Schools, Students Play The Waitlist Game - WSJ article April 11, 2007
Schools, Students Play The Waitlist Game
In Year of Record Applications, Many Colleges Offer More Spots
On Their Lists but Some Step Up Pressure for Commitment
By ANJALI ATHAVALEY
April 11, 2007; Page D1
The college-admissions battle is shifting to the waitlist.
After issuing a grisly round of rejection letters this year, many schools have increased the number of spots offered on their waitlists in a bid to better manage their "yield" -- the percentage of accepted students who actually decide to attend. As a result, in a year of record applications, many students who applied to multiple colleges are getting offers for multiple waitlists.
COMING OFF THE BENCH
For waitlisted college applicants:
• Do send a letter expressing your interest and noting any recent accomplishments.
• Do ask your high-school counselor to convey your interest if the school calls.
• Don't say the college is your first choice if it is not.
• Don't visit if it would cost you a plane ticket, since chances of acceptance are still low.
• Don't do anything over the top, such as camping out in front of the admissions office.
The overlapping waitlists will make the next phase of the admissions process trickier for both colleges and students. Just as with the first round of acceptances, colleges don't want to make offers to students who are unlikely to accept because it will drive down their yields, which are important factors in college rankings. So they use a number of tactics -- from calling students directly to seeking early promises to attend -- to narrow down likely candidates.
In recent years, the waitlist has become "almost like a second early-decision process" as colleges grow more savvy about measuring students' interest before making offers, says Ken Fox, chairman of the admission-practices committee at the National Association for College Admission Counseling and a counselor at Ladue Horton Watkins High School in St. Louis. Already, students who have accepted slots on waitlists say they are feeling pressure to show a firmer commitment, in order to stand out when schools turn to their waitlists next month.
That can pose ethical dilemmas: Alisa Rudnick, a senior at San Francisco University High School, was waitlisted at half of the 12 colleges to which she applied. She chose to stay on the lists at two -- Reed College and Skidmore College -- but is also considering enrolling at Bard College, where she has been accepted.
"I'm in a really weird position because it's hard to declare one as your first choice," says Ms. Rudnick, who plans on writing a letter to each college to show interest. But she says she doesn't feel right telling each school it is her No. 1 option -- which is what schools want to hear when deciding who will get offers.
The waitlist has become an increasingly important part of the admissions process as schools seek to maximize their closely watched yield figures. About 35% of colleges and universities maintain a waitlist, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling, and the number of students offered slots on the lists has been rising. The proportion of waitlisted students actually admitted averages around 35%, according to the NACAC, but schools say it fluctuates as they make adjustments depending on how close they came to their expected yield with the first round.
Admission offers to waitlisted students will start going out in May, after schools receive "yes" or "no" answers from their first round of admissions by the end of this month. So students are encouraged to decide which waitlists they want to stay on as soon as possible, which will demonstrate interest to the schools.
Colleges say they are more uncertain than ever this year about their yield as they see more applications per student and are forced to vie for the same pool of talent. A few years ago, students applied to about six to eight colleges, but students and high-school counselors say the typical range is now 10 to 12.
To broaden its options, Amherst College offered 1,450 spots on the waitlist this year, up from 1,258. With students likely to be on multiple waitlists, "we know we are going to lose a bunch," says Tom Parker, dean of admissions and financial aid.
Northwestern University offered waitlist spots to 2,700 students this year, an increase from 1,750. "We find it more challenging than usual to model how many of the admitted students will enroll," says Keith Todd, director of undergraduate admission at Northwestern, which saw its applications increase by 19% this year to a record 21,949.
The University of Pennsylvania -- which offered waitlist spots to 2,800 people, an increase from 1,800 last year -- says it calls a handful of candidates on the waitlist and their high-school counselors after May 1 to gauge the likelihood that students will accept offers. Last year, the school made such calls to the 42 students who were admitted from the waitlist, says Lee Stetson, dean of admissions. "When you go to the waitlist, you want to have students who really want to be here," he says. "You don't want to go through the selection process all over again."
To be sure, just because a school offers more spots doesn't mean that they will take more students off the waitlist in the end. And not all schools are offering more spots. Georgetown University, for instance, offered waitlist spots to 1,774 students this year, down from 1,820 last year.
