Waitlisted - now what?

Parents Forum
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<p>My son applied to an out-of-state flagship (which was also a “reach” for him) and found out back in mid-February that he had been waitlisted. </p>

<p>The closing part of the notification read “A final decision regarding your acceptance to this campus will occur in late May”. It then went on to ask for him to notify them of his preference to either be placed on that waiting list or to withdraw the application. </p>

<p>Realistically, how is a student supposed to dangle until LATE May? I guess you are supposed to proceed with one of your other options by paying deposits for admission and housing and then back out, forfeiting that $$, reneging on roommate choice stuff etc. should you get “THE CALL” in late May. </p>

<p>Through a little research, I found out that this school received over 28,000 apps for 3000 freshman spots. . . .a 23% increase over last year. </p>

<p>So to me, this waitlist was a pretty thinly disguised “no”. Son withdrew his application. </p>

<p>In our specific case, it was not a big deal. The school was a stretch to begin with, son wasn’t heartbroken; in fact, he’s happy that gets to say that he was NOT rejected by this school and move on. </p>

<p>But if this HAD been his A+ number one dream school, I’d be pretty ticked off that they were, in my opinion, stringing him along. It doesn’t look to me like this is one of the schools that only wait-lists a reasonable number of applicants. </p>

<p>Lastly, while no one had a gun to our head to apply to this school in the first place, as I am writing this I am realizing that 28,000 applications times $70 per app = $1,960,000.</p>

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<p>@englishjw,
It is interesting that some student may treat the school acceptances as trophies in the sport hunting. From a practical perspective, a student just need ONE acceptance and he/she will be all set.
A student went so far as to continued to sending out applications to state flagship schools knowing that she had already been accepted by CalTech, knowing very well that she had no intention of matriculating at the state flagship school… I would have spent the time and $$ doing something else more meaningful and more productive.</p>

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<p>To help others in the waitlist situation, here is our story:</p>

<p>D was waitlisted at a couple of schools (including WUSTL, which evidently everyone gets instead of a rejection?). She made plans to enroll at her safety. We put down a housing deposit and she registered for freshman orientation and pre-registered for her fall semester.</p>

<p>For one of her waitlisted schools, she wrote a letter telling them she was still very interested in attending. She sent them an update of all her new awards/honors received since her December application.</p>

<p>This school called her in June and offered her a place off the waitlist. They gave her the financial aid package via email a day later. This is a school that meets full need and they met full need. I literally cried when I read the financial aid package, since I wasn’t sure if their financial aid policy applied to waitlisted students. She accepted their offer.</p>

<p>Her year they admitted 30 students off the waitlist. The following year they had more students than expected accept offers of admission and they did not go to their waitlist at all. </p>

<p>So, it IS possible to be admitted off a waitlist with wonderful financial aid. </p>

<p>Some people asked her if she felt “second best” being waitlisted. She said once they were all there, no one knew (unless she told them) who the 30 waitlisted students were. She has done very well. In fact, one of her professors was working on reading admissions applications for the next admissions class, and she told him her admissions story and how grateful she was to be admitted off the waitlist. He was very surprised that she had been waitlisted because she was one of his strongest students.</p>

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<p>DD1 was waitlisted at NU three years ago, and we were told it could be very well because the school wanted to protect its yield and not offer admissions to a lot of out-of-staters who didn’t have a tie with the school (eg. through other close relatives) or had invested in a visit and demonstrated tangible interest. I have no way of knowing if this is/was true.</p>

<p>Of the schools that she was still in the running, since she was really interested in going there, she wrote a very strong letter to keep her on the wait list, stating for example that if she were offered admission, she would commit to accepting. She subsequently was accepted (biology) and she is now there.</p>

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<p>Did your D do anything to get off of the wait list? Letters, additional recs, etc?</p>

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<p>Don’t know if usc’s qn is directed at me, but here goes: </p>

<p>D was either sent a form, or it was on-line, I don’t recall, where she could mark that she wanted to stay on the waitlist. In addition to doing so, she sent a letter expressing that if she was offered, she would accept (we were fortunate that finances and aid were not an issue, and I think she indicated that). She also added something about new work experience that wasn’t in her original application, and how that would be relevant to the program she had applied for. No new recs, though, from what I can remember.</p>

<p>She then called a few days later, asked if everything to keep her on the waitlist was in place, and spoke to the person indicating her sentiments verbally. I believe she called again subsequently to see if the wait list had moved and reiterated her interest in coming to the school. I don’t remember exactly, but it was quite some time before she got the green signal - not a week or ten days.</p>

