<p>My son was called this past Tues and told he was accepted off the waitlist at Wash U and told he must call back by this morning (36hrs later). He didn't call back as he was in an AP exam and when he arrived home he had a FedEx package that was sent overnight with paper work for admissions. They gave him till May 16th to decide, so if you get a call about the waitlist, don't feel compelled to call back so fast, you can take some time to think about the decision. Just thought this might be helpful to some people if they are very conflicted about what school to choose and need a bit more time. Good luck to all.</p>
<p>Hmmmm.....sounds like the person making the call is trying to get a quick response and get a feel for who is and who isnt likely to accept. And then they send a package and give you more time. I suppose its all about trying to figure out how deep they are going into the list. It does ring true, however, as from what I know about waitlists, that is common to give kids a few weeks, so they can schedule another campus visit, get through exams, proms, etc. Also, most schools do two waives of wait list calls: one in May and one final call in June, and that is it. So, it seems to me (but I dont know for sure) that they have made their first round of calls in May and that is it. And they will make another round in June. Unless of course they fill their class to the brim with the May calls, and then its over for sure.</p>
<p>College admission is getting very competitive and bizarre. We know of stories with some pretty elite schools where people got in ED or RD who didnt appear to have the stats (and in some cases, had lots of family money). </p>
<p>But people just need to focus on where they are accepted and look forward and be positive. Yes, it hurts not to get in where you really wanted to go. But its not the end of the world. Life is not always filled with wins. Sometimes you lose or even fail. Some of the best "teachers" in life are failures. Its what you do with that information is what is important. </p>
<p>And finally, while going to an elite school is a big upper for sure, we need to remember it doesnt mean you can't get a superb education somewhere else and even have a superb four years! There is way too much neurotic fixation on "name schools". Not to denigrate those who got in. To the contrary, I say, "Congratulations! Best of luck to you!" The measure of success in one's life should not be measured in monetary terms, but in character, integrity, principles and charity towards others.</p>
<p>I hope they call my D off the wait list at WashU. Its a superb school with superb people. But if they don't we move on and be glad. She has made her deposit to an excellent northeastern private school that is actually a perfect fit for her. Ain't no flies on them either! LOL!</p>
<p>Good luck all. And tetra...I hope your son goes to WashU and he has a great time!</p>
<p>Verrrry interesting. I wonder if the "decide in 24 hours" call counts as a true offer of admission (in terms of reporting the acceptance rate), and maybe the offer isn't "formal" until you ask for/receive the acceptance package. Not to sound cynical, but I wonder whether this might be another attempt by WUStL to tweak the acceptance rate/yield rate numbers in order to get a better USNWR ranking...</p>
<p>SarahDad, do you think that if Wash U accepts 25 more children instead of 15 it would change the USNWR rankings? If you are talking about thousand could be, but nothing would change for less than 100.
If I were one of the wait list kids' parents, I would like to know as soon as possible if my kid is in, and that is possible if the ones called from the wait list that are not enrolling would tell that in few hours leaving the spot to others.</p>
<p>SarahsDad:</p>
<p>I read your D is going to Pomona College. An excellent school in a beautiful setting. My wife went to Scripps and loved it.</p>
<p>Its a unique setting with Mudd, Pomona, Scripps and Pitzer and Claremont. Good Luck!</p>
<p>First, I think WUStL is a great school, even underrated, but maybe overRANKED. Acceptance rates are very close at the top Universities- 19% at WUStL, 17% at Dartmouth, 20.5% (this year) at Cornell. One percentage point either way can move you up or down a ranking scale.</p>
<p>Another poster here said WUStL receives around 22,000 applications, accepts around 4000, for a class size of 1,350. Their yield rate is about 33%, in other words they need to accept 3 students for every one who enrolls. By the way, the numbers can't easily be confirmed since they don't publically release their common data set numbers - another pet peeve of mine.</p>
<p>Let's say for argument's sake (no idea if the assumptions are accurate) they accepted 3000 instead of 4000 this year with the same yield, therefore got 1,000 admitted students. So they need another 350 admitted students. Then let's say they "prescreen" the waitlisted kids so when they actually "offer" acceptance, 100% agree to enroll. That gives them the 1,350 matriculating students they need, with only having to "accept" 3,350 (3,000+350) instead of 4,000. </p>
<p>That would drop their acceptance rate to 15%, and increase their yield to 40%, both of which could move them up in the rankings. Even if this occurs on a smaller scale, you can see how it could make a difference.</p>
