IMO most students are pretty realistic that a WL has likely a low probablility of changing and they enroll at another school. But that said, in fairness, look at the thread from this past year re: schools going to their WLs. 2025 Waitlists - expect movement (read why) and list them here
There is always the summer melt too, when more WL activity occurs. And the list from the above link is not comprehensive nor does it reflect some additional schools that went to their WL later (while not posted here, it doesn’t mean there was no additional WL activity). Most students I knew who accepted a WL position were prepared to withdraw their acceptance at their selected/enrolled school if the more highly desired acceptance came through from the WL and was affordable, even up to a few weeks before school started. In some (probably not many) cases, at some private colleges, a call from the HS counselor to admissions advising them that a particular WL student would accept, even if full pay, would tip the scales to an admission.
As others have said, one should look at past WL patterns when schools make it available. Sometimes schools don’t go to their WLs, at other times they may have gone deep into their WLs. Its likely that data analytics now are more finely tuned to help schools better gauge admission/acceptance patterns, but stuff happens (like this year’s massive layoffs and concerns about visas) that cause many accepts students to decline acceptances.
It has been a few years since we heard of schools overenrolling (think Michigan in past years, and schools having to triple up double dorm rooms and/or house some in hotels initially, as has happened in the past)
But a low probability is not NO probablility, and telling WL students that a WL is a rejection is disengenuous and IMO, can be unkind and hurtful to students. Agree with what others have said above re: the GA Tech article’s reiteration about each student’s worth, value, and to be sensitive to their feelings and emotional well being.