| I'm sorry, Justamom. The waitlist caused us trouble too. But when all is said and done, parents and kids end up liking to say they were waitlisted over being rejected. It works better when you know you are a courtesy--when the school is accepting NO ONE off the waitlist so it is all courtesy.
I'm sure there are kids who are staying on the waitlist for spite, but there are many kids like your D who are really hoping for a spot. My close friend's daughter was wl at Georgetown and Penn, and it really caused a lot of grief as she so wanted to go to either of those schools, and could not get her mind on her choice of school that accepted her. SHe was courtesy waitlisted, in my opinion, but that is a hard one to swallow, and she would never have believed that. She revisited both schools and pleaded her case; it really was painful.
They do not need a list of 1200 for 39 acceptances. They might have a true list of about 60 and the rest are courtesy. Sometimes, a GC can find out if there is a chance in H that a student can clear the list, or if it's a really not a good possibility (meaning forget it, you're a courtesy). That might get things rolling the right way. |