<p>Soooo…I thought the whole idea of the waitlist was that they start contacting shortly after May 1 to fill spaces. But, I saw something on here before that indicated that they start using the waitlist in april, so which is it? I doubt it is the april thing (how would that work)? Anyway, on another note, they say that waitlist use is based on too few of a geographic area showing up or too few of a major. Which do you think is better: someone from your state (if your state is not well represented–colorado) not choosing chicago or someone in your intended field not choosing chicago?</p>
<p>It depends. If your state/country is really underrepresented, or particularly special, then maybe it is more important than your chosen field. Otherwise, I think the field is more important.</p>
<p>But when you think about it, there are many changes in majors, and also some undeclared students…</p>
<p>Still, if there are no exceptions I think the intended field is more important.</p>
<p>I have seen the waitlist used in April for obvious “spot” candidates, not for general purposes. E.g., a lacrosse goalie who had been being recruited by a D-III school, then waitlisted, was given an offer the third week of April after a preferred goalie recruit chose to go elsewhere. I don’t think a college would go to the waitlist to balance out potential majors until May, unless it were a situation where there were separate schools with separate admissions and it was clear that a particular school was going to be far under projections.</p>
<p>Didn’t most of the UChicago waitlist activity last year happen in April?</p>
<p>Do they tell you if you aren’t taken from the waitlist?</p>
<p>Generally by the middle/end of June most of the people on the waitlist are told that they won’t be taken. At that point, some people on the waitlist may be asked whether they want to remain on an “extended waitlist” for slots that may come open over the summer. </p>
<p>Realistically, most of whatever waitlist action is going to happen happens by the middle of June. There’s usually one round of activity right after (and perhaps even a little before) May 1 to fill in gaps in the class from people who have declined offers of admission, and then another round or two to deal with losses from people who had deposited but were taken off a waitlist at some other college they preferred. But there’s not a 1-to-1 correspondence between people withdrawing and people being taken off the waitlist – things aren’t that precise. Once they have a class more or less in target range – and in recent years they have usually been over target range – at some point someone makes a decision to stop going to the waitlist, and I don’t know how or why that decision is made. After the high schools close down for vacation, it’s a lot harder to involve guidance counselors and to use them as go-betweens and information sources, which happens a lot during May.</p>