I know that many people are driven mad (perhaps rightfully so) by being waitlisted from colleges. Personally, I know I would rather be flat out accepted or rejected. Is waitlisting a relatively new practice or has it been going on since our parents’ time? Any parents out there to verify?
<p>It wans't a common practice in the 1970's but then getting into colleges wasn't as difficult!<br>
Waitlisting is like being in LIMBO a thin sliver of hope topped with uncertainity!</p>
<p>Waitlisting existed but I think it is becoming a tool of schools to avoid admissions problems that result in too small a class and too large a class. I also think there is a larger homogenious group of applicants, better than 3.5 GPA, several APs and over 1300 SATs. Anyone with these stats can survive and thrive at 99% of the schools in this country. Schools are telling students to get ECs so it is hard to tell the obediant from those who are truly interested in being involved.</p>
<p>Because of the CommonApp which allows candidates to apply to probably 8-10 more schools than they normally would have in the past, colleges are increasingly using the waitlist to find out who really wants to attend the school as well as serves as a reserve pool when they realize that those they accepted were 1) using them as a safety and/or 2) having fun pushing the "submit" button on the CommonApp website. Also, certain schools use it to increase their "selectivity" rating and "yield" stat which they report to the various ranking services. One Midwestern university is notorious for waitlisting applicants instead of rejecting them, solely to increase its standing in the USN&WR ranking. However, look to see an increasing use of the waitlist as candidates apply to more and more schools.</p>
<p>how is UVA in terms of waitlisting</p>