Duke reopened WL today

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As the parent of a kid that really really wanted Duke and didn’t get in, this thread is enraging.

i think 'enraging' is a bit strong but I kind of get the sentiment. In a typical year waitlists and rejections are both rejections. This year, not so much. And yet the kids we know who were waitlisted and those who were rejected were pretty much the same kids, qualification wise.

My own kid applied to about 10 top20 schools with top grades, stats, extracurriculars, yada yada. Was admitted outright to 2, waitlisted at 3 and rejected at 5. He's since been admitted to all the waitlisted schools (insane year) but his top choice was one of the rejections. There is no way he wasn't qualified to go to the rejected school but for whatever reason, he wasn't chosen and as such, his story at that school ended there. But kids from his school with identical or lesser stats who were waitlisted there have since all come off. So there is definitely a sense this year that falling on the right side of the waitlist/rejection divide (which in any other year are both rejections) meant everything.

I get it that this is all a first world problem and life will go on. Just sharing the psychology of it all to a teenager.

kids have been getting off waitlists since forever.

Yep. I went to HLS 30 years ago. I can think of at least 2 people who got in off the wait-list a month before school started and changed all their plans to attend.

LOL. How often IRL do you drop that you went to HLS? I'm betting a lot.

jealous much?

NP. What even is HLS? I was going to ask earlier but then didn’t really care, but now it seems like something I should know about?

[Anonymous]

Duke on the ropes! Next step will be rolling enrollment!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster. Legacy. DD rejected from Duke. Applied ED and rejected in RD round. Not happy to see all of this waitlist movement. I see you, Enraged.

DP. yeah, it's feeling incredibly, incredibly random this year.
I know a half dozen kids who were waitlisted or rejected. Same level kids. Some given waitlist spots, some given rejection spots. Now the waitlisted ones have a second life.

That's life. It sucks. Some people face this disappointment early in life, and others later. Sorry for all of these kids, in this crazy year.

It's also why you apply to 20+ schools in RD. This is proof that have a small list screws you over.
Hint: don't listen to the posters who tell you to only apply to 3-4 reaches.
My kid applied to 22 (yes 22) schools. Including 12 reaches.
Happy with the T10 outcome.

For top of the class kids CCO encourages 2 safeties, 2-3 matches and 6-8 "reach for everyone" (they have a list of 11 schools, 7 of the ivies and 4 others, that are reach for everyone from that high school, though half are slightly easier ED which is encourage if you like one of them that much).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster. Legacy. DD rejected from Duke. Applied ED and rejected in RD round. Not happy to see all of this waitlist movement. I see you, Enraged.

DP. yeah, it's feeling incredibly, incredibly random this year.
I know a half dozen kids who were waitlisted or rejected. Same level kids. Some given waitlist spots, some given rejection spots. Now the waitlisted ones have a second life.

That's life. It sucks. Some people face this disappointment early in life, and others later. Sorry for all of these kids, in this crazy year.

It's also why you apply to 20+ schools in RD. This is proof that have a small list screws you over.
Hint: don't listen to the posters who tell you to only apply to 3-4 reaches.
My kid applied to 22 (yes 22) schools. Including 12 reaches.
Happy with the T10 outcome.

For top of the class kids CCO encourages 2 safeties, 2-3 matches and 6-8 "reach for everyone" (they have a list of 11 schools, 7 of the ivies and 4 others, that are reach for everyone from that high school, though half are slightly easier ED which is encourage if you like one of them that much).

What does it stand for? college counseling office?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster. Legacy. DD rejected from Duke. Applied ED and rejected in RD round. Not happy to see all of this waitlist movement. I see you, Enraged.

DP. yeah, it's feeling incredibly, incredibly random this year.
I know a half dozen kids who were waitlisted or rejected. Same level kids. Some given waitlist spots, some given rejection spots. Now the waitlisted ones have a second life.

That's life. It sucks. Some people face this disappointment early in life, and others later. Sorry for all of these kids, in this crazy year.

It's also why you apply to 20+ schools in RD. This is proof that have a small list screws you over.
Hint: don't listen to the posters who tell you to only apply to 3-4 reaches.
My kid applied to 22 (yes 22) schools. Including 12 reaches.
Happy with the T10 outcome.

