Are there some colleges that take into account extenuating circumstances more or less?

Well, depending on the school, most don’t get off the waitlist.

Any school that is offering merit like that is saying - we need bodies and the sticker price is never paid - our real price is x school minus $24K.

You can look at the common data set section c and see how many got off the WL last year - and tell the school and I’ll look for you.

I find that hard to believe a school would say this though. Are you sure you’re not mis-reading.