Some kids, mine included, applied to more schools this year because he couldn’t visit. Colleges have no way of knowing how that will impact yield. So yes,I’d expect some movement this year. Also, some schools are not planning for full capacity next year (so space for quarantine dorms, etc). If vaccines work, they could increase density over the summer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wish we had some sense of which schools already know they aren’t going to use their waitlists. I think my DS would rather have an outright rejection than false hope at this point.

Completely agree - the waiting and not knowing is so hard on these kids.

Ask your college counselor to make a call and find out. They do this all the time. The colleges will tell them how things are looking or that they won’t know until after 5/1.

Anonymous wrote:Wish we had some sense of which schools already know they aren’t going to use their waitlists. I think my DS would rather have an outright rejection than false hope at this point.

Completely agree - the waiting and not knowing is so hard on these kids.

Wish we had some sense of which schools already know they aren’t going to use their waitlists. I think my DS would rather have an outright rejection than false hope at this point.

I'm not. schools know what they are doing and don't want to stuck wihtout a class. I think it is possible they admitted fewer this year than normal bc of uncertainties.

Surprised waitlists are moving this early (before the decision deadline) at some good schools. Projected yields must not be doing too well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Friends' kids: Santa Clara waitlist moved (OOS student), as did University of Wisconsin (for someone in state)

Wisconsin is moving?!!?

I posted that it moved. I only know for in-state, my friend's DS was offered a spot and he accepted. I don't know about OOS.

U of Delaware.

Anonymous wrote:GW is moving. Son got in off the WL today. It’s doubtful he’ll attend. We already paid a deposit somewhere else with an actual campus where kids wear their school swag proudly.

What school?

PP here. I am a little bitter, but thrilled with where he’s headed—UDel. He was more than qualified with grades and test scores that are above the 75th percentile, a heartfelt, deeply personal essay and activities that reflect his passions. He was crushed by the waitlist, but eventually got over it. They played the yield-protection game and messed with the heads of kids who decided to commit to honors programs at flagship public universities instead of having their parents pay full-freight to a 75k a year school, after a regular acceptance would have brought sufficient financial aid (according the the NPC) to actually attend.

Why not admit the most qualified kids right away and then pull from the waitlist? I think the pandemic has a lot less to do with the application surge at many of these schools. The common app and influx of full-freight international kids is the better explanation.

The only way colleges can retake control of the process is to quit the common app and make it harder to apply to 20 schools. If a kid has to invest more time in each app, schools will know the kid has put thought into which schools they are applying to and are serious about the possibility of attending.

PP smacks of that bitterness many feel when they were waitlisted.

We also felt this towards the school that eventually accepted my DC. She rejected them right back (but not to spite them...)

GW is moving. Son got in off the WL today. It’s doubtful he’ll attend. We already paid a deposit somewhere else with an actual campus where kids wear their school swag proudly.

College accept more people than they have space for, knowing some will not come. So, yes, most wait until after deposits are due. That’s the only way to know if they have any space left and how many kids can be invited from the waitlist.

For less competitive schools waitlist movement can happen sooner.

Anonymous wrote:New to all of this but I didn't know that waitlists could/would move b/f the May 1 deadline to commit.

Is this normal or another covid-influenced issue?

Many kids don’t wait until the last minute to make their choice. When they accept an offer, they are supposed to notify other schools they are declining. So spaces open up.

Students have till May 3 to commit to Ivies, so unlikely you’ll hear from them before then.