Imagine entire schools with this type of kid. Yikes!

Fair, but for those who can hack it they are phenomenal places with boundless opportunities. They all have 96%+ return rate after freshman year, so they must not be terrible

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster. Legacy. DD rejected from Duke. Applied ED and rejected in RD round. Not happy to see all of this waitlist movement. I see you, Enraged.

DP. yeah, it's feeling incredibly, incredibly random this year.
I know a half dozen kids who were waitlisted or rejected. Same level kids. Some given waitlist spots, some given rejection spots. Now the waitlisted ones have a second life.

That's life. It sucks. Some people face this disappointment early in life, and others later. Sorry for all of these kids, in this crazy year.

It's also why you apply to 20+ schools in RD. This is proof that have a small list screws you over.
Hint: don't listen to the posters who tell you to only apply to 3-4 reaches.
My kid applied to 22 (yes 22) schools. Including 12 reaches.
Happy with the T10 outcome.

Imagine entire schools with this type of kid. Yikes!

Fair, but for those who can hack it they are phenomenal places with boundless opportunities. They all have 96%+ return rate after freshman year, so they must not be terrible

The kids are programmed to love it. And they will do well with it, don’t get me wrong. Whether filling up schools with the same personality type is good for the schools or for the kids attending, in the long run, is a different question entirely.

[Anonymous]

NP- also curious- what’s HLS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster. Legacy. DD rejected from Duke. Applied ED and rejected in RD round. Not happy to see all of this waitlist movement. I see you, Enraged.

DP. yeah, it's feeling incredibly, incredibly random this year.
I know a half dozen kids who were waitlisted or rejected. Same level kids. Some given waitlist spots, some given rejection spots. Now the waitlisted ones have a second life.

That's life. It sucks. Some people face this disappointment early in life, and others later. Sorry for all of these kids, in this crazy year.

It's also why you apply to 20+ schools in RD. This is proof that have a small list screws you over.
Hint: don't listen to the posters who tell you to only apply to 3-4 reaches.
My kid applied to 22 (yes 22) schools. Including 12 reaches.
Happy with the T10 outcome.

For top of the class kids CCO encourages 2 safeties, 2-3 matches and 6-8 "reach for everyone" (they have a list of 11 schools, 7 of the ivies and 4 others, that are reach for everyone from that high school, though half are slightly easier ED which is encourage if you like one of them that much).

What does it stand for? college counseling office?

our private has a head counseling dean and 3 college counseling officers. The CCO assists with listmaking and provides a reality check on where the kid actually ranks (GPA and rigorwise) at the end of sophomore year. They are very good at reviewing SCOIR data and making it clear what is reasonable to reach for and what is not.
Families have the summer to start the search and are encouraged to start with safeties and targets. Someone's safety is always someone else's reach and it can get brutal with parents at the club. No I am not joking. There is a whole set who have a very hard time with the competition aspect of it after the big sophomore meeting. There are always a bunch of UVA alums who stop wearing their gear and suddenly are planning tours to Auburn and UGA after dressing their kid in orange and navy from the toddler years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP- also curious- what’s HLS?

Harvard Law School

HBS - Harvard Business School

Do not share this arcane knowledge because it's more fun when the grads get to watch people draw a blank when they acronym drop.

IYKYK

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP- also curious- what’s HLS?

Harvard Law School

HBS - Harvard Business School

Do not share this arcane knowledge because it's more fun when the grads get to watch people draw a blank when they acronym drop.

IYKYK

Thanks. What’s IYKYK? MASH? FUBAR?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster. Legacy. DD rejected from Duke. Applied ED and rejected in RD round. Not happy to see all of this waitlist movement. I see you, Enraged.

DP. yeah, it's feeling incredibly, incredibly random this year.
I know a half dozen kids who were waitlisted or rejected. Same level kids. Some given waitlist spots, some given rejection spots. Now the waitlisted ones have a second life.

That's life. It sucks. Some people face this disappointment early in life, and others later. Sorry for all of these kids, in this crazy year.

It's also why you apply to 20+ schools in RD. This is proof that have a small list screws you over.
Hint: don't listen to the posters who tell you to only apply to 3-4 reaches.
My kid applied to 22 (yes 22) schools. Including 12 reaches.
Happy with the T10 outcome.

