bristolstomp

because my S went through the Wait List Process (Luckily in a very happy way), and we have many friends who will be going through the Admission process for 2014, I was wondering if there was any interest in compiling as effectively as we can, which schools did in fact go through the process and how long it dragged on for. I would just want to stipulate that I would only want to gather data from primary sources (it happened to my S or D) or official documentation ("Today the U of Chicago released all WL candidates in an email" from a UofC administrator) I would anticipate this might drag on into the summer melt process (which quite frankly I never knew existed.) If you would be interested in helping with this, please let me know on this thread.

Remember the actual data on how many will be compiled as part of the Common Data set used by many schools and available this fall.

I have 2 more years to get ready for my NEXT son....

Thanks. Any questions ,please ask them here.

Chelsea0011

S was released from Northeastern University's waitlist on April 27th and asked to respond before 5PM on April 30th.

ncmomX2

I've seen the term "summer melt" a few times. Can you explain exactly how this applies to a waitlisted student?
Thanks

nhsharvard

Summer melt refers to students that have accepted one waitlist offer, but later on, reject that offer to accept another waitlist offer.

bluebayou

Summer melt can also occur when an admitted, deposited student decides to defer for a year, and matriculate the following fall. Note, however, that this does not necessarily mean that a slot just opens up in late summer. Adcoms are smart people, and figure in summer melt with their early WL offers. Thus, they accept deposits for xx students above their class size bcos history has shown them that yy students fail to show up each fall.

bristolstomp

I'm learning about this too. what do we call a situation where my S accepting a spot @ school A from the WL and withdrawing from school B causes a kid on the WL on school B to be offered a spot?

ctyankee

Quite true. Additionally, late summer acceptances may not be the kind of word-of-mouth that a school may necessarily want or need. A 11th hour acceptance to Brown spread like a wildfire through town last year.

bluebayou

A "win-win"

ncmomX2

thanks...
this sure is a never-ending process! We'll just hang in there and continue to hope for the best!

ctyankee

^^^^^^^^^^^

Agreed. I think colleges would be better off just guessing at the summer melt and making their decisions and be done with it. Nothing is perfect but isn't that better than figuring the class to some 'perfect' size (as if they really knew what perfect is?). This way thousands of kids move on without a prolonged and painful wait into the summer for calls that may not come.

bluebayou

In theory, yes, but for the vast majority of private colleges, empty beds is like empty airplane seats. At $50k per year, ten empty beds is a half-million bucks of less revenue (little finaid for WL), with little marginal costs (food and electricity). Moreover, students don't have to play the WL game -- they can withdraw their position on the WL, and heartily endorse their May 1 college. But, for those students that do want to play the WL game, an acceptance even in summer could be a good thing. (Few would turn down an invitation to HYPSM in July.)