<p>This year, I applied to 14 schools total. I was accepted into four (University of Michigan, Northwestern, Brown, and Duke), rejected by three (UPenn, Yale, Stanford), and wait listed by seven (Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Dartmouth, WUSTL, JHU, and UChicago).</p>
<p>Does it seem at all weird or unusual to be wait listed at this many schools? Statistically, the chance of this happening is probably very small. I feel like the WUSTL wait list offer might have been because they thought they weren't a top choice for me (which was true).</p>
<p>And as for what to do at this point, I am definitely accepting the wait list for H, P, and Columbia, but is it worth it to take the spot on the other four?</p>
<p>It is only worth taking a spot on the wait list if the school is one you prefer over the one you matriculate to (out of Michigan, Northwestern, Brown, or Duke that admitted you). Of course, you should not get your hopes up too high about being admitted from the wait list.</p>
Because “waitlist” does not mean you are close to being admitted, which sounds like your interpretation. Maybe once upon a time it met you were just about in, now it usually means something quite different. </p>
<p>How waitlists “work” is one of the shameful sides of college admissions, IMHO. There is no rule that requires putting only 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!! Parents and other kids would treat these phantom acceptances like real ones in signalling desirability.</p>
<p>Exhibit A should be Duke, a school striving to better its reputation. Duke waitlisted 3,382 students in 2011, a number that is about twice the size of the number of places they have for frosh. In other words to empty the waitlist every single person accepted would have to decline, and so would the entire set accepted from the waitlist to replace them. Of course Duke has no illusions this will happen; in 2010 they took a grand total of 60.</p>
<p>It was, however, a good move on Duke’s part to have 3,382 kids out there spreading the word at their HS that they are waitlisted at Duke. If 2 or 3 kids at each HS say to themselves “Sally got waitlisted and my stats are similar, maybe even a bit better; I think I can get in!” then Duke gets a bump in the number of students that applied, making it even more selective and boosting its desirability.</p>
<p>Accept the spots if you want, but I wouldn’t get my hopes too high if I were you. Unfortunately, but that’s how the game is played these days.</p>
<p>“is it worth it to take the spot on the other four?”</p>
<p>OP, are you sure we can help you? Care to tell us your intended major?</p>
<p>“Maybe Dartmouth, but not other 3 schools.”</p>
<p>@princeton2031: If that’s how your critical thinking works, I hope you really don’t have anything to do with Princeton.</p>
<p>Of course, waitlist can mean anything from “soft rejection” to “almost an acceptance” (but often closer to the former). Accept waitlist spots only at schools you like more than the ones you have. As simple as that.</p>
<p>@disari21 I guess what I’m trying to say here is, does the fact that so many schools wait listed me look more like the former or the latter? If that makes any sense… Maybe I’m just overthinking this</p>
<p>No one knows. All colleges have their own criteria to admit people, and your chance of getting in after being waitlisted at one particualr school has little to do with the fact that you got waitlisted at 6 other schools.</p>
<p>To prove my point, here’s the outcome of a guy from my country(these are for real):</p>
<p>Accepted at Drexel with ridiculously low aid
Rejected at Grinnell
Waitlisted at Colby
Accepted at UChicago with huge aid(almost 20000 $ more than he actually needs )</p>
<p>Does these result correlate in any predictable way? I’d say they don’t.</p>
<p>You are clearly infatuated with rankings. Brown and Columbia are probably the most dissimilar selective schools out there in terms of curriculum- as in “what you’ll be doing for the next four years”.</p>
<p>What do you mean “is it worth it”? Financially? Emotionally?</p>
<p>My advice: get over yourself and be happy with your success. I’m sure you’ll love it at Duke.</p>
<p>That’s a lot of waitlisting. Last time I checked, there was no fee to join the waitlist, so why not accept all of them? There is nothing to lose.</p>
<p>Accept either Duke, Michigan or Northwestern (factor in financials or whatever you want)…and then see what happens, but don’t get your hopes up. All 3 of those are solid schools depending on what you want to do.</p>
<p>Realistically, keep trucking and see if H/P/C actually do end up opening up. Then you can make a call if it comes to that.</p>
<p>OP not sure you’re right about statistical potential of being waitlisted. Applying to more schools does not change your chance of being rejected/waitlisted at any particular school, especially when all are so selective. Applying to more schools increases chances of getting into at least one only when you add more safeties and matches. The “if I apply to multiple Ivies, surely I’ll get into one” is not really valid. Your acceptances are at really good schools - I say pick one and move on!</p>
<p>Stop stressing, forget the wait lists and go ahead and accept one of the great offers you already have. You got into great schools, why waste time agonizing over somewhere that didn’t want you enough to admit you from the start. Who are you trying to please by striving to get into ever more ‘prestigious’ schools - whatever is the right fit, go there and prosper. In the end, the choice of college does not make you, its what you do in college - wherever you decide to go - that makes you a success. </p>
<p>You could substitute almost every college name for “Duke” above. For example, at least Duke took kids from the massive waitlist. Last year, Harvard waitlisted about 1,500 and took no one. Nada.</p>
<p>Your question about accepting one of the four offers is baffling. You have to accept one since you will typically not hear from your wait list colleges until after the May 1 acceptance deadline. You will need to make the deposit to the college you pick. Should one of your wait list schools come through alert the college where you’ve accepted. You lose your deposit. Talk to your college counselor about your wait list. See if he can be your passionate advocate for your preferred (only one) college. As an advocate for you he might help you get in.</p>
<p>Wait list is almost like rejection, but just make you feel worse. I would suggest to forget about the wait list schools while remain on the list. It is not very likely to have something happened there. Just make your pick from the admitted schools and pay the deposit near May1.</p>
)</p>