If you intend to stay on a WL for a college you are really interested in, do a bit of research about that college. Not so much that you live in hope of getting off the WL, but enough so that should you get that call, you can make a decision quickly. Often times, kids are called off WL and literally given a day or two to make a decision, particularly at smaller colleges. You want to know enough about that college and be sure enough of how you feel about it so you can make a smart decision in a short amount of time.
You will probably have no time to revisit a college. And the farther past early May, the less time you will probably be given to decide. Life gets in the way. There are AP conflicts, missed phone calls, kids don’t check email during the summers, kids have jobs, vacations, etc…
Using my kid as an example, she was taken off WL 1 very early in May. The college gave her about five days to decide. She was unable to visit, as it conflicted with AP exams. She turned it down. Offer #2 came in very early July. To her credit, she had done her homework and this college had been a top choice all along. But, she hadn’t been dwelling on the WL, and was pretty immersed in the idea of going to the college she deposited at. This offer came two days before a major vacation. There was not going to be much opportunity to use the Internet, etc… She had to decide quickly, but she knew a lot about the school, and accepted the offer the next day.
I see a lot of kids are getting WL offers right now, and while they are still not very likely, they can and do happen right through the summer. Be ready so that you can make an informed decision should the call come.
Sage advice, @Lindagaf. We made an extra trip (our third, all of which involved interstate air travel, believe-it-or-not) to one of my daughter’s WL schools (there were three in total) that she considered her top choice. This was in late April, even before we put our deposit down elsewhere. We had heard that the turnaround time could be as short as 24 hours if you are admitted off the WL and wanted to have our ducks in a proverbial row. Alas, we are still waiting. It’s somewhat heartening to hear that your daughter was admitted as late as in early July. You never know…
I probably wouldn’t ever visit a college while on WL, unless it was close and easy to do, but I do hope it works out for your daughter. In my daughter’s case, she really did forget about the WL at her college. She had a tough time choosing, because she was happy with the college she deposited at.
I think true summer notifications really are pretty uncommon, but they can still happen. Believe me, she was truly surprised when the call came. In fact, two days before the call, they had actually emailed, and she hadn’t bothered to check her email until the day they called. Anyway, it all worked out. Good luck to your D.
Thanks for your insights, @Lindagaf. We have heard of the “summer melt” admissions phenomenon, so we’d still like to believe there is a glimmer of hope for her. In our D’s case, the aforementioned school is just now starting to offer degrees the area of study she’s interested in, so we felt it was important to do some “due diligence” to make sure we were ready to commit. She also struggles with big decisions so we felt a fresh look would help her to make up her mind and be 100% ready to commit if she’s fortunate enough to be admitted.
FWIW, back in 05, I was given 2 weeks to decide if I would go to Brown (I didn’t even need 2 minutes).
@iwannabe_Brown , ah, 2005, back in dinosaur times when Brown’s acceptance rate was still in the teens. Ha! I bet no one would get two weeks to decide these days.
You’re right, looks like it’s down to 10 days now according to last year’s thread.
Really? I am impressed. Maybe at those tippy top schools they know they will be able to fill every class, so they don’t mind giving people extra time to decide. I thought five days was pretty generous for my D, haha!