Congratulations to those accepted! Keep your chins up, WL and denied…it will all work out! My DD19 was waitlisted.
But I am curious (for future reference and advice-giving), how many of the accepted people did NOT write the optional essay? My daughter did not, and so I did assume that would lower her chances. Of course it’s hard to know if writing the essay would have made a difference or not. But I do wonder if the acceptance rate is lower for people who skip the essay vs. people who write the essay. Thanks in advance!
rejected–as expected–williams was once my favorite and definitely a high reach, but I also kinda gave up during my application process: I was just scared by how competitive it is. did not even waste my time on answering the optional question, nor did I send in any ap score or subject tests. PLUS, my SAT ain’t good at all: 1390. I applied because I do like it, and also would be my first choice if accepted, for sure, but I am also sure that I will not get in with that attitude and scores. so whatevs.
DD waitlisted (3x a bridesmaid…) - 3.96 uw GPA; 35 ACT; 800 Math subject; varsity athlete; all-state musician; tons of ECs; small college town in the midwest. No real hook (e.g., not a hockey or lacrosse star), but it was worth a flier. Congrats to those that got in…
@EmptyNestSoon2 s19 wrote the essay. And had a 1540 with all 5s on his APs. Almost perfect gpa with high rigor. Has had success so far. Early RD acceptance at Grinnell with $25k merit, William and Mary early RD acceptance OOS and Monroe Scholar (top ten percent of applicants) and accepted to Bowdoin. Flat out rejected at Williams. I think the rejection letter says it. They are making a class. Need a little bit of everything - geographically, economically, first gen, URMs, artists, athletes, etc etc. It’s a puzzle. They didn’t need any more of what S19 offered to their community. Seems like a lot of kids waitlisted here had something they like. One didn’t need sky high scores to get in or waitlisted from what I can see. Admissions was very holistic. Not sure that writing the essay would have made the difference.
Last year, Williams accepted 1240 and waitlisted 1772. Not sure how many came off waitlist.
White, high-income male from southeast
Intended Major: Chemistry
My dad is an Amherst alum and my mom worked at Amherst as a rowing coach - this may have hurt
UW GPA: 4.0
W GPA: 4.63
Most rigorous course load
Class Rank: 2/~350
1560 SAT (800 Math, 760 Reading & Writing, 20 Essay)
35 ACT (36 Math, 36 Science, 35 English, 34 Reading, 10 out of 12 Writing)
SAT Subject Tests: 800 Math Level II, 800 Physics, 780 Chemistry
I made it! I’m so surprised. I was waitlisted at Haverford. Deferred then rejected at swarthmore and rejected from bowdoin. Likely letter from Wellesley.
Last year was 1722 kids. I’m honestly not sour grapes about decision but putting that number of kids on a waitlist for such a small class is giving false hope to too many kids. 655 took the spot and they took around 70 off the waitlist. What could be their reasoning for putting 1722 kids on a WL when that’s more than three times the number of the whole freshman class?
Thx @scholardad so intereresting! You should post this article as its own thread so kids can see that waitlists are a difficult road to follow. And Michigan, come on! I wonder why schools feel the need to soft deny. Why do they care if kids get denied or soft denied. Obviously, for schools that use their waitlist more they want a big enough waitlist to get some kids that really fit their school. But the soft deny reason bugs me.
It bugs me, too. I think the majority of students who get waitlisted to one of their top choices think they have a shot and can’t really move on to getting excited about the colleges that did accept them.
…although 70 out of 655 off the waitlist would be nearly twice the overall acceptance rate this year (and pretty close to last year’s acceptance rate). I look forward to 3 years from now when my next kid applies to college and places like Williams have acceptance rates of 0.5%
