<p>Am I the only one who thinks that this thread is cruel?
The waitlist is SUCH a self-selective group, and the people who get off it are WAYYY more willing to post as opposed to people who never get off. Some schools (like SPS) give it to just about anybody who's qualified...which is about the whole applicant pool.
The same thing goes for acceptances... am I the only one who finds it a little strange that some people stop posting right around March 10th?</p>
<p>CC is such a skewed view. If you're waitlisted, send a letter with your upgraded grades (possibly a new recommendation? check with the school...), but don't expect much...</p>
<p>I'm sorry if I offended you (I'm not trying to sound harsh), but reality has to set in.
I'm looking at this board, and I'm sort of shocked at the impracticality. It's pretty well known that Andover/Deerfield sends their acceptance letters overnight...yet it's the 13th and people are still holding out that they send some through normal mail.
Would you rather pick false hope over the truth?</p>
<p>So how do the adcom's pick whos coming off the list?
Say 150 kids are allowed in everyyear...how big is the waitlslist?
Do they typically notify you in the summer?
I got accepted to another school but waitlisted to Milton...i really want to go to milton....should i stay on the waitlist and decline the offer to the other school?</p>
<p>eh, and most people dont get in off the waitlists..plan on going to where you were accpeted, or apply to a day school if they're still accepting applications, or find a way to like your public school.</p>
<p>i would not decline the acceptance. most people who get off the waitlist and there are some(i have 2) are students with a hook. or a sibling. i would never suggest decline an offer to stay on a waitlist. go to the other school. if u are unhappy try ilton again next year</p>
<p>well, if you stay on the waitlist and you know you might probably go to another school, don't ruin chances for another kid! Of course, if you have your heart set on Milton, go for it.</p>
<p>I heard that Andover re-evaluates all the candidates on the waitlist for that grade when an opening becomes available. Not sure about other schools though.</p>
<p>And also, xcyeun, if you're not worried about losing a bit of money, you could always sign the enrollment form for Hill first and pay the down payment. Then if Milton accepts you later, just say yes to Milton & all you will lose at Hill is the down payment (although I'm not sure how much money that is). You just have to tell Hill that you're not going before June or July I believe. (It says that somewhere in the papers they send.)</p>
<p>I agree that all schools do it differently, but I don't believe that schools have "The Wait List" -- with all the people who got wait list letters on a...well...a list. Not just one list anyway.</p>
<p>If you got a letter saying you were placed on "the" wait list, I think (generally speaking) you could be on any one of FIVE separate and distinct lists:</p>
<p>1) The Let's not be so cruel/don't burn our bridges/ list</p>
<p>2) The we need to see a more developed transcript list</p>
<p>3) The impressive applicant but no room for more of this type of student list</p>
<p>4) The this one fits well here but we're out of FA at the moment list</p>
<p>5) The let's go one-at-a-time for athletic prospects, so we don't have two stud quarterbacks accept list</p>
<p>Basically, all wait list letters do not -- to my understanding -- mean the same thing. They look the same. Say the same words. But the underlying truth back at Admissions Central probably tells a different story.</p>
<p>I have no idea what practical use this is. Someone asked me what my thoughts were on a PM and I figure it may as well appear here. And, yes, I'm just stabbing blindfolded in a dark room here, so you're probably well advised to steer clear of this and not act on it in any meaningful way.</p>
<p>a few years ago when i got waitlisted at the school i currently go to, i got the high school placement person at my old school to write a letter about me to my current high school saying that it was my first choice and if i got off the waitlist i would go there and she also included some good quotes about what my teachers had written about me in their reports... and then i got in</p>
<p>To D'yer's list above, I think one more category could be added:</p>
<p>6) We like you and would accept you, but we're fairly confident we're not your first choice and you'll choose another school over us. But we'll waitlist you anyway because you're the caliber of student we're looking for just in case we made a mistake in our assumption. BTW, this also helps us manage our yield rate. (example: connection between Deerfield's low acceptance rate and apparently long waitlist? I think so) Not on all candidates, but on some, I am sure admissions officers from different schools do talk to each other.</p>
<p>@ olivia: #1 is the waitlist for benefactors/legacies/feeder school applicants and people who, after reading their application, you have no choice but to say "no" to yet just can't bring yourself to come right out and say it.</p>
<p>@ creative1: that's correct. We can still keep it at 5, though, because #3 and #5 on my list are the same, with really just a fine distinction between them. Your list is the "low self esteem on the part of the school" list. Or, less cryptically, I'd call it the "let's protect our yield figures while keeping our options open for these stellar candidate who are unlikely to accept our offer" list. (Note: This wait list does not exist at the very top schools.)</p>
<p>The list you propose, creative1, DOES have a practical element to it. If you got waitlisted at a school that's not a top school and you think they put you on this list and you really, really want to go to this school...you may be well advised to let them know that you're all theirs if they only had some self-confidence. (Of course you probably don't want to phrase it quite like that!)</p>
<p>I have heard from someone who worked in the admissions department at one of "the schools", they had an administrative job so they were not in on any of the decision making but they did say then when he worked there the schools did indeed communicate with one another about students and it was to keep their yield rates high.</p>