Waitlist Mythical Legend?

soozievt
Fri, 18 Nov 2005 13:23:09 +0000

OK, I’ll bite. I do think kids can get in off a waitlist for a BFA program, depending on the program. Some programs due to size, do not want to make too many offers for the slots that they have available for fear that everyone could accept the offer and then they’d have too many for the size class they want so they do have a waitlist for that reason.

For example, CMU takes about 10 students. They don’t accept extras to yield 10 but have a waitlist and priority waitlist, and mentioned this at the audition. For instance, I know my kid got a priority waitlist there last year (though hers was for Acting, where they have 18 slots in the class). Her friend, who is now a soph at CMU for MT, DID get in off the waitlist the previous year. Someone did not accept the offer for one of those slots in the freshman class and she was chosen from the small priority waitlist. She had put in a deposit for CCM and then when she heard from CMU in May that she was off the waitlist, she took the offer and is there now.

I believe DoctorJohn once explained his use of the waitlist as well. He only has 8 students in his program at Otterbein. He can’t give out a lot of extra offers because what if all took him up on the offer? So, he does have a waitlist and he does use it. He explained how the waitlist is not ordered (and is not at most colleges) but more that if someone of a certain type declines the spot offered in the class, he will go to the waitlist and find another student of that “type” to fill it.

At UMich, they were finding that more kids were accepting their offer than counted on based on past year’s “yield” (which is what colleges go by when figuring out how many offers to make to yield a certain enrollment) and so for instance, the year before my D applied there, I think they gave out 14 offers to boys and wanted just 10 and all 14 took the offer! And then for her year, they talked about only accepting 12 or so to yield 10 and if they less than 10 accepted the offer, THEN they would utililze the waitlist. I know someone accepted to UMich this past year who unfortunately had a serious health issue and had to give up her slot and I believe someone else in line then got it.

Each school handles this stuff differently. If BOCO is accepting 110 to yield 60, then they aren’t going to use a waitlist.

Hope this helps a bit
Susan