Wed 21 May 2008
Another interesting piece of data from the 2007-2008 Common Data Set (pdf) concerns statistics for the wait list.
C2. Freshman wait-listed students (students who met admission requirements but whose final admission was contingent on space availability)
Do you have a policy of placing students on a waiting list? Yes
If yes, please answer the questions below for fall 2007 admissions:Number of qualified applicants offered a place on waiting list: 1,553
Number accepting a place on the waiting list: 682
Number of wait-listed students admitted: 67 admitted, 51 matriculated
Is your waiting list ranked? No
It seems that this data is for the class of 2011. Has anyone heard what happened for the class of 2012?
14 Responses to “ Wait List Data ”
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August 17th, 2008 at 6:40 am[...] mistake, reportorial incompetence or subtle spin from Nesbitt. According to the College’s own data, 67 students were admitted off the waitlist and 51 of those [...]
May 21st, 2008 at 9:30 am
I think it will likely be far fewer this year, as Williams admitted more students and, consequently, came very close to hitting the target class size after the regular decision admissions round.
May 21st, 2008 at 10:55 am
There’s no reason to expect that a different number would have been offered a place on the waitlist.
Williams accepted 1127 students last year before offering waitlist to 1553 more.
Williams accepted 1229 students this year.
If yield (not counting Early Decision and waitlist enrollees) were to stay the same, that would result in an extra 23 students, meaning that Williams would still need to go to the waitlist for about 28 more.
I personally think that offering waitlist to thousands of applicants without being particularly transparent regarding the magnitude of those numbers is one of the cruelest things these colleges do in admissions.
The use of the waitlist as a “soft rejection” is well intended; however, the false hope created is an undesirable side effect that prolongs the agony for so many kids.
May 21st, 2008 at 11:22 am
First, I didn’t mean a different number waitlisted, I meant a different number accepted off the waitlist … I thought I read in the Record article that Williams was well over 500 deposits as of early May, which was substantially higher than last year’s pace.
Regarding the waitlist, given that a huge percentage do not choose to remain on the waitlist, of those that do, many would probably not accept in any event, and the college wants a lot of different types of kids on the waitlist to fill unanticipated gaps in the class (for instance, this year they might want to aim for more men, other years, they might really need more theater kids), I don’t see anything wrong with waitlisting a substantial number …
May 21st, 2008 at 11:51 am
I believe that Williams has been quite clear to applicants that it maintains a very large wait list and that the list is unranked and is used in filling in gaps to build a class. I have also heard these points made at open houses and admissions sessions.
I believe that most waitlisted applicants know these facts about the Williams list. That may be why a large number of them decide not to pursue it.
May 21st, 2008 at 12:08 pm
I agree. Williams has been transparent about the large number of waitlist spots.
I think the reason that so many don’t stay on the waitlist is that they have gotten accepted to a school they consider “more desirable”. The waitlisted students at a school like Williams are so strong, that they almost always have acceptances in hand, acceptances with desirable combinations of “prestige” or red tag special merit sale pricing.
It doesn’t take any effort to stay on a waitlist, so a rational applicant who still wants to go to Williams will stay on the waitlist.
The whole system is screwed up in that students are applying to their 8th or 10th or even 12th choice schools.
Binding early decision is really the most efficient marketplace for matching students who most want to attend with schools that most want to enroll them.
May 21st, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Kids are being caused to get far too anxious about this adnissions crap. They and their advisors almost never know enough to support the fine degrees of discrimination which they make in arriving at their heirarchies of college preferences.
May 21st, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I know lots of students who did not stay on lists where they thought they had little chance. They (or they and their parents) wanted closure and to move on emotionally, even though they regarded the wait-listing schools as better schools or better fits for them. At that point, too, they knew where their friends were going and, once they knew who would be going to school with them, some of the choices that had been lower on their lists looked much more acceptable than they had — I suppose there is a way of calling that a “more desirable choice” but it isn’t what I would have meant by it.
I know quite a few parents who (against their better judgment) let their (anxious) children apply to a dozen or more schools but only on the condition that they would not stretch it out and pursue any waiting lists, but had to commit, really commit, to a school by May 1st and get on with their lives. There can be an enormous emotional cost to staying a wait list.
Yes, there are a lot of students who got into Williams’s peer schools and were waitlisted at Williams, or vice versa; they often accept another school’s acceptances and decline the wait list, but I don’t think they generally view that as a “more desirable choice” as much as a bird-in-hand choice between equals. There are, undoubtedly, plenty of students who don’t accept the wait list because they decide a larger or more urban or West Coast school is a better fit, “more desirable,” for them and some who accept Ivies or specialty programs.
My point is that students (and their families) make these choices for a variety of reasons. Many who decline the wait list continue to find Williams extremely desirable.
May 21st, 2008 at 1:56 pm
There might be more waitlist movement for places like Williams and Amherst this year. The Amherst Student reported that the Amherst admissions office is anticipating more accepted student overlap with Princeton and Harvard due to the discontinuation of early admissions programs at those schools. If that’s true, that might also be a factor to consider regarding the waitlist at Williams.
Amherst also cut down on the number of students admitted due to last year’s surprisingly high yield.
Regarding the high number of applications that students fill out, hwc, I think that is part of the reality of college admissions these days. The growth of applications is such that students really need to consider more than 5 options, especially if they want to take a stab at schools at which they might fall below the median SAT from the previous year. This creates issues for students who might lack resources or appropriate college guidance, but colleges should make use of retroactive fee waivers, based on the financial aid app.
The waitlist is a necessary evil of the admissions process in higher education, and one can understand why schools don’t really pin the lists down or order the participants. Some law schools have taken the “soft rejection” concept a step further, employing “preferred” and “non preferred” waitlists.
It’s probably fair to assume that those who decline the waitlist at Williams have been admitted to one of the traditional overlap schools, but rational decisions could be defined differently in a process that is often fraught with emotion. I think it is totally rational for the student, although still considering Williams to be “more desireable,” to just select the option of closure and commit to school X, instead of having to deal with the waitlist distraction over the summer.
May 21st, 2008 at 1:59 pm
basically, what Larry said!
May 21st, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Most people I know who removed themselves from a waitlist at a college did so for closure, not because the school they were waitlisted at was not as high of a choice for them.
May 21st, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Also, I don’t see what’s wrong with applying to 10-15 schools. I doubt many students really “get to know” more than their top 3-4, and given today’s competitive reality, that’s obviously not a realistic number to apply to. Williams was my first choice (rd) but had I not gotten into Williams, I would have been very glad that I applied to 7 other schools–I remember when I was applying, Middlebury, Dartmouth, and Carleton all seemed pretty indistinguishable, but when I was actually looking at them after getting accepted, there were pretty huge differences. Had I cut my “8th choice” before applying, I would have eliminated my 2nd or 3rd final choice after acceptances came out.
May 21st, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Anyone have any data/tips on getting off the waiting list for the alumni golf tournament? I’m currently ranked 11th and my letter said about 15 teams get in off the waiting list each year.
May 23rd, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I’m on the waitlist and it’s agony. Sometimes I wish they’d just out and make a decision, or chosen not to waitlist me.