For top of the class kids CCO encourages 2 safeties, 2-3 matches and 6-8 "reach for everyone" (they have a list of 11 schools, 7 of the ivies and 4 others, that are reach for everyone from that high school, though half are slightly easier ED which is encourage if you like one of them that much).

What does it stand for? college counseling office?

our private has a head counseling dean and 3 college counseling officers. The CCO assists with listmaking and provides a reality check on where the kid actually ranks (GPA and rigorwise) at the end of sophomore year. They are very good at reviewing SCOIR data and making it clear what is reasonable to reach for and what is not.
Families have the summer to start the search and are encouraged to start with safeties and targets. Someone's safety is always someone else's reach and it can get brutal with parents at the club. No I am not joking. There is a whole set who have a very hard time with the competition aspect of it after the big sophomore meeting. There are always a bunch of UVA alums who stop wearing their gear and suddenly are planning tours to Auburn and UGA after dressing their kid in orange and navy from the toddler years.

Isn't it too early to evaluate a student's standing or create a list after sophomore year? After all, junior year is way harder and students haven't yet taken the SAT (or in most cases, the PSAT) until junior year?

As for the UVA alums who all of a sudden change their behavior, I totally get it. I went to a college that was not that selective when I went, but became a more selective school. After getting enlightened (through this board and hearing from parents of older kids), I no longer encourage my alma mater, even with the legacy advantage, because the odds are not great for any kid applying to that school and I don't need my kid to go to where I attended. In fact, I would prefer that they find their own way and not feel like they should go someplace because their parents went to that school 30 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster. Legacy. DD rejected from Duke. Applied ED and rejected in RD round. Not happy to see all of this waitlist movement. I see you, Enraged.

DP. yeah, it's feeling incredibly, incredibly random this year.
I know a half dozen kids who were waitlisted or rejected. Same level kids. Some given waitlist spots, some given rejection spots. Now the waitlisted ones have a second life.

That's life. It sucks. Some people face this disappointment early in life, and others later. Sorry for all of these kids, in this crazy year.

It's also why you apply to 20+ schools in RD. This is proof that have a small list screws you over.
Hint: don't listen to the posters who tell you to only apply to 3-4 reaches.
My kid applied to 22 (yes 22) schools. Including 12 reaches.
Happy with the T10 outcome.

For top of the class kids CCO encourages 2 safeties, 2-3 matches and 6-8 "reach for everyone" (they have a list of 11 schools, 7 of the ivies and 4 others, that are reach for everyone from that high school, though half are slightly easier ED which is encourage if you like one of them that much).

What does it stand for? college counseling office?

our private has a head counseling dean and 3 college counseling officers. The CCO assists with listmaking and provides a reality check on where the kid actually ranks (GPA and rigorwise) at the end of sophomore year. They are very good at reviewing SCOIR data and making it clear what is reasonable to reach for and what is not.
Families have the summer to start the search and are encouraged to start with safeties and targets. Someone's safety is always someone else's reach and it can get brutal with parents at the club. No I am not joking. There is a whole set who have a very hard time with the competition aspect of it after the big sophomore meeting. There are always a bunch of UVA alums who stop wearing their gear and suddenly are planning tours to Auburn and UGA after dressing their kid in orange and navy from the toddler years.

Isn't it too early to evaluate a student's standing or create a list after sophomore year? After all, junior year is way harder and students haven't yet taken the SAT (or in most cases, the PSAT) until junior year?

As for the UVA alums who all of a sudden change their behavior, I totally get it. I went to a college that was not that selective when I went, but became a more selective school. After getting enlightened (through this board and hearing from parents of older kids), I no longer encourage my alma mater, even with the legacy advantage, because the odds are not great for any kid applying to that school and I don't need my kid to go to where I attended. In fact, I would prefer that they find their own way and not feel like they should go someplace because their parents went to that school 30 years ago.

No if they are getting Bs regularly, you can't recover.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As the parent of a kid that really really wanted Duke and didn’t get in, this thread is enraging.

i think 'enraging' is a bit strong but I kind of get the sentiment. In a typical year waitlists and rejections are both rejections. This year, not so much. And yet the kids we know who were waitlisted and those who were rejected were pretty much the same kids, qualification wise.

