<p>Over the weekend, one of the CC forum-goers sent me an e-mail asking some questions about the waitlist, and I'd like to offer context and perspective how Tufts uses the waitlist and what that means for you.</p>
<p>Every year, Tufts admits the number of students we think will yield the proper sized class. There are schools that under-admit in April, with the expectation of using the waitlist in May; Tufts does not. This year, like in past years, we do not expect to use the waitlist. Of course, what we are expecting to do, and what we will actually have to do may not be the same. That's why the waitlist exists. </p>
<p>The waitlist is composed of applicants who we really liked (I can’t stress this enough), but did not have room to admit. Accordingly, the number of waitlists we offer is small - it is the least used admissions decision, and we don’t offer them idly. We would be happy to take any of the applicants on the waitlist if we end up with room, though we will not know what space exists (if any) until after May 1st. I’ve been at Tufts for years when we haven’t used the waitlist at all, and for years when several dozen waitlist candidates are admitted. </p>
<p>If you are still excited about Tufts, send back the form and enter the waitlist. Write something short and simple to let us know how excited or committed to you are to Tufts and then move on assuming you're NOT going to be taken off the waitlist. </p>
<p>I urge you not to get caught up in the waiting; don't think of this as a 'second round' of admissions. If the waitlist works out for you, that can be an unexpected and extremely exciting surprise, but you want to begin getting pumped about your other schools. We know you are awesome from your application. Please don't make getting in off the waitlist your goal at this point. </p>
<p>I know these aren’t exactly words of encouragement, but I recognize the tremendous show of respect that is shown when an applicant is so interested in Tufts and I want to be honest about the process to honor that respect.</p>
<p>Very helpful post-
Sadly, S2 will not be joining his older brother at Tufts. However, he is excited about the schools he HAS been admitted to, and we are anxiously awaiting aid packages. He received a waitlist offer from another school (admittedly not a top choice anyway), and felt very comfortable saying “goodbye.” In some way I think it just prolongs the whole process when realistically there might little chance of admission, though obviously it depends on the school…</p>
<p>Dan - thanks so much for your post (and for ALL the helpful info you’ve given here over the past few years).</p>
<p>If a student on the Tufts waitlist is offered a spot for admission, how long does he or she have to make a final decision? (some schools give a week or so, but it seems like some others only give one or two days.) And is the financial aid package made available at or soon after the offer of admission?</p>
<p>One other question – could you tell us how many waitlisted students were offered admission last year and the year before? (can’t find Tufts’ Common Data Set info online anywhere)</p>
<p>Usually, we’re able to offer the financial aid information with the offer of admission, and students have a short period of time to decide. The later in the summer, the quicker we ask a student to decide. </p>
<p>Last year won’t be of any use as a predictor of this year, so I’m not even going to look it up.</p>
<p>Thanks Dan.
You’re right about last year’s data not being helpful, since the waitlist situation at most (or all) schools seems to be so variable from year to year. I knew that already, so it was a dumb question for me to ask.</p>
<p>Let’s say that an offer from the waitlist was made in the first round or so (early to mid-May) – how many days to decide? (for those waitlisted students who live way off in flyover-country nearly 2000 miles away and haven’t had a chance to visit Tufts, they may want to squeeze in a quick visit to see the school before depositing). </p>
<p>The wait-to-visit-schools-until-you-know-where-you-got-in plan is a pretty good one, and would work great if the decision was just a binary one - admit or denied. But landing in waitlist purgatory really complicates matters and is further complicated by not having mega-bucks and living far away from all the schools you applied to.
Ack. (sorry - just venting a bit. And I do know that the chance of getting off the waitlist is very small, and that my daughter needs to move on to the school she sends a deposit to by May 1. We’re working on that moving-on thing. Last week was rough…)</p>
<p>I must say that Dean Coffin’s waitlist letter was nicely worded and very empathic. I especially liked the line that “this offer <em>is</em> a positive reaction to your candidacy”.</p>
<p>One other question -some people think that since students seemed to apply to SOOOOO many schools this year, yield may be harder to predict, thus waitlists may be more active than usual. If a student gets in to 4 or 6 or 8 top schools (like many here seem to have done) then lots of schools are going to be getting a “No” answer. What say you to this theory?</p>
<p>Regarding Waitlist and FinAid: in our limited use of the waitlist last year, many candidates taken were FinAid recipients, with several receiving full-tuition packages. </p>
<p>Beyond that, I’m not sure what statistics there are to talk about.</p>
<p>Howdy Feliz - we’re still not past the enrollment deadline for regular decision, and absolutely no waitlist action will take place until at least that date. Nor do we have a sense of what action, if any, will occur.</p>
<p>We try to give notice as soon as we can. Some students hear earlier than others, and I would expect our first round of notices to go out be the end of May, likely sooner. But I’m not the one in charge of that timeline, so my word (on matters of dates) is hardly gospel.</p>
<p><<<@darnie: of course Tufts will. There are quite a number of students who declined Tuft’s offer. One of them is myself. Good luck!>>></p>
<p>Tufts won’t go to their waiting list if their already-accepted number exceeds the number of actual Tufts’ spots. Inotherwords, the number of acceptees takes into account that not all those accepted will attend (although why they wouldn’t is beyond me–LOL).</p>
<p>Right. But on Saturday, one day after the deadline, you said: “…I would expect our first round of notices to go out by the end of May, likely sooner.” Seems to me that if Tufts was not going to use the waitlist at all, there wouldn’t be “rounds” of notices.</p>
<p>Although I guess the “first round” could be an “only round” notifying all waitlistees that there would be no offers this year.</p>
<p>I’m not cryptically embedding my posts with hidden insight. If you try to read between my lines, it’s likely you’ll come away with the wrong impressions. </p>
<p>The space available in the class is determined by two factors. First, the number of students who enroll from regular decision. This mechanism tends to be understood on these boards, but I’m happy to explain it further if someone asks. The second factor is the number of students who cancel their plans to matriculate at Tufts because of waitlist offers at other schools. As other schools fill their classes from their waitlists over the summer, some of them will come from our deposited students. We call this the melt (cause it’s the summer and everything melts) and actually plan for this when making our regular decision admits. This is why we can’t make decisions all at once. Even in years when no space open up, we still have to release notifications in rounds to hedge against the possibility of an unexpectedly large melt. </p>
<p>I can understand your frustration with the many variable aspects of the waitlist, and so I will reiterate a point that I made earlier thread: you should try to move forward with your college matriculation assuming you will not be taken off the waitlist. If you are taken, that will be so exciting, but it isn’t healthy to tie yourself up in your waitlist prospects.</p>