Waitlist, average acceptance rate and chances of admission

[Parmenid]

Any idea about the average acceptance rate of admitted students at graduate schools in the States or europe? I mean, what percentage of (phd level) admitted applicants typically accept or drop their offer?

If we know where we are in the wait list, this may help us to figure out our chances of admission.

Edited April 6, 2012 by Parmenid

[Rachel B]

It probably varies from school to school and your best bet is to look at the statistics for individual schools. I don't even think Princeton Review or US News & World Reports has the statistic that encompasses all schools.

[OTgirl]

It definitely varies dramatically from school to school. This is called the "yield rate," and factors like cost, program prestige, number of similar programs affect it. It is interesting that you ask about this, because I am absolutely convinced that some applicants have never given this any thought. On another forum I frequent, posters are always writing as if the number of people in the class is the number of people accepted, when they are NOT the same thing. (For instance... a class may have X number of people, with Y number of people being in-state... if the in-state people makes up, say, 80% of the class, the poster will write that of accepted students, only 20% are out-of-state, so out-of-staters have almost no chance of acceptance.) Or, when someone asks how many people are accepted to programs in X subject (meaning, what percentage of applicants), posters will give the average class size (let's say 35 people) when that is NOT how many people are accepted (and meaningless, anyway, when we don't know how many people applied.)

I'm speaking of masters programs, but the general principle is the same.

[ûl ʾašerātō]

OTgirl is definitely right. These statistics vary considerably from school to school and even department to department within the schools. What complicates it further is that there are always areas of concentration to consider as well. For example, at my top choice it is typical for them to receive about 60 applications to the department, 16 of which are typically accepted. On average less than half (7) of those 16 enroll for the fall. So, these statistics alone should give a waitlister reason to think she/he could get off of the waitlist. However, last year they accepted the usual number into my area of study, all of whom enrolled for the fall. This means that my particular area is only going to admit 1 or 2 students for this fall, which throws the 44% matriculation rate off. All this is to say that it is a very complicated process, and it will vary considerably.

[Parmenid]

Thanks for the comments.

As you guys mentioned, the rate dramatically differs from school to school. One of the schools (in europe) wait listed me. When i inquired about my status in the waitlist, the professor who had interviewed me said that I am at the top of the waitlist and if anyone drops out, I am in. It is nearly three weeks now and I am still waiting at the top! I phoned to the admission office today and asked about the rate of acceptance. She said almost all of the admitted students accept the offer! If that is the case and they know it (statistically), what is the point of having a waitlist? This is comparable to what is going on in the states, where some schools even have two sorts of wait lists; a 'waitlist' and also a 'short waitlist', transferring students from the former list to the latter, making the waitlist quite sensible and dynamic.

Edited April 10, 2012 by Parmenid