<p>So, I don't really get what happens... Are you in, or out?</p>
<p>Depends. If you are WL’ed at a top tier BS, you are mostly probably out these days. At the lower tiered schools, your chances of acceptance off the WL list are better. </p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>You’re not in, but you’re not out either. It just means that there’s a chance that you could eventually be accepted if the school still has space after the students that they accepted have enrolled.</p>
<p>Essentially, a school has a target yield rate–meaning that they have an idea as to the percent of accepted applicants who will actually matriculate to said school. They will accept based on the yield rate and the target class size–in a process called “overaccepting”. If more than the predicted number of applicants reject the offer of admission, they may cut into the waitlist (depending on factors such gender, race, fit for school, etc). </p>
<p>Nowadays, in the midst of high yield rates (especially at top schools), waitlist seems to be a nice way of saying “no”. In all cases a waitlistee is “admissible” (meaning that he/she would be fit for the school and would do well in such an environment), but maybe not AS admissible as other students.</p>
<p>Also I’d like to say waitlisters have an increased chance if they choose to apply for the following year…I can’t tell you how many people I know that have been waitlisted at top tier schools their first year and accepted their second year. Good Luck!</p>
<p>if you get waitlisted, I’m assuming that you should look into other options? and…since many schools have the notification deadline of 4/10, would they let you know if you got accepted before then?</p>
<p>Yes, you should look into other options. And no, they won’t necessarily let you know before 4/10, because they don’t know themselves before 4/10 just how many students have enrolled and how much room they have to accept for students.</p>