<p>As we face tomorrow, we plan to follow up on any acceptances. We do not plan to allow our son to stay on waitlists, if there are any acceptances tomorrow. </p>
<p>Good luck to all!</p>
<p>The only exception I’d make to Periwinkle’s policy is if my child absolutely loved the waitlist school. Given that many (maybe most) kids get off waitlists by April 10, I might stay on that one, unless a revisit strongly turned my kid toward the school where he/she was accepted. There’s a certain randomness to the admissions process…it works well, but not perfectly. You know your child best.</p>
<p>I’m hoping my son won’t be WLed. He has already been accepted to a school in Switzerland and a WL here, in the US, will most likely send him abroad. I don’t know, he has some hooks but the competition is so tough. I guess I should start thinking like the others who posted, "like the school that likes you’'</p>
<p>Classicalmama, our experience with our older child influenced our intentions. After the first revisit, we (parents) looked at each other and said, “even if the WL schools called, we wouldn’t take the offer.” We were one of those families which found revisits tremendously informative. </p>
<p>I also think that our son would do well at any of the schools he ended up applying to. They’re all selective, so it may be a disappointing day for us tomorrow. On the other hand, if there is an acceptance, we’ll go with it, unless we come across something devastating at revisits. </p>
<p>I can think of exceptions to our approach. If your child’s a sibling at a WL school, the family doesn’t need to revisit the WL school, although it’s nice to see if a child “fits” the rising student body. If your child’s a legacy at a school, the family has reasons to wait it out.</p>
<p>There’s no downside to remaining on the waitlist if you’re also moving forward with other plans for the future. Pinning all one’s hopes on a waitlist is a very difficult way to spend the five months to August. </p>
<p>I also think that admissions officers want to admit students who will do well at their school. If our son’s waitlisted at a school, I tend to think it means the committee as a whole found other students a better fit, for whatever reason. (Let’s leave discussions of students’ relative strengths to the side, and just consider the subjective measure of “fit.”) If he has other acceptances in hand, I’m willing to defer to the different committees’ respective judgements. </p>
<p>I know my child better than the admissions committees, but they know their schools and student bodies much better than I do. I’m trying to remember that today. :)</p>
<p>My qualified response comes because my kid was fortunate enough to be accepted at his first-choice school, so I hesitate to apply our experience to others (we notified all the other schools on March 11th, I think!). Also, I now know a few families for whom the school that loved the child was, perhaps, not the best school for the child after all. And we all also know, too, of students accepted off the waitlist who are happily attending Hogwarts. </p>
<p>Still I agree that, in the main, it’s best to love the school that loves the child–and not to hang on in the way you describe to something that may well have been more fantasy than reality.</p>
<p>Anyway, my thoughts and best wishes are with you all.</p>
<p>“I also think that admissions officers want to admit students who will do well at their school. If our son’s waitlisted at a school, I tend to think it means the committee as a whole found other students a better fit, for whatever reason.”</p>
<p>Not necessarily true. Others could be chosen over yours (who may be equally qualified to succeed at a given school) more to fill the schools’ needs: like trombonists, tiddly-winks champions and bow-tie wizards, rather than take yet another styrofoam coffee-cup flipper, of which they have their quota. Just remember that schools are people too…</p>
<p>Also, when a school takes someone off the waitlist you can be certain that the school wants that student!</p>
<p>I almost wonder if getting say, one accept and one WL at your two top schools will help seal the deal for the one that accepted. I can see my son being torn between two schools and agonizing over the choice, should he be so lucky to have it. Not having been through this before, I wonder how much revisits will do to clear that up. At any rate, I hope that one of the schools my son applied to loves him back, especially one of his two favorites. One would be good enough for me!</p>
<p>NYMom: Definitely makes it much easier, as long as one of the accepting schools is also one of your kid’s top choices. My son liked the schools where he was waitlisted almost as much as Exeter, and had he been accepted by one of them instead, I think he would have said yes thanks without a second thought. </p>
<p>It’s only in cases where a child had a top choice that somehow stood above the rest that I’d advocate for waiting. If it’s all about equal, then I’m with Periwinkle–love the school that loves your kid and be done with it. 
Best of luck tomorrow!</p>
<p>Leanid, I always appreciate your contributions to discussions. I don’t mean to imply that other candidates were more qualified. (Of course, I’m the mother, so I would say that.:)) It’s clear that schools have quotas of types of candidates which they need to fill–I like the thought of “trombonists, tiddly-winks champions and bow-tie wizards.” As a parent, from this side of the exchange, though, I don’t know into which category my son falls, nor which institutional need he might fill. (This judgement is perhaps easiest for athletes.) On the other hand, if my son’s appeal to a school is as a “bow-tie wizard,” why should I think that it would eventually win him admission, when it didn’t work by March 10th?</p>
<p>I understand that waitlists are a necessary part of the process. I understand that schools receive more applications from great students than they can admit. Our son’s applied to a great group of schools. He only needs one acceptance to have a school next year. With two (or more), he would face the luxury of choice. I intend to encourage him to fall in love with the schools which were willing to accept him in March, rather than allow him to eat his heart out pining after the one that got away.</p>
<p>Whatever the strategery one chooses about wait lists, I think the main point behind “love the one that loves you” is to keep looking forward and don’t look back.</p>
<p>Periwinkle,</p>
<p>Thanks for the appreciation. I like your contributions too (and your userid is one of the best on CC!). </p>
<p>I understand your concerns. If your son is waitlisted, however, it just may be that the ‘other’ bowtie wizard that was accepted decided to start wearing four-in-hands and opted for the school in desperate need of such wearers, thereby opening up a bowtie slot for your son!</p>
<p>Now, you may think that if they didn’t want him at first (which is really not true, since he was waitlisted) then why should he accept an offer by default? The fact is that the margin of difference between one who is accepted March 10 and one who is waitlisted is…well…marginal. So, it really isn’t too hard to swallow being offered a spot off the waitlist, if it finally happens – especially if the child really wants the school.</p>
<p>To you and every other parent and, most importantly, to your children anxiously awaiting tomorrow’s news, I wish that (more than getting into the ‘top’ school) there will be acceptances for all from schools which are the best fit – if those be from the ‘top’ schools that’s okay too.</p>
<p>Best of luck (there IS a measure of that in this, after all) to every applicant!</p>