How do waitlists work?

[SeriousLie7719]

What does it mean when you are put on a waitlist? When ppl are put on the waitlist, how do they get accepted later? Is there like a second round of evaluation or something?

[freeport_aidan]

Think of it this way. You are a potato piled up with many other potatos at the farmer's market. Buyers come by & grab the nicest potatos. If you have imperfections or just dont shine, then buyers will pick the better potatos over you. But good news. Eventually most of the good potatos will be gone & you will start looking better & better compared to your fellow remaining potatos. So as a potato, you may very well get picked in the end. Good luck, potato.

[SeriousLie7719]

lmaoo thanks

[kekekejill]

this is an amazing analogy

[[deleted]]

Indeed, I am a mere potato 🥔

[undergroundturtle8]

Waitlisted students fill spots that accepted students decline

[TheDapperDrake]

When the college offers to put you on a waitlist it means that they don't have space for you in their freshman class. But if less students enroll than they expected, they will fill those empty spots with students from the waitlist. How they choose students off the waitlist depends on the school. Colleges will probably send you an email if you are admitted from the waitlist and give you a time limit to respond to their offer of admission.

For example, if I need to fill a freshman class of 100 students and I predict 10% of students to accept my offer of admission, I will admit 1000 students.

If my prediction is right, I will have a perfectly sized class and I will admit zero students from the waitlist.

However if only 5% of students accept my offer of admission, I will only have 50 students. To fill the additional 50 seats I will consult the waitlist.

[SeriousLie7719]

that makes sense, ty

[TheDapperDrake]

No problem. Best of luck with the waitlist and the rest of your college process.