<p>does anyone know/think that you’re chances to a school could be hurt because of an extracurricular activity that you’re involved in, but they have over enough people to fill that activity?</p>
<p>Let’s say they are filling their Orchestra and they need 2 violinists this year due to graduation, etc. When they look at their violinist applications and you are number 3 in priority, you will more than likely get a waitlist letter unless you have another talent that (say you are a softball pitcher) where you rank high enough to fill one of the slots open there.</p>
<p>This takes me to the waitlist…</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure (and I’ll bet someone else will chime in) that for every specialty hook that is considered in short supply, there is a waitlist developed. If you end up there, you are primarily at the mercy of the hooked applicant(s) who may or may not accept their offers.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to be mean about it, but the schools do need to first take the best that they can to fill all the talent needs they have. To the extent that you can satisfy more needs you will be more likely to be accepted based upon that need or end up higher on a waitlist.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t believe that they’re that specific with the class. I mean, that’s just absurd to think that they’ve got these detailed lists and they’re trying to fill in spots…and do so with the kind of precision where they won’t accept violinist #3 because only two violinists are graduating.</p>
<p>Think about it…all the positions of every sport; every instrument; every choir voice; every mathlete and so on and so on ad nauseum. There’s just no way. They’re creating a tableau, not a paint-by-numbers picture, with the classes they create.</p>
<p>Some years may very well be a year where they’ve got a big need for violins and a glut of oboes…but nobody – particularly at the most competitive schools – is so one-dimensional that they’re looking for 2 violins, not 3. Or that there’s no room for another oboist. For all they know, this may mark the beginning of a new string quartet or the start of some new tradition of having oboes getting the crowd fired up at hockey games. They’d be doing a disservice to the school by pretending to micro-manage the admission process. </p>
<p>And that’s with the regular admission process. To think that they would perpetuate such insanity by maintaining their improbably precise lists for the waitlist process is beyond the pale.</p>
<p>Hey, I could be wrong. And if that’s the case the question is whether these people are underpaid for engaging in such an incredibly complex process or whether they’re overpaid for making their already demanding jobs far more complicated than they really need to be.</p>
<p>i agree with dyer</p>
<p>Just speaking from personal experience. My D was 3 for 3 on admittance, but got a $0 FA offer from one school (an effective waitlist tactic). Through a little luck and asking around I learned who their #1 choice was (a full-pay). With another one of the schools, the coach dictated that my D was the #1 and the other 2’s applications were put on hold per his instruction (No use in bringing in too many goalies).</p>
<p>Now these lists may only constitute a dozen or so specialized skills that are in short supply, but I’m pretty sure that most schools don’t want an orchestra without an oboe player or a girls hockey team without a goalie, but also realize that they can have very dissatisatisfied customers if they bring in too many goalies and one doesn’t play.</p>
<p>I know they do admit more than enough skaters at most schools (where there is a JV team they can shuffle the extras off to). But I’ve seen that backfire at one school where 3 girls promptly left when they didn’t make varsity. I can understand it because girls JV hockey typically only plays 8-12 games a year, where playing club will get you 25 to 40 games. </p>
<p>It is a difficult task that yield management thing. When something other than 100% acceptance can yield problems, appropriate backup plans must be developed.</p>
<p>Getting back to dancerx’s situation, dance is a venue where you aim for a certain number of people in your program, but are willing to to work with several more or less (by adjusting their program a bit), things get more interesting. I would say that being a dancer would not necessarily help working up a waitlist unless all the other people higher up the waitlist are interested in activities that are more over subscribed than dance.</p>
<p>Orchestras are similar except that you can’t have all violinists without cellists, so proportions are somewhat important, so some attention must be paid to having all the regular instruments represented (you don’t necessarily need an English Horn player). BTW, I am a violist.</p>
<p>Thank you for your thoughts/ideas/opinions/advice from experience. =]</p>
<p>haha! really?! violin? i play the cello. =]</p>
<p>Violins for the win! :)</p>
<p>I used to play the violin from when I was four all the way until I was nine. When I was nine, I switched to cello because my dad said that it’s a less common intrument in the famous orchestras. I also play the piano.</p>
<p>Very nice. You are obviously very talented with music.</p>
<p>Thank you. I didn’t send Andover a recording although I did send them a unique art portfolio. I guess I should have bought the equiptment to record my music…</p>
<p>don’t they get like proffessionals to decide whether recordings are good or not ? cuz that’s why i didn’t send them a tape of MY dancing or fluting abilities . they do rank them in some way to decide how much talent you have based on what you sent in</p>
<p>That’s an intimidating thought!</p>
<p>well , it’s what i heard .
i was all ready to send in recordings of everything , and my friends mom ( whose son goes to andover ) was advising me not to because they find people to gauge talent . she said it’s better to get a good ec recc letter than let them decide where you stand</p>
<p>uh-oh… I didn’t send in recordings, but I sent in an art portfolio. They weren’t amazing, they were just some quick projects I did over the past couple months. I hope this doesn’t hurt my chances.</p>