WPI Now Guaranteeing 25K Merit to Those Accepted ED

Colleges & Universities Worcester Polytechnic Institute
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And they have to pull many off the wait list to get there - hundreds.

No doubt WL yields are much lower though.

They’re obviously successful per the Moody research report.

If you remove ED, it’s about 16.3% yield. it’s on par with other schools like a Wesleyan but the difference is, Wes had 502 ED admits vs only 825 enrollees so the % of class entering via ED, the assured butts in seat ratio, is drastically higher at other schools.

All businesses like assured and steady revenues so even if it’s a gimmick it will likely be well received. But I guess the future ED #s will show if it works.

I’m guessing it’s a gimmick though since, if you assume no duplication which is unlikely but assuming none - roughly 100% of kids are already getting at least $23k. While there’s likely duplication in their aid #s (some get merit and need), it’s likely not many.

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Sports ??

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No. It’s a small D3 division. Remember, WPI is a very niche school. No kid that wants to be a history major is attending WPI to run track. WPI seems to do minimal “scouting”. They favor local student athletes (those that make both the all district and all academic teams) and those that show an interest. S23 (two sport athlete) was considering WPI before he decided he didn’t want to be an engineer, and the recruitment process was very much driven by why an athlete should choose them as an academic/athletic fit. We know many kids that play at WPI and there is no pressure to ED there to play. We do know kids that might have applied to WPI who were pressured to ED to SLACs.

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Perhaps they realized that some students who had WPI as their clear first choice were not applying ED because they thought that ED admits were unlikely to get merit scholarships (since colleges theoretically have no need to give merit scholarships to entice ED admits to matriculate) compared to RD admits.

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Good point. They can call it what they want, but it’s an incentivized tuition discounting for an ED application

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After visiting various schools, my son fell in love with WPI and it was his top choice. That said, no way would he ED there due to tuition. Even with their “presidential scholarship” that I imagine everyone gets, it was very expensive. My son went somewhere else and is having the greatest experience.

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Would you say that a WL is not always a rejection…given they use their WL?

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If the Presidential Scholarship is $25k, how much is their Middle Manager scholarship?

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I never say it’s a rejection. I say a Wait List is the student did not get in, it’s for the school’s be efit benefit, a hedge for them, not you. And that’s what’s happening here. It i, in essence a rejection but a save if the school needs it.

Many schools take none.

My issue is with the schools enrolling 2k but WL 8k.

They give kids this idea that they’re making the cut.

In the case of WPI, it doesn’t seem an awfully hard admit (they don’t show test data) but given their low yield they go deep. It’s a hedge for them. They WL 2475 and took in 392 . They enrolled 1365. That seems a high #. That’s not the norm.

Nonetheless, the students were not accepted at first Yes, they had to keep going and going and going to hit their #. My definition is not wrong and is directly from W&M admissions who told us that.

Since I mentioned Wes b4, they enrolled 825, 502 from ED. Do they really need to WL 2844 people (20% of all applicants)? Is it fair to those 2844 ? They took 5.

Yes, it’s a rejection but a hedge for the school, many of which only pull full pay btw or as they say - we go need aware

So what’s your point ? They are using it as I say.

Case doesn’t even publish anymore but the WL 30%+ of applicants in the past. They did not get in - until Case needs them. And only if Case needs them.

Emory admits less than 3600 So why do they waitlist 6,100 -109 of which they took.

These practices are unfair to the kids. They make the kids think they have a chance. Very few overall do.

U Miami admits a tad over 10k why are they WL 18k+.

Those kids are not in. They were rejected unless Miami gets desperate - then a small % will be called on. If they say no, they go deeper Never gonna be close to 18k

So I’ll stand by my definition - which didn’t even come from me.

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No point, just a question.

It seems schools use their WL, some more than others (even if a very small percentage are admitted).

I do agree with you in that it may create a false hope for some students.

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Ha ha.

