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More Students Play the College Waiting Game
By Catherine Groux
Posted October 10, 2012 10:00 AM
Today, more schools are putting prospective students on wait lists.As the college admissions process becomes increasingly competitive, more schools are turning to wait lists to control their freshmen populations. In the past decade, the percentage of colleges that use waits lists rose from 32% to 45%, according to a new survey by the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC), as reported by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
How Many Students Are Accepted from Wait Lists?
The NACAC report shows that, on average, fewer than one-third of students who are placed on wait lists are accepted; however, it all depends on how many individuals decide to attend the college after being accepted in the first round of the admissions process.
For example,The Wall Street Journal reports that last year, Pennsylvania's Carnegie Mellon University accepted only six of the 5,003 students it put on its wait list. New York's Cornell University, on the other hand, did not admit any of the 2,998 individuals it placed on its list in 2011.
"It's hard to know what we're going to need," Janet Lavin Rapelye, Princeton University's dean of admission, told the Journal.
Typically, wait-listed bachelor's degree seekers can expect to discover the status of their admission to a college in May or June. However, the NACAC survey shows that 29% of schools still admit students from their wait lists in July, while 13% accept these pupils until August.
What Should Students Do If They Are Put on a Wait List?
William Conley, the dean of enrollment and academic services at Johns Hopkins University, told The New York Times that students who are wait listed should first take the time to consider which schools they would realistically attend, especially if they are wait listed at several colleges.
If students decide they want to attend a school they were wait listed for, they should accept their position on the list as soon as possible, said Ted de Villefranca of the Peddie School in New Jersey.
"First, respond swiftly to the waiting list. Some places look at response time," de Villefranca told the Times. "With that response to the waiting list (sometimes by mail and sometimes electronically) also comes an opportunity to write a follow-up letter about why said college is a great fit and why you want to be there. If you are on the waiting list, you know you want others to do that because it might impact your future - so, bottom line, let places know you aren’t coming - again, it’s the right thing to do."
While it can be hard for students to wait to find out if they have been accepted to their dream school, Jeffrey Brenzel, the dean of admissions at Yale University, advises them to be patient. Individuals may send a letter or email to their prospective school, but doing so daily or weekly can hurt their chances of being accepted. Instead, it is often best for students to realize the decision is out of their hands and wait patiently until they hear from the college.
