| NU2012, there are no guarantees of course. However, whether a university uses its waitlist or not usually depends on how it approached admissions on that given year. If it purposely admits fewer students than needed to make 100% sure it does not exceed target, then it will end up using its waitlist.
Most years, Michigan does not approach admissions that way. Instead, I have noticed (and I may be wrong, although I am never wrong! hehe!!) that Michigan seems to have adopted the admissions philosophy that it will admit enough students that if the average historic yield rate holds, its target will be met. That system used to work because Michigan's historic yield rate generally hovered between 38% and 40%. However, in recent years, Michigan's yield rate has climbed to the 44%-46% rate. As a result, its Freshman classes would exceed target by 500 or more students. That is why this year, like in 2006, I suspect that Michigan admitted fewer students than required to meet its target and will accept students from its waitlist once it knows exactly how many admitted students have sent in their security deposits.
In recent years however, Michigan's yield rate has been improving and as such, Michigan's old admissions philosophy is |