interesteddad

It's not a very reliable source of news, but the NY Times has some info on waitlist movement:

Harvard is expected to take 150+ off their waitlist, so that could have an additional ripple effect throughout the pond.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/ed...in&oref=slogin

interesteddad

Update

According to today's Wall Street Journal (May 21st):

Swarthmore has taken 22 applicants from the waitlist.

Pomona has taken 16 so far, after losing 4 to Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia waitlists.

Elite Colleges Reach Deeper Into Wait Lists - WSJ.com

enfrocer

so is the class of 2012 closed?

boho_girl

How come so many of the other schools sent out or released some kind of an official update on wait list but not Swarthmore?
I wish Swarthmore kept us posted about this directly, not through a third party...

enfrocer

man if u call them they wont even confirm they are taking people off the wait list

boho_girl

^^ And they hardly even reply e-mails.


I am not saying they should appreciate me, but I feel so unappreciated
I just don't understand why all it's ok for the other schools to release the official information but not for Swarthmore.

interesteddad

What if they don't have an answer for the question, "Will you be taking any more from the waitlist?"

If I recall, they usually send an update when it's effectively over. Until then, there really isn't much to update.

boho_girl

Well, I am not really talking about "taking any more students", but "any students". I asked about wait list around the beginning of May, and even then, they wouldn't tell me if they were going to take ANY off the wait list (since they told me in April that they will have to wait until May to know if anyone will be taken off). And then few days after asking that, I saw an article published at non-Swat web site which said that Swarthmore will be taking xy number of people.

I am more concerned about their lack of communication with people that want to know the most about the wait list status (us, the students) than with their not having an answer to "will you be taking any more off wait list". They wouldn't give us any direct answer, yet they give information to third parties that write about this year's wait lists. I don't think that's alright. They have their own website, they would get less phone calls to answer ambiguously or e-mails they could ignore if only they published some data. Many other top schools wrote "X college taking yz number off wait list" or even have forums on which they could ask questions about wait list, why can't they do some of that, too?

kwu

The Ivy League isn't done with filling its empty seats yet, so one can't really expect Swarthmore, or institutions of similar caliber, to make any hasty statements yet.

interesteddad

Boho:

I understand your frustration. I don't know what the right answer is. Here are the three big problems:

a) the more information a college gives, the more they are setting up their waitlistees for a cycle of hope and dissapointment. For example, finding out that Swarthmore is taking 20 people off the waitlist gives you encouragement, right? But, then a week passes and you haven't gotten a call. You've just been put thru an unnecessary cycle of disappointment. Now, multiply by 500 or 1000 disappointments. Isn't it ultimately better to not say anything? I don't know..tough call.

b) The admissions offices don't know. They are aiming at moving target for the entire month of May. One minute, the are over-enrolled. Three days later they've lost ten students as waitlist musical chairs plays out or deposited students defer to go do missionary work in the Andes for a year. If they tried to update fast enough to keep up, you would have whiplash and they would be posting information that is erroneous by the time anyone reads it.

c) It's easy to be misleading. Suppose they send out an e-mail saying that they are going to accept 20 more students. Do they add the important qualification that they are only going to top up internationals, African Americans, and mens baseball players? Or do they let all 500 to 1000 people on the waitlist falsely believe they might get a call?

Isn't the only honest thing simply to say, "we are still evaluating where we stand; we haven't officially closed out the waitlist; we don't know if we'll be taking any more or how many; we'll notify you when we have closed out the waitlist..."?

I dislike everything about this waitlist business. I think it borders on cruel and unusual punishment. IMO, colleges, including Swarthmore, should tell each waitlistee exactly how many were offered a place and the historic numbers that have been accepted off the waitlists. They don't do that because then nobody would accept a spot on the waitlist.

swatparent

It appears to be an unusual year because of the numbers of top colleges taking students from the wait list. Why is this happening?

Disneyguy

Because Harvard and Princeton got rid of their Early Decision programs. Thus, their numbers were a lot different from previous years...

interesteddad

It doesn't appear to be unusual for Swarthmore this year. I think that taking 20 to 30 off the waitlist would be their optimum scenario every year. That's enough to "top" up any categories that fall short (not enough men, not enough African Americans, not enough internationals, whatever), but not too many.

A year where the class is filled without going to the waitlist limits the ability to fill all the various niches and it's cutting things a little too close for comfort on being overenrolled.

boho_girl

ID,

I guess you're right. I don't even know what good it would do if I even knew the exact number they plan to take from wait list. But I still have problems with their not answering e-mails. If anything, they could just say "we don't know, stop sending e-mails" than not reply at all :/ (okay, so they answered about waitlist when I asked them twice, but I still have unanswered e-mail...) And I still don't understand why so many of the other schools release some wait list information but not Swarthmore.

I'll just go try to forget I ever applied to Swat and focus on the other things.

enfrocer

they actually never reply