@levart, Both my children were waitlisted at or rejected by all schools to which they applied, and they were not the only ones to whom that happened, and it was most certainly not a joke. Luckily, there was eventually a happy ending to that tale.
^^^love that story. It shows persistence pays off. Although it was difficult my student called Deerfield and asked her interviewer who had sent her nice letters keeping in touch what went wrong. He was able to tell her that her rec letters were not as strong as others. Although disheartening because that’s the one part of the app you have absolutely no control over (well almost none), she stored that in the back of her mind, and tried to make sure she used that info to help her with college apps. It took a lot of courage for her to do that and its not easy to hear criticism when you are 14. Luckily, she got an acceptance from Deerfield’s archrival, and so she was all set, and didn’t tell him she had gotten into Choate. But she wanted to know why not Deerfield as they seemed so keen on her. Ask for feedback, and as hard as it may be, embrace it, and use it to reapply if necessary. Tenacity pays off.
@levart Bit callous (and ignorant)…
No WL is not a joke otherwise what would be the point of rejection? It not as if AOs randomly toss files into WL and R…
AO1: “What will it be, rejection?”
AO2: “Nah… that’s too far… toss it into the WL pile…”
(At least I sincerely hope not)
Plenty of qualified applicants are WL every year (my self included). Simply because no school is big enough to admit every qualified applicant…
I do not think WL is the same as a rejection.
Atria wrote: <>
Agreed. My student #2 (not the Deerfield story one) was WL’d last year at Harvard for freshman admission in the Regular Decision (RD) round. Not bragging, just remarking that to us, it signaled if they had additional room, they would take her. Many of those kids on the Harvard WL get put on the “Z” list (google it) and are asked to wait a year and take a gap year and do something interesting like Malia Obama. Another friend from BB & N school was such a student.
My student didn’t pursue it because she was already in love with another college–Pomona College.
Waitlist is not rejection and although for many it can lead to frustration and a blind alley, for some it can lead to possibility. If I were WL’d, I’d for sure try to get feedback and apply again, and send the ADCOMS updates throughout the year.
Not sure this worked: When D2 was interviewing at SPS, a family showed up in Admissions (summer) unannounced from California, saying they were taking a vacation in New England and just happened to 'stop in to check on the status of the WL." The headmaster was kind enough to come out and speak with the family at length in the Admissions waiting room. I was impressed.
Good Luck everyone. I know you are all are on pins and needles, and am hoping for the best for all of you. But these are some useful things to think about during this time when you are still thinking rationally, and not trying to deal with a lot of hurt!
I believe that there are different wait lists. I think there are true wait lists and general wait lists. Meaning if you say you will come you will get a spot. General encompassing soft rejects to a nice backup group if the yield is poorer than anticipated.
This is a pretty important thing to understand for prep school as well as college because it happens at both.
No school is clairvoyant enough to know exactly how many of the students who are offered admission will attend. They all have good algorithms for predicting yield, but that’s it. And no school has the ability to add 50 more beds if there’s a miscalculation and they end up terribly over-enrolled, so the general practice is to err on the side of under-acceptance and then fill all beds (but no more than all!) by going to the WL. Most schools are happy to have a reasonably sized WL so that to the extent that they have empty beds, they can fill them in a way that maintains the balance they planned for the incoming class. Think of this as a perfect enrollment-management tool.
Remember that some students will be accepted and decline the offer. Some students will be offered a place on the WL and choose not to take it because they’re happy with another acceptance they have. @center is right in that WL spots may be offered as a “soft reject” to legacies or kids coming from schools/communities where the school would like to retain a positive relationship. (Future prospects are less likely to apply if they feel that nobody from their school ever gets into XYZ). But almost certainly, some of those kids on the WL will get in and it means that there are many kids on the WL who are qualified and will do fine at the school.
The WL is definitely a “real thing” and not a “joke”. Some years, schools will go to their WL even before the final response date and some will (as mentioned above) still be pulling kids as late as August because someone had a change of heart, got sick, or got into a preferred school at the last minute. There are years when schools and colleges accept very few from the WL and other years when it’s a sizeable number. Remember that when everyone shows up on move-in day, it doesn’t matter whether you were the one who was admitted a week ago or who was being courted by a coach since you were 11 – you’re all part of the same class.
It’s not a joke but you can’t take it too seriously either. The WL pool is large typically, and the chances of selective schools end up going to the WL are low. And if they do, the number of applicants they pull is very limited.
Anyone you know get called in August for BS? What if you already attend a day school & have already paid the tuition or partial tuition needed by August to your local school? What about the deposits? Just adding if anyone has had this issue for BS. As noted by others in earlier posts, some schools have June tuition payments. On a positive note…,… Good things may happen last minute: A cousin was accepted to Georgetown off the waiting list in August!
Yes, I know people who have made last minute shuffles for BS, but I don’t know how much $ they lost as a result. They all moved from a private day to BS, though, so guessing the day school was able to fill the seat at the last minute. That can make it bearable.
I know someone who moved from BS to BS. They were waitlisted at their first choice, put in a deposit at their second choice and then got off the waitlist at first choice. After some family debate, they forfeited the money (I think 50% of tuition!!) and switched to first choice school.
I believe they are able to keep tuition only if they cannot fill the seat when you withdraw, but at the last minute, that’s a real possibility. Yikes, @carpoolingma!
It was last minute but I am not sure how it all shook out financially in the end - they were preparing themselves to forfeit all of that!
In the grand scheme of things losing 50% might not be that bad. You are talking about the difference of $200k or $225k. Then put your college on that so it is $400k or $425k. At that point, it will less than a $1/month on your 40 year pay-off of your student loan debt