The Annual Waitlist / Waiting Pool Reality Check Thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone on SJC waitlist hear a final decision?

I don't think you get a "final decision".

The Gonzaga email that announced they would not be going to the WL this year is the first time I ever heard of something like that.

It's possible that schools extend offers of admission to those on the WL as late as the start of school in August. This is because of special circumstances with admitted students that have made deposits (e.g. People moving because of job transfer).

+1 I think in most cases you will never know for sure, unless you get off the list, until school starts. It's disappointing and frustrating and I really hope that more schools start to do what Gonzaga did to give people a more realistic outlook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone on SJC waitlist hear a final decision?

I don't think you get a "final decision".

The Gonzaga email that announced they would not be going to the WL this year is the first time I ever heard of something like that.

It's possible that schools extend offers of admission to those on the WL as late as the start of school in August. This is because of special circumstances with admitted students that have made deposits (e.g. People moving because of job transfer).

+1 I think in most cases you will never know for sure, unless you get off the list, until school starts. It's disappointing and frustrating and I really hope that more schools start to do what Gonzaga did to give people a more realistic outlook.

Lots of luck with that. Schools guard Application, Admission, Yield and Wait Pool statistics like they were State secrets.

They might suggest the number of applications. But these numbers can be inflated since some may feel it's a measure of attractiveness.

It's not to the school's advantage to give out this information.

[Anonymous]

I know it sounds like a rain cloud, but assume that you will not get off the list. For most schools that are deemed competitive, a handful of kids typically are called from the waitpool across all grades each year. Some of these schools waitlist hundreds and may need to pull 3-5.

Schools that were once considered less competitive now have long waitpools too.

Simply put, demand continues to dramatically outpace supply. The notion that the government cuts will somehow be the "black swan" event that every other "black swan" event failed to be is just not likely. The WFC in 2008, COVID and now this led to so many people thinking that "this is the year" that things are different.

Instead, more and more kids are applying for a finite number of slots and schools continue to "soft no" with waitpools that rarely move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know it sounds like a rain cloud, but assume that you will not get off the list. For most schools that are deemed competitive, a handful of kids typically are called from the waitpool across all grades each year. Some of these schools waitlist hundreds and may need to pull 3-5.

Schools that were once considered less competitive now have long waitpools too.

Simply put, demand continues to dramatically outpace supply. The notion that the government cuts will somehow be the "black swan" event that every other "black swan" event failed to be is just not likely. The WFC in 2008, COVID and now this led to so many people thinking that "this is the year" that things are different.

Instead, more and more kids are applying for a finite number of slots and schools continue to "soft no" with waitpools that rarely move.

All of this false hope/confusion could be eliminated if schools didn't have a wait pool that is 3x their incoming class. Cap it at a reasonable number like .5x and reject everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it sounds like a rain cloud, but assume that you will not get off the list. For most schools that are deemed competitive, a handful of kids typically are called from the waitpool across all grades each year. Some of these schools waitlist hundreds and may need to pull 3-5.

Schools that were once considered less competitive now have long waitpools too.

Simply put, demand continues to dramatically outpace supply. The notion that the government cuts will somehow be the "black swan" event that every other "black swan" event failed to be is just not likely. The WFC in 2008, COVID and now this led to so many people thinking that "this is the year" that things are different.

Instead, more and more kids are applying for a finite number of slots and schools continue to "soft no" with waitpools that rarely move.

All of this false hope/confusion could be eliminated if schools didn't have a wait pool that is 3x their incoming class. Cap it at a reasonable number like .5x and reject everyone else.

+1 (or .25X).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it sounds like a rain cloud, but assume that you will not get off the list. For most schools that are deemed competitive, a handful of kids typically are called from the waitpool across all grades each year. Some of these schools waitlist hundreds and may need to pull 3-5.

Schools that were once considered less competitive now have long waitpools too.

Simply put, demand continues to dramatically outpace supply. The notion that the government cuts will somehow be the "black swan" event that every other "black swan" event failed to be is just not likely. The WFC in 2008, COVID and now this led to so many people thinking that "this is the year" that things are different.

Instead, more and more kids are applying for a finite number of slots and schools continue to "soft no" with waitpools that rarely move.

All of this false hope/confusion could be eliminated if schools didn't have a wait pool that is 3x their incoming class. Cap it at a reasonable number like .5x and reject everyone else.

That’s one way to solve the parent’s problem.

But the school doesn’t see a large WL as a problem. To them it’s an opportunity to match incoming student attributes with what they see themselves short of in the group that has accepted. And a larger number decreases the possibility that they might fall short of a full class and not have the tuition revenue they need.

And waitlisting is easy and free to do. Even those that are waitlisted are seem to prefer it to the pain of ”rejection”.

People should understand it’s a low probability deal. But schools aren’t going to publish the odds.

And posters on here CONTINUALLY point out individuals cases where applicants have gotten off the WL. I think they are doing this in an effort to assuage the feelings of those who ask, “Is there any hope?”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it sounds like a rain cloud, but assume that you will not get off the list. For most schools that are deemed competitive, a handful of kids typically are called from the waitpool across all grades each year. Some of these schools waitlist hundreds and may need to pull 3-5.

Schools that were once considered less competitive now have long waitpools too.

Simply put, demand continues to dramatically outpace supply. The notion that the government cuts will somehow be the "black swan" event that every other "black swan" event failed to be is just not likely. The WFC in 2008, COVID and now this led to so many people thinking that "this is the year" that things are different.

Instead, more and more kids are applying for a finite number of slots and schools continue to "soft no" with waitpools that rarely move.

All of this false hope/confusion could be eliminated if schools didn't have a wait pool that is 3x their incoming class. Cap it at a reasonable number like .5x and reject everyone else.

