I am a middle class Indian American who applied for CS and was waitlisted to many ivy and top-tier institutions. Does my demographic even have a shot at getting off of the waitlist? I understand that these schools try to fill demographic gaps in their student body; CS is such an overpopulated major and (as lawsuits suggest) Asians find it particularly tougher to gain admission, I’m having trouble seeing a possibility where spaces open up for us.
The odds of ANYONE getting off of a waitlist for an Ivy or other top tier college is small. As I’d suggest to anyone, move forward assuming you will attend a school you have been accepted to (and you have some fine choices with UNC and UMD). If you get an acceptance off of any waitlist it should be considered a happy surprise.
Different schools order their waitlists differently. You can check past history, but at some schools no one or very very few people will come off the waitlist even if they put 100s of people on the waitlist.
@happy1 @mathmom I was just curious if my demographic has a non-zero chance of getting admitted. But I suppose 0 is not very far off from 0.1%.
No one can give you that information. When extremely selective colleges go to the waitlist, they are probably taking someone they really wanted to admit but simply had no room. I don’t think that they have waitlist piles marked with people’s race.
You got into Chapel Hill, which is an excellent school. Acceptance from any waitlist is tiny, so proceed as though it won’t happen.
Waitlist admits also favor full-pay applicants at nearly all schools
Colleges may or may not prioritize their wait lists. It depends on the college, which is why no one can answer your question for sure. Race won’t be as much of a factor as being full pay and having your file at the top of the proverbial pile.
I know of an Asian student who got off the waitlist to a top computer science college a few years ago. We think he increased his chances by doing an extra visit to the college that was especially for waitlisted students. However, instead of being accepted for CS, he was accepted into Information Science.