WL Rant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WL are real. Has she reached out to admissions?

Op, here. Yes, she reached out, wrote LOCI, etc. All the WLs she was on now closed (some were the UC system schools).

We also used the lottery ticket analogy. But we saw how she was holding out hope. Tough for her with 6. Maybe 1-2 wouldn’t have impacted her as much.

Anyway it’s all over now for her, she knows she is going to a school that was not a top choice but it is what it is. She bought some shirts and such and is trying to get into the spirit.

I think the process could be improved if the schools wanted to do that. But they clearly do not.

[Anonymous]

I thought this article was interesting. Some of the WL statistics are pretty shocking. For instance, Tulane could fill its freshman class SEVEN TIMES over with the kids who are waitlisted, and Case Western admitted 82% of last year's freshman class from the WL.

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/opinion/voices/2021/05/11/college-waitlist-system-rigged-admissions-column/4987054001/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I thought this article was interesting. Some of the WL statistics are pretty shocking. For instance, Tulane could fill its freshman class SEVEN TIMES over with the kids who are waitlisted, and Case Western admitted 82% of last year's freshman class from the WL.

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/opinion/voices/2021/05/11/college-waitlist-system-rigged-admissions-column/4987054001/

Something to keep in mind, last year was very unusual, with more acceptances from WL than typical, whereas this year seems to be the opposite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WL are real. Has she reached out to admissions?

Op, here. Yes, she reached out, wrote LOCI, etc. All the WLs she was on now closed (some were the UC system schools).

We also used the lottery ticket analogy. But we saw how she was holding out hope. Tough for her with 6. Maybe 1-2 wouldn’t have impacted her as much.

Anyway it’s all over now for her, she knows she is going to a school that was not a top choice but it is what it is. She bought some shirts and such and is trying to get into the spirit.

I think the process could be improved if the schools wanted to do that. But they clearly do not.

Nope, WL at one here (his 1st choice), and still waiting. Very frustrated here too

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WL are real. Has she reached out to admissions?

Op, here. Yes, she reached out, wrote LOCI, etc. All the WLs she was on now closed (some were the UC system schools).

We also used the lottery ticket analogy. But we saw how she was holding out hope. Tough for her with 6. Maybe 1-2 wouldn’t have impacted her as much.

Anyway it’s all over now for her, she knows she is going to a school that was not a top choice but it is what it is. She bought some shirts and such and is trying to get into the spirit.

I think the process could be improved if the schools wanted to do that. But they clearly do not.

I am absolutely with you. Best wishes to your daughter with her school.
The colleges should be better with the application process. A school has no reason to put thousands of students on the waitlist while they know only several dozens can possibly come off. Not sure this makes schools feel good or schools want to make students feel good. Either way, it's cruel to students and is despicable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WL are real. Has she reached out to admissions?

Depends on the school. Some of the waitlist sizes are ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WL are real. Has she reached out to admissions?

Op, here. Yes, she reached out, wrote LOCI, etc. All the WLs she was on now closed (some were the UC system schools).

We also used the lottery ticket analogy. But we saw how she was holding out hope. Tough for her with 6. Maybe 1-2 wouldn’t have impacted her as much.

Anyway it’s all over now for her, she knows she is going to a school that was not a top choice but it is what it is. She bought some shirts and such and is trying to get into the spirit.

I think the process could be improved if the schools wanted to do that. But they clearly do not.

I am absolutely with you. Best wishes to your daughter with her school.
The colleges should be better with the application process. A school has no reason to put thousands of students on the waitlist while they know only several dozens can possibly come off. Not sure this makes schools feel good or schools want to make students feel good. Either way, it's cruel to students and is despicable.

It also makes students feel jerked around. My kid got off a waitlist...but turned them down because by then she had a much better feeling about the place she had accepted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WL are real. Has she reached out to admissions?

Op, here. Yes, she reached out, wrote LOCI, etc. All the WLs she was on now closed (some were the UC system schools).

