<p>Abdu07- This issue is that when someone you know turns down their spot, that doesn’t mean JMU (or any school) has a spot to offer someone. All universities know what their “yield” historically is. Yield is the percentage of people that are offered admission that accept a spot. I don’t know what JMU’s are, but UVA and W&M are both in the 30s percentage wise. Most of the people applying to these schools are applying to many other. So (and again, I didn’t look their yield up so this is not based on their number), if a school wants to have a class of 2000 Freshman, and they historically have a yield of 25%, they will offer admission to 8000 or so students, expecting that will give them the size class they want. Said another way, in this scenario, over 6000 students have to say no to the offer before a college begins admitting from the wait list.</p>
<p>Sorry to be the bearer of such bad news. I am hoping that George Mason is a school you can be excited about. I recommend that you go and get involved early and don’t spend your college days pining for another school. That is the best way to ensure that you don’t get the most out of it. GMU is a great school- congrats!</p>