<p>When did wait lists release in previous years? Does anyone know?</p>
<p>In 2011 DS received the call on Sunday evening, May 8. Its not unusual for them to call on weekends so they will have a good opportunity to find students at home. Forget about it for at least another week, then start watching your caller ID for that Minnesota area code…</p>
<p>Heard that Carleton is not going to turn to the waitlist this year. Is this true?</p>
<p>Got an email today saying they won’t be turning to the waitlist.</p>
<p>Could you please post the letter? I haven’t receive anything from them.</p>
<p>The letter’s a little personal to me, as it was directly from an admissions dean I’ve had contact with and written in response to a call I made on May 2nd, but I’ll quote part of the relevant portion.</p>
<p>“After hemming and hawing over the month of April, my Dean has just informed me that we will unfortunately not be going to our waitlist this year. We are in fact oversubscribed for our freshman class.”</p>
<p>So… yeah. Sorry if that’s disappointing. I know it was to me.</p>
<p>Thank’s for posting.</p>
<p>@NemesisNyx Where to then?</p>
<p>It’s complicated. Still on the waitlist for Swarthmore, deposit in at Macalester, but I’ve realized I kind of don’t want to go to Mac so I’m going to call Reed and see if they’ll still take me (long shot, I know). What can I say, I’m exceptionally indecisive.</p>
<p>Reed is reallyyyyy iffy if you haven’t visited. It’s a very niche personality.</p>
<p>I like the kids on the accepted students page best. Really, it’s all iffy, other than Carleton, so I just have to decide where I’ll fit in best.</p>
<p>I am certain Carleton will let their waitlisted students know as soon as they officially release the waitlist. It is still early in May and there are many unknowns out there as other schools turn to their own waitlists. That said, the waitlist is never anything close to a guarantee, the odds have never been in our favor, and I hope everyone is committing to and enrolling at schools they can truly be happy with.</p>
<p>This article has been helpful for me in understanding which schools are known to be financially pragmatic in their admissions decisions:<br>
[Colleges</a> Where Need for Aid Can Hurt Admission Odds - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/03/23/colleges-where-need-for-aid-can-hurt-admission-odds]Colleges”>http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2010/03/23/colleges-where-need-for-aid-can-hurt-admission-odds)
The list includes both Carleton and Reed. That said, if you have a positive decision from Reed that includes financial aid, I would seriously consider calling them, soon. They were very clear in their waitlist letter that they will not be offering aid to any students who enroll from the waitlist.</p>
<p>Reed is a wonderfully unique school in an amazing city, though I wouldn’t call it niche. There is a Reed “type” of student, but s/he is not easy to define: they are engaged and highly intelligent. The school gives the students a great deal of freedom in running the school, voting on the clubs that receive funding, organizing their theme houses, etc. Check the grading policy, as students receive qualitative reviews, but there are in fact “grades” being recording behind the scenes, and they are not inflated, so average GPAs are lower at Reed than other schools. Graduate schools know this, however, and only schools which use strict admission formulas with GPA and MCAT/LSAT/GRE will be a problem (there are some that do, just as some undergraduate schools use GPA + SAT). To me, that is not a reason to cross a dream school off your list. But you really have to visit to know if it will fit you. Much of the higher freshman attrition rate comes from students who do not visit (per the admissions info session). Good Luck.</p>
<p>What I’m saying is I’ve already been “let know,” what I was told is that nobody is getting off the Carleton waitlist this year. I don’t think he would tell me that if it wasn’t definite. As for Reed, I’m calling them shortly.</p>
<p>^You should get in touch with Reed promptly. As of the open of business this morning, you were only two (2) working days late to submit a SIR at Reed. I doubt they would withdraw their offer of admission for your being two days late.</p>
<p>I’ll contact Reed as soon as I make a decision, which unfortunately is easier said than done. Honestly, my whole desire to attend college at all has been killed. And of course, I still haven’t visited Reed.</p>
<p>Contact them anyway so at least they know you are on the verge of deciding to attend. They need to account for a “maybe” especially when it involves FA.</p>
<p>Please dont give up on the idea of attending college. I think it is always OK to ask yourself “why” you are doing something – but to have achieved the grades you must have and to have worked so hard for the last 4 years – there must still be a love of learning somewhere in there. I know how much these disappointments hurt, from the perspective of losing dreams and hopes and plans for some decades now, and I can promise you that you really will get over these losses (and they are losses, no doubt be sad and angry and every other stage before acceptance). </p>
<p>Then you will remember how amazing it is to learn (about literature, or neuroscience, or history, or music …). This is no “the sun will come out tomorrow” speech, but a very real from the heart of experience truth: I am sorry you have lost this particular dream, of attending Carleton, but something else is waiting for you. College is an amazing time to explore your own ideas, as well as some of the most amazing thinkers and writers and explorers who have ever lived, and some of the things you discover may well influence the rest of your life. That will happen wherever you attend school if you let it.</p>
<p>If you’re really that unhappy with your options, you could take a year off and reapply to Carleton, or you could transfer. Or apply to different schools.</p>
<p>I didn’t mean I don’t want to go to college; just that I’m not really attracted to any of my current options and am just kind of disenchanted with the whole thing. It’s not just not getting into Carleton, that’s just the latest in a long string of disappointments. I want to take a gap year and re-assess my options, but my parents wouldn’t approve.</p>
<p>Anyways, good luck to everyone who is attending Carleton in the fall!</p>
<p>Sorry your first choice didn’t work out. But I think it’s time to take a deep breath and look at things clearly: you got into Reed and Macalester, two terrific LACs by any measure. Lots of kids would love to be in your shoes. Best of luck moving forward.</p>