted those 50 kids, they would only have 25 students next year.. and 25 spots would be empty. Thus, they accept more than they can handle. At this school, it would be logical to accept around 100, estimating that 50 would attend. But if the yield rate is higher that year - say, 56%, then they have 6 kids whom they don't have a room for. Thus, they accept a bit less. This school (ABC Academy) would, I assume, accept about 10% less than their yield predicted (50, so they would accept 40). The 10 other spots would probably be waitlisted (along w/ more for cushioning, mishaps and lucrative FA packages at other schools that he WLed kids were accepted to), since it's better to have too few than too many (esp. if boarders), because then they would have to ask kids to give up their acceptance. I would say, of those 100 students, 30% would be a logical number to be waitlisted (excluding courtesies). they only have 10 spots, and thus 20 too many WLers, but they would rather keep you waiting than to not have anyone at all.. (kids are prob more likely to attend safety school if WLed at other school, esp. if in need of FA)</p>