A brief mention in an April article about waitlists in Time.

Nine colleges have offered Sarah Simon, of Wellesley, Mass., a spot in their class of 2012: Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Princeton, Stanford, University of Chicago, Vassar and Williams. But she’s a dancer–ballet six times a week, modern twice, jazz once–and Columbia University in New York City would give her access not only to an exceptional ballet program at its sister school Barnard but also to the epicenter of the dance world. Unfortunately, Columbia has put her on the waitlist. Though she’s not whining about her wealth of options, Simon, a senior at Noble and Greenough School, is holding out hope for Columbia, at least through mid-June. “I ended up getting into a lot of great schools,” says Simon, “just not the one that would make me disregard all the others.”

…

Even the most selective colleges end up using the waitlist to fill out their classes. In 2006, colleges admitted on average 29% of students from the waitlist. For the schools, that’s not a bad thing. Rather than assign waitlisters a numeric rank and pluck them from the top in order, most schools reassess the whole pool of kids to try to ensure a well-rounded campus. “It’s a great way to shape the class and meet our institutional priorities,” says Dick Nesbitt, director of admissions at Williams College. “Maybe we could use a few more artists or a few more math or science researchers.” Williams waitlisted 1,000 applicants this year for a class of 538 and last year admitted 52 from the list.

Untrue! Not sure if this is an honest 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 matriculated.

Does anyone know how many students Williams took off the waitlist for the class of 2012?