<p>Pardon my ignorance, but what is does it mean to be 'waitlisted'? Does anyone know if Duke waitlists students? And if they do, what do you do if you are waitlisted and want to get in?</p>
<p>I know next to nothing about Duke in particular, but I'll answer your more general questions. Being waitlisted basically means that the college would/will take you if they have space. In other words, if fewer people accept their offer of admission than they expected, they may have a few left, and they'll let in some kids from the waitlist. If you get waitlisted and still want to go to the school in question, you follow their instructions (i.e. send back the card they give you). You can also write them a letter reiterating that the school is your first choice, and letting them know of any recent achievements, etc.</p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>I hope for everyone's sake that Duke is not like Wash U in their admissions policies. I am pretty sure they are not, but you really don't know. I think Duke is a far better institution.</p>
<p>Duke is nothing like Wash U in its admissions policies. It does not take demonstrated interest or liklihood of enrollment into account at all in its admissions decisions. It admits the most qualified applicants, and is perhaps the least yield-conscious of all the schools that aren't Harvard, Yale, or Stanford. When admissions decisions come around you'll see this. In fact, this is one of the reasons Duke's yield is relatively low in comparison with Brown, Dartmouth, UPenn, Columbia, etc. At least in my year it was quite clear which schools practiced yield-conscious decisions when you looked at where the people who got into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. were also accepted. For example, I got into Princeton, Duke, Columbia, etc. and was flat-out rejected by Brown. So were three kids I know who ended up going to Harvard, Yale, and MIT. The kid who got into Brown was probably one of the least qualified of those who applied, but he ended up enrolling, and the girl who was wait-listed ended up going to UMich....</p>
<p>I was talking about unhooked applicants above, by the way. Also, in specific Duke wait-lists a normal number of applicants (prob around 1000) and usually admits some (~50) from those it wait-lists. I know several people who got off the waiting list.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your responses! This has been tremendously helpful.</p>