“Waiting is the hardest part…” - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Applying to college – sitting for the SAT, writing essays, etc. – that’s the easy part. It’s waiting for the decision that’s the hard part. From January 1 until about April 1, most students become increasingly anxiety-ridden, waiting to discovers their fates. Maddeningly, for many, many students – an increasing number, in fact – the wait just got or will soon get about a month longer.

More and more, colleges are placing students on their wait lists.

Let’s first examine wait lists in general. About a third of all colleges use wait lists, but among those with highly selective admissions (colleges that accept less than half of their applicants) about two thirds use wait lists. Colleges will admit about one quarter to one third of the students on their wait lists (27 percent in 2003 and 35 percent in 2004), but highly selective colleges will admit only about one eighth (12 percent in 2004). About half of all colleges that use wait lists reported an increase in the number of student placed on the wait list, year in and year out, since 1999. (Source: NACAC State of College Admission 2006)

Now let’s take a look at one school in particular, in this instance, Bucknell University. This year, Bucknell received nearly 9000 applications for 900 spots in its freshman class. For the first time in its history, Bucknell’s admit rate will drop below 30 percent. The university admitted about a third of its class through the early decision process, and recruited about 200 student-athletes to continue to field its 27 Division I athletic teams (Bucknell ranks in the top dozen or so schools nationwide in the number of student-athletes, and not as a percentage of its student body – an amazing feat for a school of only 3400 or so students!). Additionally, Bucknell designates another fifty spots for students in the creative and performing arts. So, for “just folks”, only about 350 spots remained. In a word, yikes! Bucknell admitted about three times that many, as not every student who was admitted will attend, but, in the end, Bucknell had a less than 20 percent admit rate in the regular decision process – an Ivy-like statistic. Bucknell placed about 600 students on its wait list, and, in the last five years has admitted between 100 and zero students from the wait list.

One the whole, colleges and universities use their wait lists because they have more qualified applicants than spaces available in the freshman class. And, if fewer students ‘yield’ (yield is the percentage of students who attend of those to whom an offer of admission is made) than expected, a college or university will begin admitting students from its wait list.

So why are colleges placing more and more students on the wait list year after year? One reason is, quite simply, demographics. There are more students applying to college than ever before. There are more students graduating from high school, and a greater percentage of high school graduates are going on to higher education. Meanwhile, the number of spots at highly selective institutions has remained relatively stable. Additionally, the Common Application now makes it all too easy to apply to more and more schools.

But there is yet another reason, which I cannot describe as insidious or unscrupulous, but which is certainly calculated. Placement on the wait list does NOT constitute an offer of admission. A college will often wait list some of the very best candidates in its pool. The reasoning behind the college’s decision is that the very best students may, in fact, view the college as a ‘back up’ or ‘safety’ school. Why offer a space in the class to a student who is not likely to attend? By placing so many students on its wait list instead of offering admission, the college artificially lowers its admit rate, thereby artificially increasing its selectivity. Selectivity implies prestige. “Oh, that must be a good school! It doesn’t admit very many students!” figures an ill-informed and unsuspecting public. Selectivity is a considerable factor is most college rankings. (Using the wait list in such a way began when yield was also a factor in college rankings, but has remained a staple in college admissions practices ever since.)

And if the student in the example above decides to remain on the wait list because he did not receive a ‘better offer’ at a ‘more prestigious’ college or university, the college can then admit him and bolster the profile of its freshman class by adding a student with excellent grades and standardized test scores. For the college, it’s a win-win.

But what about the kid on the wait list for whom the college is his or her first choice? Well, that’s a topic for another blog post.

Posted by Frank Betkowski at March 21, 2007 9:19 AM

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