My point here was that perhaps while you moved on and chose another - it could be that you settled in with a roommate, made plans with them and got really jazzed, etc. and you might be in the mindset, hey I moved on. I suspect that happens often.
Of course, everyone is entitled to make the choice they want but I imagine when someone has found a roommate and got acclimated to their choice, it’s highly likely they let the WL go bye bye. Plus, no one wants to be the one to let down the new roomie bff they’ve gotten to know…there may be an emotional tug there too, depending on the kid.
If they don’t, that’s great for them too.
But I wasn’t saying one should spurn the WL acceptance. I was simply saying I’m sure that the yield for WL acceptance is likely low - and that many do spurn it for these reasons - if that makes sense.
Mine totally is!! He knows no one from home and no one from his school has ever gone to Auburn. The one thing that I think is helping him is making connections. He knows which dorm he will be in and who his roommate is (housing selection was last week) and has also been in contact with two other kids who will live next door to him. He is on the 2028 IG page and has been in chats with kids and starting to feel like he “knows” some kids. We are heading down in June for orientation and he will meet more kids then, and with summer rush activities, even more kids to meet. So by the time we arrive mid-August for move-in he will know several kids. The fact that he will be much more familiar with campus and have some people to look forward to seeing on move-in day will be really helpful for him. I am sure he will still be a bundle of nerves, probably be pretty anxious in the days leading up to departure and teary-eyed when we leave- so will we. But am holding onto the fact that he is more than ready and will have a great time at a great school.
I knew it was coming because her birthday was a couple weeks ago and she let me get her some school swag for the first time and we took the Bama paperwork to her well child visit for completion, but she said she feels so much lighter now that the decision is final. She’s been stressed even though she applied EA everywhere and got her last decision before Christmas.
Good luck to everyone’s kids who are waiting for last decisions this week! Hoping everyone ends up with a few options they are satisfied with. And looking forward to us all getting off the emotional rollercoaster that admissions season often is, and turning to the excitement that invariably comes from committing to a school and contemplating the new places, friends and experiences there.
March Madness (in our house): our road ends here (finally)!
S24 is going to Macalester this fall!
While we are happily cheering for UNC basketball (go Heels!), it was out of his favor early. At the end, it was between W&M and Mac. A rejection from WashU helped our decision process. Good luck everyone!
Not the best news at our house this weekend (or maybe in some ways it was?). Waitlisted at Smith, rejected at Bowdoin and Amherst.
I saw “maybe it was” because I personally thought Bowdoin and Amherst were two of the schools I least saw a fit for D24. And knowing her, the shorter the list to choose from, all the better.
This morning she says she is leaning toward Bates. We shall see. Waiting for Hamilton to come out this Friday.
Welcome to the party! I think quite a few of us have kids being rejected or waitlisted at some similar colleges, with similar feelings about how maybe that is actually an important part of the process of getting them to a place they will truly thrive.
As we approach the final dates of release, one can reflect on the various application strategies adopted from coast to coast. It seems pretty obvious that the most difficult/challenging situations are faced by the “sandwich” class of applicants with very strong grades, decent ECs (but short of exceptional), unhooked (non-recruits, non-donors, non legacy) facing multitudes of waitlist/deferral/rejections from match schools with 50-30% admit rates trying to protect their yield, and similar responses from their selective reach schools which are factually reaches for everyone. Our high school has several, who omitted to include very safe schools w strong academics like the Canadian Universities, or in-state options with guaranteed admission with their GPA. The UCs are illustrative of that problem, because only UC Merced can be considered a reliable safety these days.
Is that really true though? So far S24’s experience has been pretty much as I anticipated. Rejected at 2 high reaches (Brown ED, UNC OOS), accepted at one likely (McGill), two reaches (UVA OOS, Colby) and one target (W&M). His remaining four schools are all reaches and I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets shut out, nor will I be surprised if he gets into 1 or 2 (I would be shocked if he got into all of them). He’s an unhooked student from MA with solid, but not spectacular, ECs.
I’ll again just note this is mostly a thing that happens with colleges in very popular, mostly coastal, markets. Meaning the sorts of applicants you are describing can usually get far more predictable Target results by applying to Targets in less popular markets which are unlikely to have the incentive, or really the ability, to yield protect.
Indeed, my S24 in retrospect really overdid it, with now acceptances (I believe this is approximate order of receipt) from Pitt (some merit), St Andrews, William & Mary (Monroe), Rochester (some merit), Haverford, WUSTL, Carleton, and Wake Forest. But not one of those was in New England, where he has two waitlists (Amherst and Middlebury), and a rejection (Williams).
Any sense of the waitlists this year? I’m curious if the lack of FAFSA information might be encouraging more schools to “sit” on more kids? Especially a big state flagship. Does an OPS kid have a better shot if they know she’s full pay? I know a lot of the schools that offer full need use CSS. Do I don’t know. But with so much up in the air is there any sense some schools might play it safe so as not to end up with too many high-need kids?
I guess we won’t know until the 2024-2025 CDSs come out?
We couldn’t believe that she got off the waitlist so late, but we were thrilled for her.