Efforts by colleges to measure commitment can be frustrating for students who are uncertain where they want to go. Alex Graber-Tilton, a senior at Wall High School in Wall, N.J., received a letter from Carnegie Mellon University offering him a spot on its priority waiting list -- which the school says is meant for students who definitely know Carnegie Mellon is their first choice. When making waitlist offers, the school promises to go to the priority list first, before its regular waitlist. But to nail down students' commitment, the school asks those accepted to make a decision quickly.
If you get an acceptance, you are expected to send a $600 deposit by May 8 to secure the slot. Since waitlist offers typically roll in throughout the month of May, that could mean committing weeks before the student hears about offers from other schools.
"It's like you've been pushed aside for someone else, but they still want to know if you want to go there," says Mr. Graber-Tilton, who plans to turn down the priority-list slot. He wants to study engineering and was also waitlisted at Rice University, as well as Harvey Mudd College where he hopes to ultimately go. Otherwise he plans on going to Case Western Reserve University, where he was accepted.
The priority waiting list "allows students who really, really want the place to come forward," says Michael Steidel, director of admission at Carnegie Mellon, which had a record 22,422 applicants this year.
For some students, losing an enrollment deposit to a school that accepted them is a no-brainer if they are later admitted from the waitlist to their top choice school. "Forgoing that is not a big deal to me when you pay thousands of dollars in tuition," says Scarlet Neath, a senior at Lamar High School in Houston. She was accepted to the University of Texas, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Southern California. She was waitlisted at her first choice, the University of Virginia, and plans on holding out until the end.
For those who are on the waitlist and want to stand out, deans of admissions recommend that students write a letter expressing interest and updating the school on any recent accomplishments. Many colleges say they don't advise spending money on a campus visit, given the rather small chance of being admitted.
And going overboard won't help. "Two years ago, a kid pitched a tent outside the admissions office in an effort to show his interest," says Charles Deacon, dean of undergraduate admissions at Georgetown University. Unfortunately, it rained on the third night, and "the next day, the tent was gone," he says. The student wasn't admitted.
Write to Anjali Athavaley at anjali.athavaley@wsj.com2
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117624920475565694.html
Hyperlinks in this Article:
(1) http://http://forums.wsj.com/viewtopic.php?t=413
(2) mailto:anjali.athavaley@wsj.com
In Year of Record Applications, Many Colleges Offer More Spots
On Their Lists but Some Step Up Pressure for Commitment
By ANJALI ATHAVALEY
April 11, 2007; Page D1
The college-admissions battle is shifting to the waitlist.
After issuing a grisly round of rejection letters this year, many schools have increased the number of spots offered on their waitlists in a bid to better manage their "yield" -- the percentage of accepted students who actually decide to attend. As a result, in a year of record applications, many students who applied to multiple colleges are getting offers for multiple waitlists.
COMING OFF THE BENCH
For waitlisted college applicants:
• Do send a letter expressing your interest and noting any recent accomplishments.
• Do ask your high-school counselor to convey your interest if the school calls.
• Don't say the college is your first choice if it is not.
• Don't visit if it would cost you a plane ticket, since chances of acceptance are still low.
• Don't do anything over the top, such as camping out in front of the admissions office.
The overlapping waitlists will make the next phase of the admissions process trickier for both colleges and students. Just as with the first round of acceptances, colleges don't want to make offers to students who are unlikely to accept because it will drive down their yields, which are important factors in college rankings. So they use a number of tactics -- from calling students directly to seeking early promises to attend -- to narrow down likely candidates.
In recent years, the waitlist has become "almost like a second early-decision process" as colleges grow more savvy about measuring students' interest before making offers, says Ken Fox, chairman of the admission-practices committee at the National Association for College Admission Counseling and a counselor at Ladue Horton Watkins High School in St. Louis. Already, students who have accepted slots on waitlists say they are feeling pressure to show a firmer commitment, in order to stand out when schools turn to their waitlists next month.
That can pose ethical dilemmas: Alisa Rudnick, a senior at San Francisco University High School, was waitlisted at half of the 12 colleges to which she applied. She chose to stay on the lists at two -- Reed College and Skidmore College -- but is also considering enrolling at Bard College, where she has been accepted.
"I'm in a really weird position because it's hard to declare one as your first choice," says Ms. Rudnick, who plans on writing a letter to each college to show interest. But she says she doesn't feel right telling each school it is her No. 1 option -- which is what schools want to hear when deciding who will get offers.
