I was wondering if a school will tell you how many got waitlisted when the results for waitlist (after may 1) come out…
For instance, in some waitlist letters from RD it says that “in previous years 10-100 were accepted off the wait list”. When I get notified about the school I am waitlisted from, will they either say accept or reject, or will they also include stats of how many didn’t get off the waitlist (let’s say 0 got off the list, will the letter tell me that no one got off)?
I guess this question is geared towards those who have been waitlisted last year. For clarification, I’m talking specifically about some ivies. It’s more a curiosity question, I guess
Google and
You should pull up the common data set, which tells you the stats for teh school you want to know.
Also, you can try google and collegedata, which is a site that seems to cull the info from the common data sets.
you should find the number on the waitlist and the number they’ve taken in the past.
@Dustyfeathers thank you for ur advice! I think maybe my question is unclear. In the FAQ of my school, I already know the number of people accepted from the waitlist in previous years (range from 10-100). I was just wondering, for the day when I get my result from my waitlist school after may1, will the letter say (roughly) “hey u were rejected but it’s okay because zero people got accepted from the waitlist”, or will I just not know until next year?
Please excuse my bad grammar 
WL admittances are extremely unpredictable. Figures can and do vary wildly from one year to the next. You can’t use them to determine your chances. Penn accepted 90 from WL last year. The year before it was 136. The year before that, it was 44. So you see it’s a mugs game trying to gauge your chances.
@Lindagaf ah thanks so much! Is it rare for ivies to accept 0?
I have no idea. Just google the common data set of colleges you are interested in and scroll to section C2. Ususally that’s where you will find WL numbers. We don’t have to tell you how unlikely it is. Literally thousands are on WL.
And no, the letter will just say sorry, no room. They won’t tell you how many they took off WL.
And to be clear you will not get a single letter on May 1. The school will begin making calls on then and continue to do so until it has filled the class. Usually at that point, they will send a notice to tell you that there will be no further waitlist activity. People are admitted as late as July.
Remember that if someone comes off a waitlist at school A, he will decline the place that he has taken at school B, which will now create an opening there. If you were to take that one, the school where you have sent and deposit will now have an opening. This process goes on every year. But the point is that it’s dynamic and can take a month or 2.
@gardenstategal huh, this is new to me! I thought everyone just recieved an email like for RD but what you say makes sense… so is it safe to assume that if I don’t get a call/email in let’s say, a month, that I didn’t get off the WL?
Also, is it usually by call? I assumed email for some reason or on a portal
Never mind, just saw the PENN waitlist thread fro
Last year
They will call and ask if you want the place. You’ll have about 48 hours to respond, then they’ll get you all the enrollment info if you say yes. If you say no, they are on to the next person.
If they don’t reach you on the call, they will try again. They are trying to complete their class right up to capacity so are working fast.
Don’t expect a response on May 1. We found it helpful to stay involved on the CC threads for the schools as people were reporting on WL activity.
Only stay on the WL for schools you like better than the one where you are paying a deposit. Doing it “just to find out” is a waste of time. But make sure you accepted a WL position - you don’t automatically get put on it.
There may be schools that do this via email or portal but I have no experience with those.
My D got off two waitlists. Both times she was called. One call came very early in May, the other came two months later. On that same day she received a letter from the third WL school saying the school would not take anyone off the WL.
@Lindagaf just out of curiosity did your D attend a WL school?
Yes, the one that caled in July. Made the Dean’s List, is enjoying it.
Focus on the schools admitted you and don’t think about the waitlist until you get a notice.
You may get more than 48 hours for the decision. My D was called and had about a week or so to decide. Good luck! She stayed on the WL as a bit of a lark – she had applied elsewhere SCEA and had fully planned on going to that school, but when the WL call came, we decided to visit that school.
@cookieloverboy - The year (2015) my daughter was WL at Notre Dame they took 0 off of the list. I’m pretty sure the letter she received said that they weren’t going to the WL that year due a full class. This letter came in early May.