<p>I know what it means, but what does it mean?</p>
<p>a) You're not as great as the applicants we admitted, but you're better than the applicants we rejected.</p>
<p>b) You're as good as the applicants we admitted, but you submitted your application too late, so we ran out of spots by the time we got to you.</p>
<p>It could be both. If the school practices rolling admissions then I would go with option B.</p>
<p>I'm wait listed at one particular school and they flat out told me that my academics and co-curricular accomplishments were impressive but my SAT score wasn't what they were looking for. I guess its a consolation prize.</p>
<p>well this totally depends on which school you are referring to....if it's Wash U, it means nothing.....</p>
<p>I'm referring to Georgia Tech.</p>
<p>Sorry, no idea but you may want to post on the GT forum if you haven't already......</p>
<p>Once upon a time it was a reserve pool of kids they wanted to take, and would if they had fewer kids accept than they expected. However there is no rule that requires just putting enough kids on the waitlist to provide a reasonable buffer for a shortcoming in enrollment. So some smart college adcoms realized they could have it both ways. They could use the waitlist to have a stock of kids to cover any shortfalls. And they could use the waitlist to pass out "acceptances" that didn't require actually enrolling the kid!!</p>
<p>Parents and kids have long viewed a waitlist letter as practically the same as an acceptance; you were "in" if there was space available. So clever adcoms began sending out "waitlist" letters by the carload. They knew, of course, that the school had taken 1-2 dozen kids at most in the past years, but they'd send out hundreds (sometimes thousands) of "waitlist" letters. This helps the college in the future; kids with similar stats will say "If Julie got in last year, I got a shot too" and apply. Thing was, Julie didn't get in; she was waitlisted and somehow never made it off the list. Colleges love this because the more apps they have the more selective they look.</p>
<p>You can do a little searching on this forum and find out which colleges are known for just sending out floods of "waitlist" letters.</p>
<p>OTOH, last year more kids were accepted off of waitlists than ever before, and I predict there will be more this year. It is mind boggling to me the number of colleges that the average kid applies to -- reaches, financial reaches, high safeties, finanical safeties, matches, etc. And frankly, I don't disagree with that approach.</p>
<p>mikemac, why would anybody ever view "a waitlist letter as practically the same as an acceptance"?</p>
<p>waitlist= slow rejection.</p>
<p>I viewed my wait list as a rejection even though I was guaranteed admission in the spring.</p>