<p>S was waitlisted at WM. Which I may add was his top choice. He chose to remain on the waitlist, but as his parent I must wonder how many were waitlisted and what might the chances be for admittance off the waitlist? S was accepted at 5 other great schools, all offered merit scholarships, so it will be fine either way. I'd heard that some schools try to replace one who turns down an offer with a similar applicant (for instance, if an female from NY turns down an offer, they will offer admittance to a female from NY off the waitlist). Any truth to that? S is out of state, so FA must be taken into consideration as well. I would assume the FA package for someone off the waitlist may not be optimal. And, will WM notify all waitlistees when the class has been filled? When is that expected to be?</p>
<p>Last year there were 3248 that were waitlisted. 1496 accepted. 18 got in eventually. The previous year it was 242 out or 1400+ that remained on the list.</p>
<p>As for this years chances: it obviously varies tremendously from year to year, but in any case the odds are low. </p>
<p>I have read on other admission offices web sites that their class is sometimes not filled until late June or early July. I would assume W&M would be similar.</p>
<p>We don’t have anyway of predicting whether or not we’ll admit students off the waitlist. As you can tell from @TV4caster’s post, it varies widely from year to year. Our process is not so specific that we try to find students identical to those who turned us down to admit from the waitlist. However, we do consider factors like IS/OOS on the waitlist (if our class is short IS students we will not look to admit OOS students on the waitlist or vice versa). Unfortunately, financial aid is often limited for those admitted from the waitlist. Every student on the waitlist will hear from us, via email, around June 15 as to whether or not our class is full. Definitely check out our waitlist FAQs linked in your son’s decision email. That may prove helpful for any additional questions.</p>