The waitlist has become an increasingly important part of the admissions process as schools seek to maximize their closely watched yield figures. About 35% of colleges and universities maintain a waitlist, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling, and the number of students offered slots on the lists has been rising. The proportion of waitlisted students actually admitted averages around 35%, according to the NACAC, but schools say it fluctuates as they make adjustments depending on how close they came to their expected yield with the first round.
Admission offers to waitlisted students will start going out in May, after schools receive "yes" or "no" answers from their first round of admissions by the end of this month. So students are encouraged to decide which waitlists they want to stay on as soon as possible, which will demonstrate interest to the schools.
Colleges say they are more uncertain than ever this year about their yield as they see more applications per student and are forced to vie for the same pool of talent. A few years ago, students applied to about six to eight colleges, but students and high-school counselors say the typical range is now 10 to 12.
To broaden its options, Amherst College offered 1,450 spots on the waitlist this year, up from 1,258. With students likely to be on multiple waitlists, "we know we are going to lose a bunch," says Tom Parker, dean of admissions and financial aid.
Northwestern University offered waitlist spots to 2,700 students this year, an increase from 1,750. "We find it more challenging than usual to model how many of the admitted students will enroll," says Keith Todd, director of undergraduate admission at Northwestern, which saw its applications increase by 19% this year to a record 21,949.
The University of Pennsylvania -- which offered waitlist spots to 2,800 people, an increase from 1,800 last year -- says it calls a handful of candidates on the waitlist and their high-school counselors after May 1 to gauge the likelihood that students will accept offers. Last year, the school made such calls to the 42 students who were admitted from the waitlist, says Lee Stetson, dean of admissions. "When you go to the waitlist, you want to have students who really want to be here," he says. "You don't want to go through the selection process all over again."
To be sure, just because a school offers more spots doesn't mean that they will take more students off the waitlist in the end. And not all schools are offering more spots. Georgetown University, for instance, offered waitlist spots to 1,774 students this year, down from 1,820 last year.
Efforts by colleges to measure commitment can be frustrating for students who are uncertain where they want to go. Alex Graber-Tilton, a senior at Wall High School in Wall, N.J., received a letter from Carnegie Mellon University offering him a spot on its priority waiting list -- which the school says is meant for students who definitely know Carnegie Mellon is their first choice. When making waitlist offers, the school promises to go to the priority list first, before its regular waitlist. But to nail down students' commitment, the school asks those accepted to make a decision quickly.
If you get an acceptance, you are expected to send a $600 deposit by May 8 to secure the slot. Since waitlist offers typically roll in throughout the month of May, that could mean committing weeks before the student hears about offers from other schools.
"It's like you've been pushed aside for someone else, but they still want to know if you want to go there," says Mr. Graber-Tilton, who plans to turn down the priority-list slot. He wants to study engineering and was also waitlisted at Rice University, as well as Harvey Mudd College where he hopes to ultimately go. Otherwise he plans on going to Case Western Reserve University, where he was accepted.
The priority waiting list "allows students who really, really want the place to come forward," says Michael Steidel, director of admission at Carnegie Mellon, which had a record 22,422 applicants this year.
For some students, losing an enrollment deposit to a school that accepted them is a no-brainer if they are later admitted from the waitlist to their top choice school. "Forgoing that is not a big deal to me when you pay thousands of dollars in tuition," says Scarlet Neath, a senior at Lamar High School in Houston. She was accepted to the University of Texas, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Southern California. She was waitlisted at her first choice, the University of Virginia, and plans on holding out until the end.
For those who are on the waitlist and want to stand out, deans of admissions recommend that students write a letter expressing interest and updating the school on any recent accomplishments. Many colleges say they don't advise spending money on a campus visit, given the rather small chance of being admitted.
And going overboard won't help. "Two years ago, a kid pitched a tent outside the admissions office in an effort to show his interest," says Charles Deacon, dean of undergraduate admissions at Georgetown University. Unfortunately, it rained on the third night, and "the next day, the tent was gone," he says. The student wasn't admitted.
Write to Anjali Athavaley at anjali.athavaley@wsj.com2
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117624920475565694.html
Hyperlinks in this Article:
(1) http://http://forums.wsj.com/viewtopic.php?t=413
(2) mailto:anjali.athavaley@wsj.com
Labels: college admissions, college planning
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