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<p>I don’t think there are any “hard and fast” rules about how many kids get put on WLs and how many kids ultimately get selected. Undergrad schools seem to be “all over the place” - some putting lots of WLs…some accepting few from WLs…and vice versa. </p>

<p>I agree that some schools put high stats kids on WL to avoid rejection and to leave open the door “just in case.”</p>

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<p>4education: last year Duke put enough kids on the wait list to fill their freshman class–twice. Unconscionable.</p>

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<p>

I completely disagree. Just because a school doesn’t have room to accept all the qualified candidates has nothing to do with what your experience will be if you get off the waitlist. The admissions office is not the university. I really think it’s pretty rare that students are put on the wait list that the university wouldn’t like to have.</p>

<p>That said, do your homework. At many schools only a handful of students get off the list, so don’t get up your hopes too much. At many schools it’s highly variable some years a lot get off the list and other years none. So send in any extra information, let them know it’s your first choice, see if your GC will go to bat for you and then move on. Maybe you will hit the jackpot, maybe you won’t.</p>

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<p>Here is one more family’s anecdote to add to the list.</p>

<p>Two years ago my D was WLed at the only two ivies that she applied to. She was an unhooked, high stats (top quartile for every school in the country) kid with a very specific EC that she was quite accomplished in. She had a number of good choices and decided that she would decline the offer of staying on Columbia’s WL because she would prefer to attend Duke. However, she did accept the offer to stay on the WL for Harvard since it was stronger than Duke for her intended major.</p>

<p>We did not even think of trying to involve her public HS’s GC. However, she did contact her interviewer to ask for any advice on getting admitted off of the WL. The advice was primarily the same as what Harvard had written in the admissions decision letter. So she followed this advice and wrote a letter to Harvard to update them of recent accomplishments and awards, state that she was maintaining her grades, and to explain why she still wanted to attend (specific profs in her major and opportunities with her EC).</p>

<p>In the mean time she attended Duke’s Blue Devil Days and got very excited about preparing to go to school there. A pleasant surprise for me was that Duke did not ask for a deposit, so there was no financial penalty in committing to them. </p>

<p>Then in mid-May she got the phone call from Harvard. We had applied for FA even though we knew we would be borderline for getting any. We were very surprised with a $20,000 grant making Harvard far less expensive than Duke (no FA). She accepted on the spot. </p>

<p>Now for my editorializing on WLs. Everyone needs to realize that schools need to have a WL to ensure that they properly fill their class every year. While the schools have historical data on acceptance rates (yield) to model how many admissions offers to make, no model is 100% perfect and schools do not want to be oversubscribed which forces them to turn dorm doubles into triples (happened to my oldest) and strains other resources. Therefore, they ideally would like to yield the exact number of students needed or to fall a little short and go to the WL. Also, there is a trickle down effect as kids accept WL offers which then opens a spot at the school the originally committed to. </p>

<p>For the most selective colleges you need to recognize that the reason that admissions decisions are so inscrutable is because they are trying to “build a class” which means that they have a need to fill a variety of student types. My D was fortunate that Harvard ended up needing a ballet dancing physics student from NC (or whatever role she fulfilled in building the class). Since the schools don’t know which “needs” they will have to fill, they naturally will have to offer a WL spot for many, many more students than they will be able to accept off of the WL. So you need to realize that the odds will be long and it is probably best to move along emotionally. </p>

<p>My daughter has been very happy at Harvard and nobody knows that she was WLed, so there has never been any evidence that Harvard “loves her” any less than Duke did. She has the same opportunities as every other student there (even those who got likely letters). I would not let any frustrations over the admissions process color your decision as to whether or not to stay on a WL. </p>

<p>One last editorial comment. There is always a lot of bashing of WUStL on CC (and some in this thread) and our experience did not coincide with many of the comments. Our daughter was recruited just as heavily by other schools and lo and behold, WUStL did not WL (or deny) her because of her HYPSM stats. By all accounts, students there are very happy and every private school has a right to “build their class” as they see fit.</p>

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<p>Agreed! Psychologically, you need to move on to the schools who have accepted you. If the waitlist comes through, HOORAY! Then you can decide whether you want to go. But my kids have always considered a WL the same as a NO and moved on. </p>

<p>D2 stayed on the waitlist for one school; D1 chose not to go on the waitlist. Didn’t make it off the waitlist, BTW…</p>