My own kid applied to about 10 top20 schools with top grades, stats, extracurriculars, yada yada. Was admitted outright to 2, waitlisted at 3 and rejected at 5. He's since been admitted to all the waitlisted schools (insane year) but his top choice was one of the rejections. There is no way he wasn't qualified to go to the rejected school but for whatever reason, he wasn't chosen and as such, his story at that school ended there. But kids from his school with identical or lesser stats who were waitlisted there have since all come off. So there is definitely a sense this year that falling on the right side of the waitlist/rejection divide (which in any other year are both rejections) meant everything.

I get it that this is all a first world problem and life will go on. Just sharing the psychology of it all to a teenager.

My kid applied to Duke ED and got rejected. No deferrals or waitlists were available for ED - you're either in or out with no recourse. Wonder how many of those students would have ended up on the WL if they applied RD.

100% Duke did not waitlist ANY ED kids. So if you applied ED you either got in or were rejected. I bet it will turn out to be much easier year to have applied RD.

Wait - you're saying Duke made no deferrals from the ED round this year into RD pool? Either accepted or rejected? I thought they commonly deferred ED applicants to RD round.

This is news to me also. Did they not defer anyone? It seems like deferring some people would be in their best interests, so I don't understand why they would do this.

For 2025, Duke accepted, rejected, or deferred ED applicants. All ED deferrals were either accepted or rejected in RD. So no one was deferred and then WL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster. Legacy. DD rejected from Duke. Applied ED and rejected in RD round. Not happy to see all of this waitlist movement. I see you, Enraged.

DP. yeah, it's feeling incredibly, incredibly random this year.
I know a half dozen kids who were waitlisted or rejected. Same level kids. Some given waitlist spots, some given rejection spots. Now the waitlisted ones have a second life.

That's life. It sucks. Some people face this disappointment early in life, and others later. Sorry for all of these kids, in this crazy year.

It's also why you apply to 20+ schools in RD. This is proof that have a small list screws you over.
Hint: don't listen to the posters who tell you to only apply to 3-4 reaches.
My kid applied to 22 (yes 22) schools. Including 12 reaches.
Happy with the T10 outcome.

Imagine entire schools with this type of kid. Yikes!

Fair, but for those who can hack it they are phenomenal places with boundless opportunities. They all have 96%+ return rate after freshman year, so they must not be terrible

NP here and my kids have not applied yet - but I disagree this is "Fair"

There's nothing wrong with really wanting to go to a top college- and being smart enough to know what it takes to get there.

Let's weigh these options-
(1) Grind and write a dozen more essays, do interviews, pay app fees, etc.
or
(2)go to a school I don't like as much, is way less prestigious, and maybe a lot more money (vs a school with a huge endowment)

You don't want to go to schools with kids who are willing to put in extra effort for a better outcome?

PP I am sure your kid is thrilled at their top 10. Congrats to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As the parent of a kid that really really wanted Duke and didn’t get in, this thread is enraging.

i think 'enraging' is a bit strong but I kind of get the sentiment. In a typical year waitlists and rejections are both rejections. This year, not so much. And yet the kids we know who were waitlisted and those who were rejected were pretty much the same kids, qualification wise.

My own kid applied to about 10 top20 schools with top grades, stats, extracurriculars, yada yada. Was admitted outright to 2, waitlisted at 3 and rejected at 5. He's since been admitted to all the waitlisted schools (insane year) but his top choice was one of the rejections. There is no way he wasn't qualified to go to the rejected school but for whatever reason, he wasn't chosen and as such, his story at that school ended there. But kids from his school with identical or lesser stats who were waitlisted there have since all come off. So there is definitely a sense this year that falling on the right side of the waitlist/rejection divide (which in any other year are both rejections) meant everything.

I get it that this is all a first world problem and life will go on. Just sharing the psychology of it all to a teenager.

kids have been getting off waitlists since forever.

Yep. I went to HLS 30 years ago. I can think of at least 2 people who got in off the wait-list a month before school started and changed all their plans to attend.

LOL. How often IRL do you drop that you went to HLS? I'm betting a lot.

jealous much?

NP. What even is HLS? I was going to ask earlier but then didn’t really care, but now it seems like something I should know about?

Harvard Law School

Not sure it's really relevant if you're not a lawyer so don't worry about it!