Btw I see this as a sub. Not stackable. Their words say:

“Yes - Early Decision is a commitment. Because you are making a commitment to WPI, we are making a commitment to you; starting with students joining WPI in fall 2026, all students admitted under an Early Decision application plan will be offered a minimum merit-based scholarship of $25,000*.”

Since it appears (although we don’t know how many get both) everyone gets aid, this seems a nothing burger. Maybe a few k more. I wouldn’t assume stacking.

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When someone posts that a WL is a rejection (it isn’t) it can be very confusing to students in the application cycle. We must always remember that we are talking, especially on the college forum pages, typically to HS students, and clarity is essential. The number of students accepted off WLs varies every year, and can be anywhere from zero to hundreds. When a student is offered a waitlist position, they are typically asked if they wish to accept it (the WL spot) or not. Most do because there is no harm no foul. But it is not a rejection and it’s important/helpful to make sure students hear this, if not only for their emotional well being in this competitive process.

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I agree with you.

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They don’t show test data because they are test blind. They were test optional for 25 year before they became test blind shortly before the pandemic.

Actually, they’re not. They are using it as a true waitlist. Not all waitlists are the same. An applicant who is waitlisted can look up the info on the CDS to determine if it’s a waitlist spot or a soft rejection.

Previously, only IB students with a diploma score >40 were guaranteed to get over 25,000 under the Presidential Scholarship. Often, people get much less. At one point, WPI was generous with merit for female applicants, but that program was not renewed quite some time ago. The ED award is stackable with any award but Innovation (which is a similar award). There are many speciality scholarships that the ED award will stack with.

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They have switched back to test optional now, but your point still stands regarding past test data, because they were test blind from 2020-2024. Test-Optional Admissions | Worcester Polytechnic Institute

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I love how their decision was based on actual data pertaining to access. I’ve found that to be the case with most of what WPI does. Of all the schools we toured, they were the most student and equity focused, with that being a hallmark of how admin made decisions. It may seem like I have a horse in this game. I don’t. I just happen to live not too far away, think it’s a really great school, and know tons of happy grads.

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They are TO but wers blind 2021-24 - so to your point, they were. Their CDS says considered - but that must be this year forward (either last or this).

They did note this but not say how many (what %) submitted - so it’s hard to determine the true score range. But yes, the reported #s are very strong. When I said not a hard admit, I was referencing based on the acceptance rate.

WPI was Test Blind from 2021 – 2024 and did not collect test scores from applicants. Prior to 2021, WPI was Test Optional. The most recent data is from the class that entered in fall 2021. The middle 50% scores of enrolling students who chose to submit testing was 1340 to 1480. This means that 25% scored below 1340 and 25% scored above 1480. The middle 50% for the ACT was a composite score of 30-34.

We can disagree on what a WL is for - but again, it came from W&M, not me (my kid was WL). And it makes total sense. In the end, every school uses it for the same reason - they don’t yield to expectation. Some just need it more than others.

There’s no doubt it’s a fantastic school - it’s one of the schools on here people rave about, seems they have a wonderful study abroad integration (hard for engineering), and seems a fatnatstic program.

Test-Optional Admissions | Worcester Polytechnic Institute

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Not true. There are schools with a rabid/fan alumni base which use the wait list as “we still love you, don’t stop your weekend trips for homecoming, we’re just not accepting your kid”. There are schools which are highly tuition dependent but are working hard to build their endowment and charitable giving which use the wait list as a “hope never dies” strategy for affluent families.

This has nothing to do with yield.

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They aren’t test blind anymore (as of this year), but were for a while.

They had auto-merit for ED in the recent past as well, although this is more $$. I think it was 10K before? I can’t remember. My 25 got in, but ended up somewhere else. I think a decent chance my 27 ends up there, it is a niche school, but it seems like a great place for the right kid. The people I know there all seem to love it.

Their outcomes data is incredibly transparent, which I think is a mark of a solid school too. You can see grad school and employer, and salary, by major, going back a long way with pretty high response rates.

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