If they don’t go to the wait-list, they may say that they over enrolled. Or they may not
If they go to the wait-list, that means they underenrolled
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please underenroll 
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Whats the point of rejecting certain kids vs WL it kinda gives false hope!
The wait list is for the benefit of the school not the student. The benefit for the school is that they have a collection of vetted kids who could be successful at the school should they need them.
For example, the school has 120 places to fill. Historial averages show they should expect a yield of roughly 70% so they offer spots to 170 kids. As we head towards A10, the school realises they have plenty of girl boarding students accepting the offer but the boy students are choosing elsewhere. So they can dip into their WL pool to choose a boy boarder, and then hone that further by also choosing one who is strong in drama, or music, or math Olympiad or whatever it is they seem. It helps if that student has confirmed to the WL school that it’s a top choice.
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How can I confirm its my top choice?
same
You tell them in your LOCI. Don’t do this to more than one school however.
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hi, i’m desperately trying to get off of the choate waitlist. i’ve told them i’d go if i got in since far before M10, but im sending a LOCI today. i have a former board member and a current student writing me a recommendation letter and i have no awards, but more extracurriculars like i’m doing an editorial 5 week apprenticeship this summer as well as getting some of my writing published in magazines. are those worth it to add? i can pay full.
edit: also does anybody know about the choate waitlist in past years??
Just so you know Blair waitlists almost everyone if not everyone. We had an incomplete application and didn’t even interview or submit SSAT and she got waitlisted. 
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@smash1978, if you had not been accepted anywhere and still wanted to go to BS, this is an invitation to complete your application and express interest. Weird way of doing it, but from the school’s point of view, a way to re-engage with a possible applicant who perhaps miscalculated on their original list.
Interesting!! My daughter was accepted at 4 other schools. We would have loved to have her go to Blair because my son goes to Peddie, but her SSAT scores just weren’t up to snuff!
@smash1978 , Blair doesn’t know about your SSAT scores because you didn’t submit them. And they don’t know that is why you didn’t complete your application.
There are lots of kids who would be great fits for a school who abandon an application before completing it because they have too many applications in the works or they decide to focus on schools closer to home or they want schools with more boarders, etc. But if they find themselves without a school on M10, this gives them a way to finish the application. They might be a perfect fit and now be willing to give a bit on whatever. They may be hoping you’re in this camp. (And you don’t know for certain that your SSAT was too low, especially if the rest of the application was strong.)
Put differently, the school is giving itself a chance to add quality applicants to its WL pool rather than rejecting them. At the end of the day, what they care about is enrolling a strong class in September. However they get there!
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I didn’t give an interview for blair and I submitted my application after the deadline as well, and they did tell me that we will give you a decision on M10 but you are not our first priority applicant. I still got Waitlisted because of my very strong Model UN EC I believe as Blair Model UN program is very advanced. I am going to write a LOCI based on these things that I appreciate they saw my application even though I was not a priority and didn’t give an interview and that how I can contribute well to the school’s EC’s especially the MUN program. I’d also request that I am ready for an interview anyday if it can be made possible. I genuinely have started really liking the school and its programs. Hope I get off fingers crossed.
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i got waitlisted at choate with a 40th percentile math ssat (i got much higher overall because verbal and reading were perfect) would it be worth anything to retake the ssat and get a higher math grade?
If you want to apply next year. But I don’t think retaking the SSAT, in attempt to get off the wait-list will help.
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They actually do know that we didn’t finish application bc of low SSAT scores. I was speaking with admission coordinator and told her I had to cancel interview bc SsAT wasn’t strong enough. They wouldn’t let me make an interview appointment unless I paid them the application fee because I’m International. That’s why they received all the parts of the application minus the SSAT score after the deadline. It’s a bizarre circumstance
That is an unusual set of circumstances! Glad you have such other good alternatives.
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Yes. Declined the SPS WL offer. (Accepted at his tied-for-first-choice schools with FA.)
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My school counselor talked to me today and she said she was very shocked that I got WL everywhere. She normally doesn’t do anything after M10 but since she’s close with me she offered to call my top choices and lobby for me to get off the waitlist. Any thoughts? Should I ask her to wait closer to A10?
When should I plan to write my LOCI and first-choice letters? Choate sent out an email saying to send updates.