Thank you for this information. My son will be doing the same.
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Wow. Thanks for this. Super sobering. Annoying that they would bother with the 29% stat when itâs so clearly misleading. Like, whatâs the point? Are they going out of their way to give unhelpful information so they get a big waitlist giving people false hope?
Weâll stay on the WL, but this is just another indication that itâs worth what we paid for it (i.e., zero)
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I suspect they did the three year average because they didnât want to give potentially false hope by saying ~75% of students on the waitlist received an offer last year.
Last year they were more restrictive about admitting students EA and RD after more students than expected enrolled the year before. As a result it looks like they had to backfill quite a bit using the waitlist.
I also suspect that they adjusted their algorithm this year to admit a few more during EA and RD and a few less off the waitlist.
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Sure. But clearly the stats are not informative at all, so just donât use them. Most schools donât tell you anything. Itâs frustrating, but itâs probably better than made up numbers.
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Agreed. This is one of those situations where a 3-year average is not useful because it misrepresents reality.
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Love all your calculations, pilate, here and the past ones you shared too. Thank you! Totally and completely unscientific, but my UW freshman son, encouraging his brother who has just been waitlisted, says âhalf his floorâ came off the waitlist. A little tiny sliver of hope maybe⊠!
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Now thatâs something
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Son was deferred EA, received rejection on Friday. He and parents are all fine with result as it was always a reach school for him and surprised he was initially deferred. Headed to IU and also accepted to Penn State, Clemson, Auburn. Good luck to those on waitlist and congrats to those that were accepted.
OOS - Atlanta, GA
Business
32 ACT
3.6 UW
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Congrats to your son! I love Indiana University. Almost everyone on my dadâs side of the family went to IU. I even met my wife there in grad school. Our problem is our son wants to major in engineering and heâs grown up with too many anti-Purdue relatives. 
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Thanks for this. Same boat here. D is poli sci which gives some hope but we are adjusting to Syracuse or IU as likely plan. Her bff from same high school is declining which might help us here, assuming geographic diversity matters.
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I apologize to all of you if I am out of line, and maybe you were not bothered by the comment that bothered me. However, this has been eating at me for a few days and I feel compelled to say something.
gt4889, I am genuinely happy that your child was admitted. I offer sincere congratulations.
However, I think your comment about your sonâs triumph on his merits was somewhat tonedeaf to how it might make some of the applicants and/or their parents are feeling.
You wrote about your son that, âHis ECs were on par with others but had 1-2 that I would say were very unique. That, and his essay, put him over the top I believe. I had doubts the big schools with 50-100k applications really looked far beyond stats but now I believe it.â
My child, and lot of children and their parents are hurting about their children being waitlisted or rejected. Maybe your son wrote a great essay and has unique ECs. However, to commend UW for looking âfar beyond the statsâ in choosing to admit your son feels like a shot at some of the rest of us, i.e., âyour children might have better stats, but when you really look at them as individuals, UW recognized that my son really was more deserving.â Was your comment supposed to make anyone feel any better about their situations? Are we supposed to feel better because UW really looked âfar beyond the statsâ in concluding that our children should not be admitted? I hope UW and other schools do look at the essays and consider applicants as individuals. But I remain troubled by your conclusion that your son being admitted over others is the proof that UW truly look at the merits of their applicants.
My son has overcome some difficult challenges. I thought he wrote a wonderful essay, on which he worked very hard for many weeks. Wisconsin was his first choice. He was hugely disappointed when he was deferred and crushed when he was waitlisted. He is not on this list but, for his sake, I find the implication that Wisconsinâs choice not to admit him went âfar beyond the statsâ to be insensitive.
Again, I apologize to any of you that find my comments to be out of line.
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Hugs to your son . Itâs been a crap shoot one school just looking at scores one
Looking holistically . I feel bad for all the kids waitlisted at their first choice .
My daughter is at UTK waitlisted but luckily got in here , I keep telling her she is lucky . I hope your son
Lands where he is suppose to this has not been an easy process for many . All this kids have worked and hard and deserve it . I donât think my daughter deserves it more than anyone else .itâs just a crap shoot and itâs all
Luck 
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WhoaâŠ
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I read the post more as a parent recognizing that their childâs GPA was a little bit below the CC admitted average and happy that other factors were taken into consideration. Just my take, I might be wrong.