<p>Read somewhere that U Chicago just went to USNews a few years back and said "Why do we rank so low?" They showed them why. Then UofC changed their procedures and moved up quite nicely over the following two years.</p>
<p>The yield percentage counts for a whopping 1.5% of the USNWR ranking. A few percents either way wouldn't do anything. Anyway, last year WashU didn't even pull people from the waitlist and over enrolled, and they didn't really drop in rankings.</p>
<p>Also, WashU had a pretty strong yield this year. I talked with the Dean of Olin and he was telling me how the the Undergraduate Dean of Students (or something like that) told him that because WashU was trying to limit the number of students, so he would have to accept less students to make the yield fit. However, WashU's yield was really high this year, so the WL won't matter like they thought it could. Going with the year to year yield, the WL would've proved useful. However, with so many students accepting a spot at WashU, the WL was not needed.</p>
<p>There's no reason to always describe WashU's admissions process with cynicism. The process for ALL schools is like that. Why does a student get into Harvard but not Rice or Duke but not Chicago or Cornell? This is part of the system. A college is looking for the best CLASS of students. They've been at it far longer than we have. Judging by the success of their (all top schools' grads and current students) one would be hard pressed to really find fault with their methods and evaluation processes.</p>
<p>SarahsDad the accept rate at Dartmouth was 15% this year, not 17%. Also Dartmouth was overenrolled by about 75 (with 0 off the wait list), so given these facts D's accept rate could have been 14%</p>
<p>The demographics in these past few years, and expected to continue for several years is simply incredible. More baby boomer kids than ever, and the children of boomers are well educated and "coached" by parents to go to college and pick elite name schools. This was NOT the case with my parents generation, when just going to a state school was good enough. Wealth in society breeds elitism. Elitism is a lot of perception.</p>
<p>Not to say a Dartmouth or WashU education won't serve you well. They will. </p>
<p>Also there is a plethora of early admission applications out there. They didnt exist 30 years ago. Neither did the common application. The "science of college admissions" is as much about gaming as it is about anything.</p>
<p>30 years ago, kids applied to between 1-3 colleges. Now its 5-6 or more. Some kids with superb stats apply to 10-12 or more and its more about bragging rights than it is about their intent to attend. That makes it hard for college admissions officers, harder on kids who TRULY want to attend that institution, and totally skews the process. I think colleges should require ALL applicants to disclose where they are applying and to rank them in order of preference. Do that on the common application and prevent kids from changing the preferences to suit that school. </p>
<p>Its unethical, in my view, to apply to a college when you have no intention of going there, particularly when you have superb stats and know you will go to your favorite school. Whether its Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Chicago, Duke, Chicago or even Chapel Hill or UVa. Pick your poison so to speak.</p>
<p>Or if colleges got together and said, you can apply to 6 only. That would reduce the number of superfluous applications by a lot. Kids just being braggers. "I got into Harvard, Princeton AND Yale! Yay ME!" Then they go to state school on scholarship or because of money issues. I know someone who did PRECISELY that, and they knew from the gitgo they would go to state school because of money.</p>
<p>Harvard has ended the early admission process. They think its more equitable and moral. Well, that may or may not be true. Early admissions reduce the number of superfluous regular decision applications.</p>
<p>And I know of several cases where colleges admitted kids with "modest stats" but have boatloads of family money. Is that fair? Its a business decision to be sure, but its hard to take when your kid has superior scores and got waitlisted. It happens.</p>
<p>But like I said many times, be happy where you DID get in, and focus on the future. Your quality of education depends to a large extent on YOU and how much YOU put into the experience. I did not go to a prestige school, though it was private. I had four fabulous years I wouldn't trade for a million dollars. And it served me very well. I dont feel like I got short changed by not going to HYP or an elite LAC.</p>
<p>If you define yourself by the name on your parchment (a "credentialist") then you are a superficial person. Sorry, but that is the truth. ("You" meaning the generalized you, not you personally on this thread.)</p>
<p>If you got into WashU or HYP, then congrats and I wish you the very, very best! WashU is a wonderful and magical place. But its not the only game in town.</p>
<p>Have a good one.</p>
<p>SarahsDad,</p>
<p>Regardless of what the REAL reason is, I personally think it's ridiculous to rush kids like that without formal acceptance letter and package. </p>
<p>Cressmom,
