Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Child got waitlisted with 3.7 uw 4.1 w and 35 ACT, do we feel right to be shocked about this?
GW has a 50% acceptance rate, a high percentage of test-optional applicants, and a relatively low percentage of incoming students from the top tenth of their high school class (43%). So yes, your kid's getting waitlisted is shocking and probably the result of yield protection.
So... here's what happened. GW accepts students with far higher stats, as has been demonstrated in this thread, and gives them merit aid to retain them. This is a kid who should have been entirely average for GW - not incredibly desirable, but not at the bottom of the heap either. The reason to "yield protect" is not because of stats, it's because clearly the essays did not reflect a particular interest for GW.
I see that a lot of posters don't quite understand how yield protection works.
They're not going to boot out an excellent profile just because they fear that kid will hoof it over to Harvard. No. They look at essays to deduce interest in their college specifically.
Which is why, despite what some idiot posters spew on DCUM, kids should try to customize their essays to each college. You can do that on the Common App: tweak the personal statement before sending it to each institution. Or work in that college in another essay. Don't just send out the same few set pieces mindlessly to all and sundry.