As you know, I completely empathize with your frustration with the process. Wisconsin is my sonâs first choice and based on his stats, it was a very reasonable âtargetâ school. If his essays doomed his application, then Iâll never understand why a subjective reading of a few hundred words trumps his other credentials.
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Yeah. Maybe itâs unfair. I think everyone who got in can do the work, but the process seems just random to me. Iâm amazed if they really dug in on 70K essays, but maybe they did.
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I also read the post as a parent recognizing that their childâs stats were average when comparing to the numerous stats that have been posted. My twin sons were admitted regular decision, and I tend to also believe that their essays and our location had something to do with it. Their stats (GPAs, ECs, etc⊠were competitive but not above others I have seen.
S24#1 3.92/4.1 GPA; numerous EC but nothing outstanding (Baseball, Sports Editor School Newspaper, Latin Club, NHS, Streaming Club, Key Club, Davies Discussion Group, +part time job at Baseball Indoor Training Center); 5 AP/Dual Credit Classes
S24#2 3.98/4.2 GPA; numerous EC but nothing outstanding (Baseball, NHS, Streaming Club, Key Club, Davies Discussion Group, +part time job at Baseball Indoor Training Center); 6 AP/Dual Credit Classes
We chose not to submit ACT scores (both did fine - upper 20s but not in 30s) and also chose the regular decision route instead of Early Action after lots of debate.
I was not expecting them to be admitted after reading everyone elseâs story/background, but truly believe that their essays and our location worked to their benefit. They worked on the essays starting in September and researched, researched, researched what has worked in the past. We are located in North Dakota and very few kids from our state have applied in the past 5 years and only 3 have been admitted that I know of (thank you to whoever posted those stats).
I donât mean to discredit what your concerns are BZ, but wanted to write this, so those looking at message boards next year have more information to help aid their college journey. I have followed this forum since it was created, and I feel like I know a lot of you just reading your posts. I wish Wisconsin was like Arizona and admitted most that apply. Best wishes for all your sons and daughters next year!
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Nobody is getting accepted over another individually. At these big schools I have to believe much of it is data driven including known high school attributes and overall less holistic regardless of what is claimed. Also, intended major is huge factor.
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intended major is in some ways bogus bc you can change you major within the college you are admitted to without issue
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True!! Especially in something like Letters & Sciences. But the demand for Business and Engineering is ultra competitive with lots of parity in applicants.
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I am in the upper midwest in a metro with lots of applicants and have done some college counseling and am on the counselorâs mailing list for UW Madison. I know plenty of students who apply to UW Madison over the years. My own kid just graduated from UW and I have another kid that was accepted EA last winter.
Having watched the process for a number of years at this point, I do think a admissions at a school like UW is a very data driven process. I do think for OOS applicants, location you are applying from and program applied for can make a big difference. I suspect they have some way to estimate the odds of a student actually attending. It does them no good to admit a bunch of students that have below average odds of attending. Admissions departments are trying to fill classes and institutional needs and not necessarily rewarding merit.
I do also think they use those Why UW essays as one factor of MANY. Not to weep over indivdiual essays and how beautifully they are written. But I think it is an easy sorting mechanism. A kid that waxes a tiny bit poetic about picnic point and camp randall (or other very specific things on campus - a prof, a club, an opportunity, etc) might be more likely to attend than the OOS kid from a metro with a ton of applicants that says the strength of your academics is drawing them to campus. But could draw them to any campus and this is considered a toss off safety for them. Both my kids were accepted EA. One was very high stat and one probably looked more average. But both had very specific to UW âWhy usâ essays because it really was a top choice for both of them.
In terms of major, sure itâs not hard to change major WITHIN a college. However, I suspect theyâve found a way to find balance in admission in particular with CS and STEM interested students in L&S. I wonât be surprised if they change their CS application process in the coming years. It is not necessarily easy to jump to engineering or business.
The admissions at UW has changed drastically over the past 10 years and I can see why they have admitted conservatively the past couple years. Sorry to those who have disappointed kiddos. I hope they can move onward and upward quickly. Hopefully the waitlist will see some movement, but hard to know for sure. Iâm looking forward to digging into the next published common data set.
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