Thank you everyone for the comments! I don’t want to sound like I was assuming I’d get into all of these schools, because I definitely was not!! I was just surprised that it was a waitlist at all of them so far without any rejections. Don’t interpret my questioning why this is happening as a reflection of some presumption that I deserved to get in over those that did!! I’m very happy with my options no matter what happens! 
@seniormom2021 Although this may be completely unfeasible, I think following the UCAS system might be better. You can send off a maximum of 5 applications. That way you have to make those 5 count.
A WL is a soft reject at many places now.
It’s their way of saying “you’re eminently qualified, and we’d take you if we had enough slots for everyone eminently qualified, but we don’t have anywhere near that many slots available.”
BTW, to any juniors reading: Even if you have stellar stats and ECs, unless you are hooked or are nationally/globally renown in something or the kid of someone rich/famous or insanely good at essays, expect to be denied/WL’ed from more Ivies/equivalents than you are admitted to.
Those single-digit admit rates apply to you as well.
Sounds much more sane and makes the student focus on more than a “big name.”
I like the idea of imposing a limit on number of applications as well, or, since that would be a tough sell, at least making it more arduous to apply to more than a certain number. Say, a limit of a dozen via the common app, and anyone who wants to go beyond that number has to submit a separate application.
Back in ye oldene times, when we had to submit applications on wax tablet, all the extra labor required was pretty strong disincentive. Then again, it would also help if selectivity didn’t figure into rankings, thus removing the incentive for colleges to ENCOURAGE more applications than they can reasonably handle.
It’s a complicated issue, and it keeps feeding on itself.
@porcupine98: Even if the rankings took out admit rate, the sad fact is that too many HS kids and parents focus on selectivity, which means colleges would still have an incentive to game that stat.
My DD today got her results today and all in all, she was waitlisted to 5 (UChicago, JHU, WashU-SL, Brown, & UPenn. She got admitted to all 5 state schools she applied (UMich-Ann Arbor, UCal-Berkeley, UIUC, UWash-Seattle, & UMinn-Twin Cities. 2 denied-Columbia & NW. Waiting for Stanford tomorrow, the last haul.
@Kaimito Congrats to her, Michigan and Berkeley are great Fingers crossed for Stanford!
Thanks! I’m just glad it’s almost over. I’m ready to do my spreadsheet on the financial package!
I ended up getting accepted to Brown, Dartmouth and NYU today!
Waitlisted at Harvard, Penn, and Columbia
Rejected at Princeton and Yale
Congrats. You have some terrific options. Several more than some kids with the same stats and same level of ECs.
I’ve applied to 10 schools and no rejections until Stanford (tomorrow). Maybe it was that you had bad luck, as previous others stated since you are a super, super strong candidate but you were lacking the story. I had lower SAT (1920) and GPA (4.2) but got into good schools because I wrote some really strong essays and have odd life experiences. That is what separated me from the pack, I believe, and because of some really large extenuation circumstances (leaving the country for two years and putting my education on hold, family crisis, physical assault that messed up my education) that compensated and explained to the readers that maybe I actually am capable of a lot since I overcame those things and got ok-ish numbers and they’re wondering what I’ll do when I don’t have to overcome all that crap.
Accepted: UCLA, UCSD, Berkeley, UCR, UCSB, Cal Poly SLO, SDSU, Simmons, USF
Waitlisted: Case Western Reserve
Rejected (probably): Stanford
Based on the thread title, I expected to read about a student who was, you know, waitlisted “everywhere.”
Instead I read about a great student who had some incredible options even before Ivy Day.
Congrats, OP. Have you decided where you will spend the next four years?
@Lindagraf, do you mean “waitlist epidemic”? I don’t see that other thread.
Thank you! I’m leaning towards Brown as of right now! @Nrdsb4
But I will be attending accepted students days for Brown, Dartmouth, and Williams (my final three).