Q: So we all read the article in the New York Times last week about waiting lists and the extreme things some applicants do to get noticed and maybe picked. This seems to create an unnecessary amount of stress, since so few colleges take students who are waitlisted. And by May 1, we’re enrolled somewhere anyway. So what’s the point? Why don’t colleges either accept or reject people and get it over with?

A: Over the years, colleges have found the use of a waiting list to be quite helpful – well, helpful to them. On the other side of the question, just ask a student who has enrolled at her #2 college if she’d like a chance to go to her #1 school – most would be thrilled!

As colleges have become increasingly conscious of how their acceptance and enrollment rates are perceived, and how these affect the all-holy rankings, they have come to use the waiting list in a variety of ways. In general, applicants are wailtlisted for one of three reasons:

  1. The admissions committee really likes this student, but they have already admitted as many students as they can safely take without risking over-enrollment (if that happens, they literally will not have enough dorm rooms). So they wait to see how many of the first crop of admitted students will enroll, and if not as many enroll as the college anticipates, there will be some spots for other students. The most selective schools have the highest enrollment (or “yield”) rate, so the chance of getting in from the waitlist is very, very slim.

  2. The applicant’s credentials are excellent. In fact, if the applicant had shown some genuine interest in the college he would probably have been admitted. But the admissions readers are wary of strong applicants who, they suspect, are using their school as a back-up and if accepted will not enroll. That would make their “yield rate” go down, possibly causing a dip in the rankings. But the student is too good to deny outright – therefore the waitlist status.

  3. This is the courtesy waitlist. For some reason, the college does not want to inflict the pain of a denial on an applicant. Perhaps his or her parents are alumni, or there are other ties to the college. Or perhaps the admissions committee was very touched by something in the application, but they simply cannot justify an acceptance for academic reasons. These applicants will be placed on a waitlist – but they will not move off that list. This technique saves face for the applicant, who can now say “I was waitlisted, but decided to go to X instead.”

So you see that it is really unpredictable. Colleges will never tell an applicant that Reason #3 applies. They may admit to #2. Students are now starting to get the message that there is no such thing as a “safety school,” and if they wish to be admitted they have to be good applicants AND demonstrate some interest.

The best attitude for students who are waitlisted to adopt is this: "Getting in from the waitlist is an outside chance I cannot count on. If it comes through later, fine. If not, fine."

For their part, colleges ought to limit their waitlist to a reasonable number (a couple of hundred rather than a couple of thousand) so they don’t drag out the process and string students along.