My D is on 4 waitlists because she clicked “accept” right away when reading the decision. However, two of these she has no hope of getting off because they are need aware wait lists. The third is kind of far away so she’s not pursuing it. The 4th is need blind for waitlists, promises to fund wait list admits the same as others, is not that far from us, a fantastic fit for her, and she’s pursuing it while at the same time moving on.
S put on waitlist at:
Penn State
Cal Poly SLO
SUNY Binghamton
Stevens Tech
He accepted all WL offers. I saw no reason for him to reject a WL spot. He worked hard on each and every application, why not see what happens in the end? He would gladly attend any of them (that’s why he applied in the first place) if they came in with an attractive, and timely offer. He fully understands that attractive offers are highly unlikely at this point, but hey, you never know.
- BTW, this goes entirely against my “go to a college that shows you love” philosophy. *
Hi, OP here. Things have now changed a bit for my son – his results so far:
Accepted: Fordham, Pitt, U of Miami
WL: Colby, BC, NE, Wake Forest & Villanova
Rejected: Cal, UCLA, USNA & Duke
Rejected with preferential transfer offer (Trojan Transfer Plan): USC
Rejected with guaranteed transfer offer: Cornell
As a result of the Cornell TO (where if he gets a 3.0 at another school in his first year, he automatically gets a spot at Cornell as a soph), he is less worried/concerned about the WL. He is currently staying on 3 of the 5: BC, NE & Villanova. However, the FA packages would have to match the pretty sweet scholarship he has at Miami. Now that he’s only thinking about 1 year at another school before Cornell, I don’t think any school will sway him from the WL. Certainly, none of these top the Cornell option in his mind. We’re going to play it by ear, but he’s getting more & more excited about Miami & “living it up in the sun” before transferring to Cornell (I also think there’s a 50/50 chance he will love Miami & stay, which is great, too).
Please keep us all posted on WL results as they come in over the next 8 weeks. Last year, my son’s friend found out he was accepted off Columbia’s WL in late May, so I think we’ll have to wait until then.
@Steglitz90-- I hear you! My daughter graduated last year-- accepted at five, rejected at one, and WL at SEVEN schools. She received a guaranteed Cornell transfer for sophomore year, too. We had her take it, just in case she was unhappy with her decision. She’s staying at Villanova next year. Good luck!
@Squirg – Glad she is loving Villanova. My son was really upset at the WL at Nova – it was probably a hair above UM on his wish list. That may be the one I could see him picking over UM for one year (& possibly staying).
I’ve heard 2 days. But it might vary by school.
@hopefulmom123 I think the acceptance time varies from school to school & also depends when you hear. Wake Forest said 24 hours – but it’s not clear to me that you have to deposit $$ within 24 hours. I have read on other threads that BC gives you 24 hours to say yes, and then they get back to you with an FA offer & give you some time (a week?) to make the decision & deposit. I think if you are admitted off the WL prior to May 1 deadline, you have until May 1 like everyone else.
@hopefulmom123 - Actually, 2 days is just about right. If you haven’t declined being waitlisted, that means you’re willing to accept the school at the first availability. The college is giving you all the courtesy in making the spot available for your child before others on the long waiting list. Sure, 2 days would be short if your child is the only one on the waiting list. The college needs to know from your family asap so they can move on to the next child.
Yeah, I think it’s fair. If you don’t clearly prefer the WL school to the one you committed to on May 1, you should just get off the waitlist or immediately say no so they can find the students who will jump at it.
You shouldn’t accept the wait list unless you are sure you will attend if offered admission.
^ No. Some kids are offered more than one WL position and have no idea which if any of the schools may come through with an offer. Therefore, it is perfectly appropriate to accept a position on multiple wait lists (assuming all of those schools are preferred to the admit school(s)). There are a number of considerations that go into accepting an offer of admission from a WL, including the amount of financial aid - not all students can be sure in advance that they will agree to attend.
I think the WL 2 day response time is reasonable in isolation, but if you are waiting on more than 1, you may not want to jump at one without knowing what the other option may have been. For example, you may get offered your #3 WL choice, while better than your current choice, may not be the best offer that will come along… ugh… #firstworldproblems
I would argue that you shouldn’t decline the wait list unless you are sure you will NOT attend if offered admission.
My nephew was waitlisted at four schools: Bates, Washington and Lee, Lehigh and Connecticut College. He decided to stay on the waitlists of all but is actively pursuing Washington and Lee and Lehigh (emailing admissions reps, etc.). He spoke to someone at one of the schools yesterday who told him that they try to choose full pay students over those needing financial aid and since I’m sure there is no shortage of full pay students on the waitlist, I consider him not in the running. It’s unfortunate, I think. If they have no intention of taking financial aid students off the waitlist, they shouldn’t put them on the waitlist, as it just raises students’ hopes.
That’s a dirty little secret that most AOs would not admit to.
He asked in an email if he would be disadvantaged for needing financial aid and she said it would be better to talk on the phone so I don’t think she wanted to put it in writing.
@Postmodern “I am curious about this and have no dog in the fight… but looking at 2016’s CDS, adding all 42 students Colby admitted off the waitlist would increase the admit rate by only 0.55%. Is that enough to move the needle to do it purposefully?”
I’m not on CC every day so please excuse the lateness of this reply to your March comment. No, .55% isn’t enough to make Colby look more selective, BUT, if those 42 kids have lower standardized test scores and/or GPAs, then the effect is to raise the average of both in the college’s common data set.
I know Colby isn’t the only school to do this, but, it really exemplifies for us how the college admission process isn’t one that strives, at large, to put students at ease. It’s pretty infuriating, to be honest.
Schools use waitlists, too, for very qualified kids who did not show any interest. We are hoping to put together a very tailored list and show interest at every school S19 applies to. I sort of think that makes sense. Why would you even apply to a school that you haven’t taken the time to know? The student might not even fit if they haven’t looked at each school closely enough. Schools notorious for waitlisting in the midwest include Wash U and Northwestern, especially if you live in the midwest. If you live close and don’t visit, it’s a strike against you.
By May 1 every kid will have deposited somewhere. If the kid likes a WL school better than this particular deposited school, then stay on the WLs–even if you are on 5 of them.
If not, then take your name off.
To me this seems very fair to everyone.
^Agreed - they should be UP FRONT during the waitlist process (in the system - when you accept the waitlist) and tell kids they are only pulling full pay or that full pay will get preference off the waitlist…
I do see how its very appealing for the schools to only pull full pays off the waitlist - ** especially the ‘need blind’ schools**. If the school was need blind during the regular admissions process, they can mange their financial shortfall (if any) by pulling only full pay kids off the waitlist - and they can continue to advertise that they are need blind for admissions.