Selective Colleges Taking Few Applicants Off Waitlists This Year
2006 is turning out to be a tough year to be on the waitlist at a selective college or university. A number of schools are getting enough positive responses from accepted students to fill their freshman classes, meaning that fewer admissions offers are being made to waitlisted students than in past years.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the University of Chicago will take about 7 students off the waitlist this year, compared to 34 last year. Harvard will probably admit 5 to 10 waitlisted applicants, compared to 28 in 2005. Georgetown expects to take about 10 applicants off its waitlist, whereas last year it took 70. The University of Pennsylvania expects to extend admission offers to only 10 to 15 of the roughly 1,400 students it offered waitlist status to. Princeton and Ohio State do not expect to use their waitlists at all.
Higher-than-expected yields are the reason for this year's waitlist situation. Admissions officers have been surprised by the number of applicants who are accepting their admission offers. Many people had expected that, with the larger number of schools that an average high school student applies to today, yields would either remain stable or decline. Instead, yield actually increased at a number of institutions.
As we've noted before in this blog, there is a link between the admissions yield and class size one year and the admissions environment the following year. The University of Pennsylvania's exceptionally low acceptance rate this year stems in part from its admissions experience last year. More students than expected accepted 2005 admissions offers from U Penn, resulting in an on-campus housing crunch. There was a similar situation at the University of North Carolina, which wound up enrolling about 70 more students than it normally does in fall 2005. This year, UNC took a more conservative approach, issuing fewer acceptance letters and making more waitlist decisions, to avoid a repeat of that situation. It expects to admit about 100 applicants from its waitlist.
This year's high yields suggest that next year's acceptance rates will remain low, and that next year's waitlisted applicants will again face slim chances of getting admissions offers. Smart applicants will research their school options carefully and submit well-thought-out, focused applications that get them accepted at one of their target schools the first time around.
Source: "Colleges Admit Few Students off the Wait List," by Ann Marie Chaker. The Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2006.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the University of Chicago will take about 7 students off the waitlist this year, compared to 34 last year. Harvard will probably admit 5 to 10 waitlisted applicants, compared to 28 in 2005. Georgetown expects to take about 10 applicants off its waitlist, whereas last year it took 70. The University of Pennsylvania expects to extend admission offers to only 10 to 15 of the roughly 1,400 students it offered waitlist status to. Princeton and Ohio State do not expect to use their waitlists at all.
Higher-than-expected yields are the reason for this year's waitlist situation. Admissions officers have been surprised by the number of applicants who are accepting their admission offers. Many people had expected that, with the larger number of schools that an average high school student applies to today, yields would either remain stable or decline. Instead, yield actually increased at a number of institutions.
As we've noted before in this blog, there is a link between the admissions yield and class size one year and the admissions environment the following year. The University of Pennsylvania's exceptionally low acceptance rate this year stems in part from its admissions experience last year. More students than expected accepted 2005 admissions offers from U Penn, resulting in an on-campus housing crunch. There was a similar situation at the University of North Carolina, which wound up enrolling about 70 more students than it normally does in fall 2005. This year, UNC took a more conservative approach, issuing fewer acceptance letters and making more waitlist decisions, to avoid a repeat of that situation. It expects to admit about 100 applicants from its waitlist.
This year's high yields suggest that next year's acceptance rates will remain low, and that next year's waitlisted applicants will again face slim chances of getting admissions offers. Smart applicants will research their school options carefully and submit well-thought-out, focused applications that get them accepted at one of their target schools the first time around.
Source: "Colleges Admit Few Students off the Wait List," by Ann Marie Chaker. The Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2006.
posted by AllStarEssays at 9:39 AM
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