<p>I have a probing question. Does anyone else think that waitlists are getting larger as a ploy for universities to lower their acceptance rate? Example: Miami accepted around 7000 applicants this year as opposed to 9000 last year. They had a few thousand more applicants this year as well. They state on my acceptance letter that they have 2000 slots open, the SAME amount as last year. Thus, you would think they will have to take a significant portion of people of the waitlist.
In short, colleges might be slowing doing this in order to lower their acceptance rate. I may be wrong, but you can't argue much with the facts. Anyone else agree with me?</p>
<p>bump…please read this…I think I’m on to something</p>
<p>Admissions is a much less predictable game now than in the past. It’s quite possible that Miami just doesn’t know how many kids will accept offers of admission this year and they don’t want to be overzealous. Some schools accepted a few too many kids last year and were left scrambling to find dorms for the extra freshman, so they’re accepting fewer this year and will use the waitlist if fewer kids accept.</p>
<p>Well i sure hope so!! To make me feel optimistic about my UChicago waitlist status.</p>
<p>Perhaps they’re doing this because their yield was greater last year than the year before that. They base the ratio of admits to spots on their expected yield.</p>
<p>There’s not really much reason to waitlist more people as a method of reducing the acceptance rate, as most universities received more applications this year than they did last year, which already reduces their acceptance rate.</p>
<p>99.8% sure that waitlisted students who get accepted are included in the overall acceptance rate, so drawing in more students from the waitlist does NOT lower acceptance rate. </p>
<p>The final formula for acceptance rate is “enrolled freshmen/total applicants,” and those who come off the waitlist are enrolled freshman just like anyone else.</p>
<p>
Even if they are counted, drawing from the waiting list lowers the acceptance rate if the yield from the waitlist is higher than the yield for regular admits. This is likely to be true for a few reasons. You have to accept a place on the waitlist so students who got into a school they like better will decline. Students that want to move to the front of the line often write a letter saying that if accepted off the list they will enroll. And before taking someone off the list, the school can call or write to see “if they are still interested”.</p>
<p>To make up an example, suppose college X has a 30% accept rate. To fill a class of 1500 students they have to accept 5000 applicants. Suppose instead they accept only 4000; they will enroll 1200 and need 300 more students. If the yield from the waitlist is 60% they need to take 500 from the waitlist. So they accepted a total of 4500 instead of 5000 to fill out their class, which lowers their acceptance rate.</p>
<p>Oh wait, I made a huge mistake in assuming acceptance rate was total enrolled freshmen divided by total applicants. The true formula must be total offered acceptances over total applicants. Not sure what I was thinking there…</p>