My daughter was recently waitlisted at Lehigh. It was her 4th waitlist response from a college (UVA, Wake Forest and William and Mary are the other 3) to go along with several acceptances. Is that normal or is that a lot of waitlist responses for one person? Also, Lehigh offered spots to a high percentage of waitlisted applicants last year. Is there any reason to think that might happen again this year? Thanks!
There ia really no way to accurately predict how many students will be offered a spot off the waitlist at any college in any year. I recommend your D do the following:
– Accept a spot and deposit at the favorite affordable school where she has been accepted. She should assume she will be attending this college in the fall.
–Accept a spot on the waitlist of any school she would prefer to attend. Write a brief letter of continuing interest (highlight interest in the college and any recent accomplishments not in the application). Then put the waitlist schools out of mind and regard any acceptance off a waitlist down the road as a happy surprise.
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i just got off lehighs waitlist if that helps. i wrote a letter of continued interest the day rd decisions came out
My daughter was rejected at two and WL in two - one of which she stayed on. Didn’t get in.
It’s important to note that waitlist means you’ve been rejected. Do the LOCI but then move on and fall in love elsewhere.
It’s also important to note that some schools WL everyone. I’m talking to you Lehigh.
In the latest CDS, they WL 1/3 of applicants 5k out of 15k. Half accepted - 2499. 93 were offered admission. And I assure you not all at the same time. They go down the list til they hit the right #.
I guess if 3.7% is a high # then yes they did offer a high percentage.
But hmm no they didn’t. And had more accepted a spot on the WL that 3.7% would be lower.
A WL is a rejection but a hedge for the school. Someone may get off and it may even be you but it’s unlikely to be a high amount unless they really misjudged their yield.
Love the one that already loves you.
Good luck.
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My daughter is now on 8 WLs! I wish there was some regulation on what percentage schools can waitlist. It’s kind of ridiculous the way some schools do it - seems to be about protecting rep and letting down easy so student doesn’t talk badly about the school or dissuade future apps. For others, it’s a more reasonable number. But you still need to move in and consider it a happy surprise if something actually comes through.
Yes - move on.
Colleges are businesses - especially the private.
They’d much rather game with your feelings than fall short of revenue predictions.
it is excessive though - schools like Miami,CWRU, Emory.
This past year, Miami WL, as an example, more than 20,000 of 49,000 applicants. Think about that - that’s nuts. 8545 accepted and 115 were offered. How many of the 115 are there I don’t know. But it’s nuts!!
No wonder my kids never had a sniff of a chance at their WL schools. I didn’t realize the data was in the CDS. But it puts everything in perspective.
The odds of OP finding a spot at Lehigh are small. Also, some are need aware meaning - they’re going to the full pay people first.
My take on waitlists is that schools have to have large waitlists because their yield has become so unpredictable. How many schools have we heard of in recent years where they had to house kids in hotels because they had far too many kids accept? Virginia Tech (a year or two before the pandemic) was offering accepted students money to defer entry by a year. So all the schools are be very conservative now - taking higher and higher percentages of students in Early Decision, accepting fewer students during RD, and waitlisting countless numbers of qualified students to control their yield. And it’s a problem that’s feeding itself… seniors apply to more and more colleges to they increase their odds of acceptance, which in turn, means they decline a higher percentage of offers, which means the schools can’t keep up with changes in yield. I agree with happy1 - write a letter to the school, move on, and let your child be surprised (or not) by movement off the waitlist.
Can you share how did you got off waitlist please? Just email the admission office?