Does anyone know what the waitlist is like at Williams? I mean, do they have excessively large waitlists or are they conservative in that respect? I’m asking this because I was waitlisted at Williams last year and I wish to reapply after improving my portfolio since the last time I applied. Does anyone know how high the chances are for formerly waitlisted students to be accepted if they reapply?
Are you attending college this year and planning to apply to Williams as a transfer? Or are you taking a gap year? Also, what type of portfolio do you mean?
I know nothing about Williams’s wait list. However, a general answer is: It depends on why you were waitlisted. Possible reasons are:
Courtesy-- because you’re a legacy or relative of a big donor.
Lack of interest – you didn’t demonstrate enough interest and they didn’t think you’d accept an admission offer
Demographic-- you would have filled a demographic slot if someone with the same demo declined an admission offer
Random – they had to cull the list, and your application got put into the cull pile.
At a college the caliber of Williams, all candidates on the waitlist (with the possible exception of courtesy waitlisted) are qualified. Being waitlisted has more to do with institutional needs.
According to their common data set, they admitted 0 students off the waitlist last year. But in the “Williams College Waitlist for Class of 2022” thread, a couple people said they got in. Either way, it was low. But that was just last year. In prior years they took 20-70 students from the waitlist.
@brantly Well, I’m definitely not a Courtesy waitlist. I am an international so maybe I fit in the demographics slot. Our pool is relatively small so I personally knew few of the people accepted and waitlisted from my region. The accepted ones declined for a better offer and none of us who I knew were waitlisted got an offer.
And yes, I took a gap year. By portfolio, I mean projects relevant to my choice of major. I’m thinking of EDing there come November to show my interest, actually. What’re the odds for a former waitlist to be accepted as a transfer anyway?
The common data set you are referring to @dla26 is for the class that is currently sophomores. The common data set for this year’s freshmen class has not yet been published. But looking at CDS’s, it seems like Williams offers a lot of wl spots. About 1,800 for the class of 2021 and 2,300 for the class of 2020. That’s a big number considering the target class size is 550
They had an unprecedented yield for the class of 2021. Hence, no waitlist acceptances for the fall of 2017.