SarahsDad is just speculating what "might be" the case. He's not even saying conclusively that's what WashU is doing. The fact that other schools send formal letters to others and give them time to decide after receving packages show that WashU is once again an odd ball. Other schools call to notify the accetance and inform them they'll get packages instead of asking them to call back with a decision to commit in 1 or 2 days. In short, not everyone that gets the call from WashU will get the formal letter/package. So he has reason to speculate what MIGHT BE the reason. I guess another possible reason is that WashU is trying to save trees. :D Yet, you've been constantly so quick to disregard everyone's comment in WashU favor as if you know everything.</p>
<p>oncampus,
Actually 1% point does matter because the ranking at the top is separated by less than that. When it's so tight, every little thing counts. That's how UChicago jumped so much after a slight "correction".</p>
<p>To be honest, I didn't appreciate the short deadline either. I was fortunate enough to have been called on a Friday evening and given until Monday - but it happened to be prom weekend, so there were a lot of things going on that didn't make college discussions easy. While my result likely would have been the same (turned them down), I would have appreciated an acceptance package. I really do love WashU and wish I had an acceptance letter to keep.</p>
<p>Sam Lee, actually, I know someone who was accepted into Art & Sciences and when they called her asking if she was still interested in Wash U, and she said yes, they sent her a package with fin aid and she has until June 1st to accept it. I guess they don't said you have to decide in that moment, but if you already decided you could save time to them and be nice to the others who are waiting by saying you don’t wish to enroll there, if your S or D is in wait list, you would like to know as soon as possible, it is no fair to waste other people's time if you are not interested.
People that already enrolled in other university doesn't need an acceptance package as a trophy, it makes no sense, leave for those who love to go there.</p>
<p>They called me and gave me a week to respond.</p>
<p>I agree with Cressmom. The call is a nice touch and if you have no interest, no sense in sending a package. If you are interested you say yes, they send a package and you still have time. But if not, then let it go and let someone else get a shot at it.</p>
<p>They know lots of kids have moved on with the process. But some are still waiting and hoping.</p>
<p>Cressmom,</p>
<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=340184&page=3%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=340184&page=3</a> people were saying they have until ___(time) to respond. If they were merely asked if they wanted to receive the package, why would anyone highlight the time to respond? I am sure most people would love to get the packages just to keep the option open even if they are lurkwarm about it. It's apparent that people were referring to response to commit. So apparently, the person you know has a more "normal" treatment.</p>
<p>Yes, I think most schools will not really hold the kids' feet to the fire. D's CO College email phrased it well. Three possible responses: Yes, No, or I or my family need some more information. I think most schools will also do this, though they ask for a straight answer. Keeps the process moving I guess.</p>
<p>I was told to get back to them by Monday and if I said yes I'd be sent enrollment papers, not just information.</p>
<p>Sam Lee, keeping this discussion it makes no sense to me. I believe that a college bound kid has to be prepared for life and that means he/she must be ready to take decisions in a very short time. By now, a student should know where he/ she wants to enroll, and it's very easy to answer no, yes or I might, if the university asked you if you are interested in enrolling you could said any of those answers in a fraction of second, but they give you more time, what else we need? I didn't ask to anonymous people in a forum, I just know what happened to a real person, and she told me that they asked her if she was interested to accept the offer and her answer was she might depending on the financial aid, and they send her the package with a deadline and they also said to her to tell them in 48 hours as a courtesy to the others still waiting to call them if she won't be enrolling there. It's fair enough because either way the university gets its students, but the ones that will be suffering for a longer time would be the rest of the wait list that wasn't called yet.
And yes, once you said you might be enrolling, they send you an enrolling package with all the information you will need to make a decision, same as the ones they send during RD, by this time, nobody needs more brochures about the college, people who applied there already know how the college is (at least they should know by now).
Once the student enrolls to any college, he/she has to learn to make decisions at the moment, when it's time to register for classes, they don't wait for you, it's first come first served basis; if you have to book a flight to come home for Thanksgiving, no airlines would tell you have two more weeks to decided, they fill the flight as soon as they can. As parents, we need to prepare our kids to be undependable responsible adults; life doesn't wait for the undecided.</p>