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<p>The process of how different schools handle waitlisting continues to intrique me. Using the Common Data Set for 2010-2011, the school my S is likely to attend has the following numbers: Applied 3312; Admitted 860; Acceptance Ratio 26%; Enrolled 325; Yield 37.8%; Waitlisted 785 (which is 2.4 times the number enrolled); # accepting place on Waiting List 375 or 47.8%; # from Waiting List admitted 1 or 0.3% of those accepting a position on the waiting list or 0.1% of those offered a position on the waiting list. It feels great to hear the anecdotal stories of students who have successfully enrolled off waiting lists but the numbers appear to tell a very different story.</p>

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<p>It is different from one year to another. D1’s year, they took close to 100 kids (class of 3000+ kids), following year they didn’t take any. </p>

<p>It appears kids this year may have applied to more schools than other years. In that case, the yield may go down and schools will then go to its waitlist.</p>

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<p>Thanks to all of you for your stories! This is the thread I’ve been looking for…
D is waitlisted at (big surprise!) WUSTL. It is her #1 and she kept a spot on the wl.
She has sent her 3rd qtr grades (thank goodness she’s still working hard), another rec and an email. Her GC also called the rep to say she’ll accept a spot. FA is not an issue, but I feel like we’re playing the lottery. I know it’s a long shot, but I hate to give up hope.
We are going to visit her #2 & #3 to decide where deposit and should go. We know she’ll be fine wherever she ends up, but I’m sure this will be a long wait. Patience is a virtue!</p>

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<p>Last spring our D had a whopping 8 WL! All of these schools were highly selective, but the outcome was still a bit of a surprise. She opted to remain on 6/8 lists. (She decided not to pursue WUST or Tufts.) She sent updated information (transcripts showing continued 4.0 UW, AP scores, awards earned in the spring, etc.). She told two of these schools if accepted, she would definitely attend. Her GC from her prep also contacted these two schools. She was NOT a FA applicant (full pay). The result? Cornell took no one off their list last year for her college. Dartmouth took less than 15 if I recall. She made the first “cut” at Penn, but did not get a call. She did not get a call at Brown either. The last two, Princeton and Vanderbilt, she pursued with all her heart and soul. It was a summer of purgatory. Neither materialized. </p>

<p>I remember that feeling of disappointment and uncertainty, so for those whose child is going through this I can completely empathize. Like others have said, though, love the school that loves you and impress upon your child the necessity to treat these WL as rejections for statistically, for the highly selective schools, very few if any are called. The good news is that she had some excellent offers and is happy at her chosen school.</p>

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<p>jc40, my D already has 6 WLs this year with several decisions left to come in. I don’t think she’ll accept a place on any of them, as she already has an acceptance from one of her favorite top schools - so the end result will be great. But all the WLs are tough to process emotionally, especially if a few are from schools that seemed to be clear matches (or even safeties). This whole thing is both a process of finding a great school and of “sensemaking” about who you are and how you fit into a lot of different social systems … a growth experience, but sometimes a confusing one!</p>

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<p>WUSTL seems to have decided that it is good idea from a marketing perspective to wait list literally thousands of students of students each year that they have no intention of even considering. They think it advances the opinion of the general public toward the school because they get less badmouthing from having to tell thousands of families that their kids are less qualified.</p>

<p>It’s a pure marketing ploy.</p>

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<p>I had hoped to post the Common Data Set information for WUSTL. As many of you already know, there isn’t any. While some information exists on the typical application statistics, there isn’t anything (that I found) on detailed waitlist statistics. Why?</p>

<p>My S was waitlisted at Wesleyan and we were disappointed. In spite of that, Wesleyan deserves a measure of praise for providing all of the information a student or parent in our situation might be interested in seeing and it is all right on their own website. Their numbers for 2010 - 2011 were: Applied 10657; Admitted 2190; Acceptance Ratio 20.5%; Enrolled 748; Yield 34.2%; Offered the Waitlist 1859; Accepted Waitlist 645 or 34.7%; Admitted from Waitlist 88 or 13.6%; Percent Admitted from all offered the Waitlist 4.7%. Their correspondence was honest and the information both readily available and transparent. </p>

<p>Why is there such a difference in how waitlist information is being handled by these two colleges? As parents, which do you prefer?</p>

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<p>I would prefer to have some kind o numbers - how many are waitlisted & how many kept spots</p>

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<p>Does anyone know why UPenn asks for the names of the school s- admitted, denial or waitlisted on its waitlist application form? How should I fill that in ? Should I put in all ?</p>