Check out the CWRU Waitlist FAQ
Case has in the last few years had a waiting list. They do that because they want to guarantee housing so they accept a certain amount, and as those students enroll or not, they fill in the rest with students from the waitlist so they can both fill the housing but not overfill.
So in the past they may have taken 100s of people off the waitlist, e.g.
In 17-18: 586
In 16-17: 333
In 15-16 518
In 14-15: 792
CWRU was known for taking many people off the waitlist. So you would think if you didn’t get accepted right away, that is okay, you had a good chance with the WL. And you would get offered the same merit scholarships as anyone who was accepted immediately.
But last year they had more enrollments than expected…a much better yield…and took 0 off the waitlist. Case admissions felt bad…they had been working with many students…so they decided to offer those that were the most highly qualified and highly interested a gap year…with guaranteed admittance for the next fall. They have since changed that to the spring if the student wants it. I don’t know how many students they offered this to nor how many accepted it.
One major downside of being waitlisted (in addition to the obvious one of not getting in) is that the student can’t attend the admitted visit days. Makes it much harder to then evaluate if the student does get in off the waitlist. Does anyone know if they ever allow waitlisted students to attend one of those?
I believe that if Case wants to offer you a spot of the WL, they ask you something like 'If we gave you a spot off the waitlist, would you accept it?" If you say yes, they will accept you. They need to get the number of students just right for the dorms…so they assume you know if you would accept or not and can’t keep things open.
So for any WL student, attend admitted student days for some of the colleges you have been admitted to, and then if you get off a WL you will have to make that decision.
@bopper I replied about Case’s WL email on the other thread. I’m not sure how to cut and paste. I appreciate their handling of it and think S19 will know more by Friday what he might like to do.
We are 12 hrs or more away from his top OOS picks and S19 refuses to miss school. Sadly, Admitted Students Day won’t be in the cards for us. I think I was more excited about them than S.
@drewsmom17 Both of my kids didn’t end up going to admitted students days because we were living in Germany or going away on Spring break. Both liked their schools and graduated on time.
@bopper thank you, that’s good to know! Since we only saw the schools in the summer, I have a small worry that S19 didn’t get a true pic. He’s pretty easy going and social so I think he’ll be fine anywhere.
Did your kids do study abroad? S19 would be jealous you lived in Germany. He took 4 years and is hoping to spend a semester there or at least visit.
I’m so curious to see the Case email this week. The EFC was good so it might be worse to see what could have been if he can’t get off the WL.
@drewsmom17 My husband worked for a German company and we did a 3 year rotation over there. My kids did not do study abroad…the youngest thought that was her study abroad…the oldest is actually going to work this fall at the very HS she graduated from in Germany (an International School, taught in English).
This is my question: Can a student that is waitlisted, sign up to attend a regional Admitted Visit Day, or would that be outright denied and/or a black mark against the student?
I would ask your admissions counselor what they think.
My D received an email saying that if she were to get offered a spot she would likely receive a $15,000 scholarship. So bizarre to me that a student would be not strong enough to be admitted outright, but they still consider would be desirable enough to offer merit money. College admissions is a wild business. Anyone have any sense whether students who are candidates to receive merit money are more or less likely to get offered a spot off the waitlist?
@pittsburghscribe
College admissions is indeed a strange world. I know I am thankful for college confidential and what I have learned here.
I think that note to your daughter is a good sign she is high on the waitlist, maybe because of her stats or intended major or something else… if you respond that the scholarship offer they are suggesting is one that would make CWRU work out for enrolling, I think there is a decent chance your daughter will be admitted. It is simply a way to decrease the number of times they have to go to their waitlist and thus protect their yield rate. If that is not enough merit money to make CWRU affordable for your family, then they are hoping your daughter will drop out of the waitlist so another might get the spot. It’s a way to thin the waitlist down to those who would come with the offer CWRU would make without having to keep making offers and waiting for responses.
Ugh, my S got a similar email with a generous merit award. The problem is, he’s never visited the school - he looked into applying there after our big college tour last summer. He requested an alumni interview several times, but we must not have any nearby. I think Case might be a great fit for him, but we live far away and he doesn’t even want to consider visiting unless he gets in, and if he does get in, we can’t swing 2 trips back East to visit schools. I’m actually impressed by Case’s communication so far, but I wish this would have been a more clear cut process.
Case offers WL the same amount of merit as outright admittances. There are so many students who have the stats to be admitted…but they can’t admit them all.
@Wizard2 Honestly I think Case protects their yield by basically asking you : If we admitted you off waitlist, would you definitely attend? If you don’t say yes, then they may not admit you.
But @lccr515 yours is a good question. I will ask what they would suggest.
I also appreciate Case’s approach to the waitlist and their communication. A lot of the schools S19 applied to seem to wait-listing unhooked kids who applied for financial aid and/or they think might be using them as a safety. It’s been known for some time that Case practices yield protection. At least they are coming up with creative ways of not completely shutting out the kids who are genuinely interested but may not have had the means to visit, etc.
We have toured Case, but I think it would be impossible for my daughter to say that she would definitely attend without revisiting and her schedule is so packed that to take time out to visit on the small chance of getting off the waitlist would be hard. Definitely a catch 22 if they are going to demand an immediate response.
I agree completely with @bopper… that is exactly how they protect their yield…(comment #13 above) I wish I had said it as clear as he did above.
I do think it is great that CWRU lets you know what they merit aid would be if you are admitted so you can better judge whether it is worth it to stay on the waitlist or consider other options.
@pittsburghscribe @lccr515 I asked admissions and they said:
"Students on the waitlist are welcome to attend our open house programming this spring. It is a great way to confirm their level of interest in the university and also demonstrate their interest in the university. "
Did everyone get the email about the online session? Is this something they have done in the past? My daughter was accepted a few years ago with less of a merit award then my son was given on the WL…