Anonymous
Post 07/31/2025 16:44     Subject: Duke reopened WL today
Chiming in on the “enraged” parent. I get it. Was in the same boat with Duke. To now see kids get off WL in July who may have had lesser qualifications is really crappy. Good for those kids - they stuck it out. But it sucks.
Anonymous
Post 07/31/2025 16:38     Subject: Duke reopened WL today
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.
Anonymous
Post 07/31/2025 16:29     Subject: Duke reopened WL today
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We know someone admitted from the WL this year by: Brown, Northwestern, Duke, Vanderbilt, and Columbia this year.

Insane year.


where are they going?

Agree that it's been a crazy year for the very top kids. Everyone is fighting over them. Lots of other kids (those a hair down in qualifications) have not received offers.


Yes, it has been a crazy year, considering all of these top schools pay consultants to tell them how many to accept.
Anonymous
Post 07/31/2025 16:25     Subject: Duke reopened WL today
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.


I'd like to hear more about your child getting off of 3 waitlists. Must be quite the whiplash. Did your child send LOCI to all three? Did your child switch schools and then switch again? Or just stick with one of the original schools that admitted them?

You’d like? Who are you? No, no tips for you.


I am the PP and parent of two high school kids. I am not looking for tips - I am just thinking that for a parent, it must be exciting to have your child get off of so many waitlists, but also have some mixed feelings since your child has already made a decision and it's a mental shift. Like, maybe if one of these WL schools had admitted your student earlier, maybe they would attended admitted students day and liked that school over the school where they put in a deposit by May 1st.
Anonymous
Post 07/31/2025 15:50     Subject: Duke reopened WL today
Anonymous wrote:We know someone admitted from the WL this year by: Brown, Northwestern, Duke, Vanderbilt, and Columbia this year.

Insane year.


where are they going?

Agree that it's been a crazy year for the very top kids. Everyone is fighting over them. Lots of other kids (those a hair down in qualifications) have not received offers.
Anonymous
Post 07/31/2025 15:39     Subject: Duke reopened WL today
We know someone admitted from the WL this year by: Brown, Northwestern, Duke, Vanderbilt, and Columbia this year.

Insane year.
Anonymous
Post 07/31/2025 15:21     Subject: Duke reopened WL today
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.




I'd like to hear more about your child getting off of 3 waitlists. Must be quite the whiplash. Did your child send LOCI to all three? Did your child switch schools and then switch again? Or just stick with one of the original schools that admitted them?


Sent LOCI to all three. Ended up going with the first waitlist offer, declined the next 2. Had never visited 2 of the 3 so kept those open and visited them when offers came in.
Anonymous
Post 07/31/2025 14:12     Subject: Duke reopened WL today
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.


I'd like to hear more about your child getting off of 3 waitlists. Must be quite the whiplash. Did your child send LOCI to all three? Did your child switch schools and then switch again? Or just stick with one of the original schools that admitted them?

You’d like? Who are you? No, no tips for you.
Anonymous
Post 07/31/2025 14:06     Subject: Duke reopened WL today
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.


I'd like to hear more about your child getting off of 3 waitlists. Must be quite the whiplash. Did your child send LOCI to all three? Did your child switch schools and then switch again? Or just stick with one of the original schools that admitted them?
Anonymous
Post 07/31/2025 12:30     Subject: Duke reopened WL today
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.
Anonymous
Post 07/31/2025 12:30     Subject: Duke reopened WL today
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.


If you're asking us to pity a kid who got into 5 tops 20s you're on the wrong website.
Anonymous
Post 07/31/2025 12:29     Subject: Re:Duke reopened WL today
I assume schools can't plan well this year because Trump and his henchmen might forbid the foreign students from re-entering the country for the new semester. They could very well lose previously foreign students in addition to new foreign students not being allowed to come to the US in the first place.

Opening the WL seems smart if the above is true.

Anonymous
Post 07/31/2025 12:25     Subject: Duke reopened WL today
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.


In the era of Trump, a WL is not ever a rejection. May be true for the next few years.
Anonymous
Post 07/31/2025 12:12     Subject: Duke reopened WL today
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:DP but I assume because it hurts all over again to have been rejected when hearing about so many people getting called off the waitlist this late.


Exactly, DP, it's a crime to be human here sometimes.


Yeah....but, enraging?? Getting a rejection letter from Duke at any point in time should not be enraging, for anyone. That's the point of reaches-for-all. All applicants may get the rejection letter.

Not sure what late has to do with it. It would make some sense if your kid was actually on the waitlist, and not called.


It's emotional language in an emotional moment, so I guess I tend to give a lot of grace. It is an atypical year and reopened a wound for them.
Anonymous
Post 07/31/2025 12:05     Subject: Duke reopened WL today
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.