I just got waitlisted from Wesleyan, and the college will only start taking people off the waitlist in May 2020. Does anyone know what this means?
Is it better or worse than getting deferred?
I just got waitlisted from Wesleyan, and the college will only start taking people off the waitlist in May 2020. Does anyone know what this means?
Is it better or worse than getting deferred?
This means that after they evaluate regular decision applications, they will have a waitlist of students that they may offer a place to if not enough accepted students decide to enroll. As an ED applicant they could have rejected you, deferred you to regular decision round or waitlisted you. Honestly, I’m sorry to say that the fact that they waitlisted you already rather than deferring you means you have almost no shot at Wesleyan. They take very few students off the waitlist, if any.
No one knows how many Wesleyan will take off the waitlist, but it will generally be after May 1.
What that means is you will have to put down a deposit at another school (one where you are admitted) by May 1, and wait until late spring/summer to see if there is any waitlist movement at Wesleyan (should you choose to remain on the Wesleyan waitlist).
Good luck.
My daughter was waitlisted in the Wesleyan ED2 round for 2024. In reading a thread from last year class of 2023 - two students posted that they were accepted off the waitlist - one was accepted in May and one was accepted in June. In June 2018, College Kick Start stated that of the 2,267 students offered waitlist at Wesleyan, 1,233 accepted the waitlist offer and 108 were admitted. It appears that the data only shows those who were admitted - perhaps even more students cleared the waitlist but chose to attend other schools.
According to the 2019/20 common data set section C2, 94/1,076 students who accepted the waitlist offer were admitted…we don’t know how many enrolled (even though the rest of the CDS shows enrolled numbers).
Generally, full pay students are offered spots from the waitlist, as financial aid is typically maxed out after May 1.
When any school goes to its WL, it’s to fill in holes. It could be that they need 40 boys and 3 girls. It makes it very hard to assess your odds.
They may offer FA if they have it left and if it is associated with the holes they need to fill. Certainly from the school 's side, it’s easier to extend offers to FP kids.
Typically, a WL offer is made by phone. You get a short time to say if you are interested, then a short time to commit and pay a deposit. So my reading above is that those 94 students enrolled. Those who got phone calls and said they were happy where they ended up aren’t counted. It’s not another wave of decisions.
Keep your spot on the waitlist if you like, but emotionally, it is better to move on to a college that does want you.