<p>For a while, it looked like this might be a good year for wait-listed college applicants. But that is turning out to be wrong.</p>
<p>Instead, many colleges are taking few students off the wait list -- and sometimes none at all. Elite schools such as Stanford University, the University of Chicago and Dartmouth College aren't admitting any students from their wait lists this year. The University of Pennsylvania expects to admit about 25 students, down from 42 last year. State schools such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Delaware, too, are taking fewer students than last year.</p>
<p>The reason, many colleges say, is that they underestimated their yields -- the percentage of students accepted who decide to attend. With unexpectedly high numbers of acceptances, these schools are filling their slots quickly.</p>
<p>Well it depends. Most of the universities in America still accept 70-90 percent of applicants right now, but the top tiers like Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, etc will most likely hit single digit admission rates. Too many kids who dont have legitimate chances at certain schools are just applying just to see what will happen and to say they applied especially since common app allows them to just have to write another essay to submit an app there.</p>
<p>I expect top 50 schools to all have a pretty significant drop off by 2011, but the top 30 schools will all probably hit the low low 2X% and below admission rates (except U of Michigan which may hit the 3X%)</p>
<p>that's disgusting...why even bother applying? i mean i applied to brown and thought i had a legitimate chance, but yah know. I mean...harvard is already (and yale too) at like 8.6%...i would probably get cracked up if it hit like 4 or even 3%...i mean, it's like only einsteinettes would get in. if you haven't played with every dam orchestra in the world or won the olympics of being in all ap then you have no chance. i swear to god. and it's not worth it. there are better schools. ok, sorry, my harangue is done! <em>whew</em></p>
<p>HAhaha. I know of people who got into Brown who I had NEVER thought would get in. Some people who had legitimate chances of getting into Princeton didn't get in. But they got into UPenn and stuff, so it's all good... I suppose. </p>
<p>Anyway, it's all a crap shoot. I'm not going to get my hopes up this fall or next spring. I might get disappointed ><</p>
<p>Last summer we visited UNC. My d knew it was tough to get in OOS, but we didn't know how tough until the admissions counselor gave us the following statistics:</p>
<p>For 2006-2007
18,000 students applied
11,000 were OOS
state law says only 18% can be OOS
Class size was about 3600
That's about a 5% acceptance rate for OOS students. </p>
<p>This year my d's rejection letter said that more than 20,000 students applied for fewer than 3,900 spaces. I don't know how many OOS students applied, but I would assume it would be the same or more than last year. </p>
<p>It's very difficult to get into UNC as an OOS student. I know of two students in the past ten years--both were athletes.</p>
<p>Ehhhhh SportsMama, your math isn't quite right. Most people forget to add in the yield rate when determining acceptance rates the way you did. UNC is more around 10-11% after factoring in yield. Still very difficult, however, not lower than Harvard, Yale, etc.</p>
<p>Yes, I thought that I might have a better chance of getting off the waitlists I was placed on (Brown and Columbia), but they just took fewer and fewer people all-around this year. Once I decided on Wellesley, I packed it in and really didn't care anymore, but I AM kind of surprised that yields are so high. Part of that is the CC bubble, though--you see "lots" of kids here who get in to 4 or more top schools, but I think that that must not be representative of most admittees to these schools--a lot of kids must only get into 1 or 2 of those schools for the yield rate to be so high.</p>
<p>does anyone have any idea of how many students were admitted out of the Harvard Waiting List...because I was waitlisted there and my rejection letter arrived yesterday...I'm going to Wharton at UPenn though...so i'm happy still hehe :D</p>
<p>My son goes to a private school which a few years ago ranked in the 70s or 80s as a feeder school. He got 2350 on SAT, 800 or close on the subject tests and took the most rigorous curriculum ever taken by anyone in the history of the school incl 2 languages to post AP Lit level. Well, he is also a varsity athlete on the tennis team which is the regional champ two years in a row.</p>
<p>Well, he was waitlisted at Pton and Cornell, for Pete's sake but got into Columbia, Brown, Duke and UPenn. I had foolishly thought all the Ivies except HYP were safeties for me. My hubris got shatterd. But most kids at his school got decimated. The situation is bad out there, my advice for class of 2012 would be : take it convervatively, apply ED if you think you will be reasonably happy at a slightly less preferred college, but if not apply to no less than 15 schools regular action. Good luck.</p>
<p>Did your son really want to go to Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, Brown, Duke and UPenn? Or did he just want to be accepted at all of them? He certainly should have spent some time differentiating between the schools. Just because they are the "top" schools (according to rankings) doesn't mean everyone should strive to go to them. </p>
<p>Perhaps some of these "elite" students are not being admitted to "elite" schools because they can't put together a convincing case for all those schools. Encouraging people to apply to 15 schools is ridiculous. Each student should take the time to find the schools that are right for him/her. Visit the schools - then apply to them. And if HYPSIM and some other great schools reject you, you'll get over it. They can't take everyone with great stats. There is way too much emphasis on these schools. (I went to a small undergraduate school, got a great education, and then went to a "big name" graduate school. I personally would not have wanted to attend that school as an undergrad and did not encourage my own children to go there. It's a big name but it's not always a great education.) </p>
<p>This admissions process is so out of kilter. I feel sorry for the students coming up in the next few years. Perhaps students should be required to limit the number of schools to which they apply.</p>
<p>"This admissions process is so out of kilter. I feel sorry for the students coming up in the next few years."</p>
<p>Agreed. Though instead of placing a limit on the number of schools to which students may apply, and may be better and more useful to have better guidance for students so they can make more informed choices than simply 'applying to the ivies.'</p>