We also used the lottery ticket analogy. But we saw how she was holding out hope. Tough for her with 6. Maybe 1-2 wouldn’t have impacted her as much.

Anyway it’s all over now for her, she knows she is going to a school that was not a top choice but it is what it is. She bought some shirts and such and is trying to get into the spirit.

I think the process could be improved if the schools wanted to do that. But they clearly do not.

I am absolutely with you. Best wishes to your daughter with her school.
The colleges should be better with the application process. A school has no reason to put thousands of students on the waitlist while they know only several dozens can possibly come off. Not sure this makes schools feel good or schools want to make students feel good. Either way, it's cruel to students and is despicable.

Agreed. They can cry, "algorithms" all they want. Fix the damn algorithms, then.

This is not me trying to shield my kid from disappointment. I have an issue with unnecessarily inefficient systems that wreck havoc.

[Anonymous]

OP, my DC was in the same boat. The WLs were wacky and HUGE this year. My DC was waitlisted at 6 schools. 4 of these were schools that, according to the scattergrams and college counselor, were targets and safeties. 2 were low reaches. DC decided to stay on 4 WL, but 3 closed in May and early June. DC is excited to attend his chosen college, but has mentioned they he may transfer if it isn’t a fit. I think that lingering feeling about maybe transferring is because they really felt like they didn’t have a big choice in picking colleges since he only had 3 acceptances and none were his top choices.

[Anonymous]

You don’t have to be on the waitlist. You can withdraw. That’s probably the best route for some kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But if you knew they were no’s , as we did, then you coach your kid appropriately and turn their attention to the what is real - their acceptances. Part of that is on you OP. However I generally agree that the whole college application process is over-manufactured BS.

Come on. If someone said to you, “you might get the job,” even if you know deep down you probably won’t, you still harbor some hope.

This isn’t on the parents.

But WL isn’t “you might get the job” it’s we sent out acceptances to a slightly larger number of kids than we have spots for or really want. You didn’t meet the cut-off for any of those spots. Also, based on historical data we have factored into that number that some subset will ultimately decline the offer and go elsewhere. If things go as planned no one gets off the waitlist. If that number is much bigger than we expected then over the next few months we might reach out to see if you are still interested. The good news is we think you have good stats and would be a good addition on campus. The bad news is that might mean you have to wait until July or even early August. Also, if you are a legacy we might put you on the waitlist even if you will never get in because we don’t want to piss off your parents who have donated money.

[Anonymous]

Georgetown had an extended WL and today sent an email that said something like they will be given special consideration if they decide to transfer there.

Is that BS or do they really have a better chance than others?

[Anonymous]

I’m not so sure though. I’ve watched some of the acceptance reaction videos (which I did not know until recently was even a thing) with my kid and it seems like every time it’s a waitlist, the kid says, “hey that’s not bad!” or “well, it’s not a no!”. So it seems to ease the blow, at least based on the reactions I’ve seen.

[Anonymous]

I hear you, OP. I remember being slightly saddened that my kid got flat-out rejected from her ED and ED 2 schools. She was also rejected from another reach, but got into her matches and safeties.

By April, I was so glad she could just focus on her acceptances and make an unencumbered choice! Glad there were no WLs to even hold out hope for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, my DC was in the same boat. The WLs were wacky and HUGE this year. My DC was waitlisted at 6 schools. 4 of these were schools that, according to the scattergrams and college counselor, were targets and safeties. 2 were low reaches. DC decided to stay on 4 WL, but 3 closed in May and early June. DC is excited to attend his chosen college, but has mentioned they he may transfer if it isn’t a fit. I think that lingering feeling about maybe transferring is because they really felt like they didn’t have a big choice in picking colleges since he only had 3 acceptances and none were his top choices.

Same. I’m a little worried about DA having a chip on his shoulder. In theory he could have gotten into “better” places and his counselor hyped this idea by saying in a non-pandemic year he probably could have “walked into X College.”