That’s one way to solve the parent’s problem.

But the school doesn’t see a large WL as a problem. To them it’s an opportunity to match incoming student attributes with what they see themselves short of in the group that has accepted. And a larger number decreases the possibility that they might fall short of a full class and not have the tuition revenue they need.

And waitlisting is easy and free to do. Even those that are waitlisted are seem to prefer it to the pain of ”rejection”.

People should understand it’s a low probability deal. But schools aren’t going to publish the odds.

And posters on here CONTINUALLY point out individuals cases where applicants have gotten off the WL. I think they are doing this in an effort to assuage the feelings of those who ask, “Is there any hope?”.

At some point a large wait list can cause more headaches for the school - some parents might call each week/month to 'make sure the school knows they are still interested'. In fact, that is the advice given here.

Let's say a school has an incoming class of 50 and admits 58 figuring 10 (+/- 2) won't accept based on prior years yield data. How large of a wait pool do they realistically need?
- Hundreds? Way too many. Can only imagine the emails and phone calls coming in the weeks after decisions go out.

- 50? Still too many IMO, you won't have 100% turnover on the incoming class.

- 10-15? Probably getting to a realistic range...obviously this might need to be higher if yield numbers are different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know it sounds like a rain cloud, but assume that you will not get off the list. For most schools that are deemed competitive, a handful of kids typically are called from the waitpool across all grades each year. Some of these schools waitlist hundreds and may need to pull 3-5.

Schools that were once considered less competitive now have long waitpools too.

Simply put, demand continues to dramatically outpace supply. The notion that the government cuts will somehow be the "black swan" event that every other "black swan" event failed to be is just not likely. The WFC in 2008, COVID and now this led to so many people thinking that "this is the year" that things are different.

Instead, more and more kids are applying for a finite number of slots and schools continue to "soft no" with waitpools that rarely move.

All of this false hope/confusion could be eliminated if schools didn't have a wait pool that is 3x their incoming class. Cap it at a reasonable number like .5x and reject everyone else.

That’s one way to solve the parent’s problem.

But the school doesn’t see a large WL as a problem. To them it’s an opportunity to match incoming student attributes with what they see themselves short of in the group that has accepted. And a larger number decreases the possibility that they might fall short of a full class and not have the tuition revenue they need.

And waitlisting is easy and free to do. Even those that are waitlisted are seem to prefer it to the pain of ”rejection”.

People should understand it’s a low probability deal. But schools aren’t going to publish the odds.

And posters on here CONTINUALLY point out individuals cases where applicants have gotten off the WL. I think they are doing this in an effort to assuage the feelings of those who ask, “Is there any hope?”.

At some point a large wait list can cause more headaches for the school - some parents might call each week/month to 'make sure the school knows they are still interested'. In fact, that is the advice given here.

Let's say a school has an incoming class of 50 and admits 58 figuring 10 (+/- 2) won't accept based on prior years yield data. How large of a wait pool do they realistically need?
- Hundreds? Way too many. Can only imagine the emails and phone calls coming in the weeks after decisions go out.

- 50? Still too many IMO, you won't have 100% turnover on the incoming class.

- 10-15? Probably getting to a realistic range...obviously this might need to be higher if yield numbers are different.

That's not the way I'd look at it.

Putting applicants on the WL costs nothing. A larger WL means its more likely to have candidates with the attributes and talents they are light on.

Admissions gets a bad grade if they don't have a full class. So that's high on their list of things to be concerned about and its way higher than the annoyance of a bunch of phone calls (which they can dodge.)

When they look at the WL they know:

A percentage of these people have all along preferred another school or schools and have taken that school up on their offer.

A percentage of these people --- stung by being put on the WL --- have decided to go where they are wanted. (ala the fox and the grapes)

A percentage of these people recognize that their DC --- in the eyes of Admissions --- is the 76th best candidate at best. They think that the people they offered admittance to which includes a percentage they will lose to "yeild" are better suited / more likely to be successful at the school that those they put on the WL.

A percentage of these people don't like being given a 24-hour period in which to make a decision or can't bring themselves to make a decision in that short time frame.

[Anonymous]

Your long list notwithstanding, the reality is that there are dozens or even hundreds of kids in the waiting pool for many of the schools. That means it’s a “lottery pool” and the schools are doing a disservice to parents to pretend otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your long list notwithstanding, the reality is that there are dozens or even hundreds of kids in the waiting pool for many of the schools. That means it’s a “lottery pool” and the schools are doing a disservice to parents to pretend otherwise.

But the schools don't see it that way. To them they are doing what they think they have to do to meet the several things they are trying to achieve.

And you are right, it is a pool not a list. And because they don't know the attributes of those that will accept their original offer, they need a wait pool big enough to allow them to "balance" the class.

[Anonymous]

I’m not confused by their stated or intended purpose, only pointing out that they could accomplish the same with a pool that is 15-25% of the size that they are currently operating.

A school with an incoming class of, say, 20 new kids does not need to have a waiting pool of 80. They know this because they have the data but choose to WL someone rather than reject because they think it’s nice, because they don’t want to deal with crazy parents and because they want to preserve a thread of a relationship “just in case.”

[Anonymous]

We got off the waitlist at two highly sought after schools. Y’all had me counting it out so it came as a real shock.

[Anonymous]

Which schools and when?

[Anonymous]

Bumping this thread with waitlist question! We are on a wait list (in June) for K at a Catholic K-8. They told us to sit tight through the summer and see what happens. Do families really change their mind between June and August? Have any of you actually seen successful enrollment over the summer for major entry years?

[Anonymous]

People move. Job circumstances change.