Duke enrolls 50 waitlisted students 2 weeks before first-year move-in

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This year’s waitlist thread continues with Duke:

Duke has enrolled around 50 additional students to the Class of 2029, with less than two weeks until first-year move-in on Aug. 16. The reversal comes nearly two months after the Office of Undergraduate Admissions announced it was no longer accepting students from its waitlist, marking the first time in recent history that the first-year waitlist has been closed and reopened.

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Interesting that it seems to be simply to increase the size of the cohort (financial?) rather than, say, replace international students who are not getting visas.

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I’m not buying that it’s not to replace international students. Even if it’s not to replace internationals who have declined their acceptances, it may well be a hedge against an anticipated number of internationals who fail to show up or a proactive move to protect themselves against an feared loss of internationals who drop out during the school year. The NY Times reported last May that Duke is one of the universitues most dependent on international enrollment with 25% stated in that article.

Here’s an article from the Duke Chronicle this spring about what the university is doing on this front:

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Just a clarification, Duke’s total undergrad enrollment is less than 10% international per section B2 of their 23-24 CDS, with first year international enrollment right around 10%.

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I wonder if financial aid is available for any of the recent admits. I’m guessing not. But even so how exciting for the lucky few who got an unexpected surprise. I mean two weeks before move in…wow…

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You think these 50 are thems who need financial aid? I don’t. More likely thems who can walk away from financial commitments to other places easily. Feels like a money thing.

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I’d guess most of these students already paid their first semester tuition bill at their other college - so you are really talking about families with financial means here. Pretty arrogant move by Duke. Classy move would be to waive first semester tuition.

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Most colleges have tuition refund policies. Typically, most or all of tuition is refundable before class begins. Housing may have different policies.

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Not sure how Duke works but typically students will have enrolled for their freshmen year classes well before 2 weeks before move-in, right? Are these “lucky” students going to be disadvantaged schedule-wise on top of having to suddenly change all their plans and likely losing housing deposits (at best) elsewhere?

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Arrogant and extraordinary. As if the roller coaster from ED around mid Oct to May 1 is not enough fort 17year olds !!!

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I am not at all familiar with Duke, but my guess would be that, like most colleges, the last orientation group occurs just before the start of classes, and would include the waitlist admits. Usually, if orientation occurs in groups over the summer, course registration is done in batches, with seats reserved for later orientations.

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I don’t think Duke forces anyone to accept.

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@Zrt42 exactly. A few lucky kids got in very late and were able to accept a very late offer. Not everyone who was waitlisted got in at the last minute. Not everyone who was offered this very late offer of admission could accept it for financial or other reasons. This late in the game is a surprise for sure. If it works for you, great. If not, it’s ok…by this point kids already have their plans. For some this is a dream come true, for others they stick with the plan they had because this last minute unexpected opportunity may not be feasible. Easy come easy go.

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