Has anyone ever gotten accepted off of a waitlist? What are the odds, generally speaking?

[StarkDark1]

I realize it varies from program to program, but I was curious, generally speaking, how likely you are to be accepted off a waitlist (official or unofficial).  For example, Northwestern sent out acceptances and rejections weeks ago, but I still haven't heard back.   Looks like I'm on the unofficial waitlist.  I sent an email to Northwestern asking about it, but no response.  My question is, how much hope should I have for being accepted?  Am I just setting myself up for disappointment?  Northwestern usually gets around 300 applications a year and accepts around 30.  Around 17 or 18 usually take the offer.  

 

Edited February 19, 2020 by StarkDark1

[uncle_socks]

For Northwestern specifically the odds don't seem pretty good (based on my couple years of lurking). It seems like they keep a lot of people in waitlist limbo hell every year. Georgetown too. Both of these schools have way too many applicants and too low of acceptance rates for their US News ranking and it shows. 

Different schools with official waitlists are generally better -- though of course there are caveats. Don't expect movement on the Stanford waitlist (do they even waitlist??) but the waitlist at Duke or NYU is pretty fair odds. This isn't law school though, no one should have high hopes for any waitlist. Some schools have ranked waitlists, but I think most schools accept off the waitlist on an as-needed basis (where they compensate for losing all of their CP's to yield so they accept a CP or something along those lines). 

Another thing that people sometimes seem to forget on this forum: declining a spot at a school DOESN'T automatically open up a spot for someone waitlisted. Yale accepted like 40 people last year for a cohort of less than 20. They didn't give out 20 more offers to waitlisted prospective students, they knew this was going to happen and planned for it. All schools know that most people get into more than 1 school and it's just inherent in the process that not all offers will be accepted, so they admit around that. Besides, most schools lose money on grad students (again, unlike law schools who make $$$$$$ off of students) so the incentive to take someone that they're not 300% enthusiastic about is lower. 

[Dwar]

I’ll echo what was posted above that it varies from school to school and from year to year. For example last year Duke received a higher then average Yield so I’m assuming they did not utilize their waitlist. 
 

The general advice that I have however is to show your interest and inform them of any other offers. Let them know that if offered a spot you’d take it. AdComms are more likely to pick you if they know you’re a sure thing. 
 

In terms of Northwestern specifically, I really have no advice. They are Hot Stuff and they know it so they can afford to not respond to questions and keep everyone in the dark. 

Edited February 19, 2020 by Dwar

[decisions1234]

On 2/19/2020 at 1:41 AM, Dwar said:

I’ll echo what was posted above that it varies from school to school and from year to year. For example last year Duke received a higher then average Yield so I’m assuming they did not utilize their waitlist. 
 

The general advice that I have however is to show your interest and inform them of any other offers. Let them know that if offered a spot you’d take it. AdComms are more likely to pick you if they know you’re a sure thing. 
 

In terms of Northwestern specifically, I really have no advice. They are Hot Stuff and they know it so they can afford to not respond to questions and keep everyone in the dark. 

Northwestern is weird because I keep hearing that they keep everyone in the dark, but it also seems like they have already released a ton of rejections. I guess they inform some people very quickly, but then make some people wait for a long time. (I am one of the ones waiting...)

[StarkDark1]

5 hours ago, PoliticalTheory13 said:

Northwestern is weird because I keep hearing that they keep everyone in the dark, but it also seems like they have already released a ton of rejections. I guess they inform some people very quickly, but then make some people wait for a long time. (I am one of the ones waiting...)

Yeah, this is driving me crazy (as you can probably tell by my constant posts here).  ?

[decisions1234]

On 2/21/2020 at 1:33 PM, StarkDark1 said:

Yeah, this is driving me crazy (as you can probably tell by my constant posts here).  ?

Another wave of Northwestern rejections! Why do the do it in clusters like this??? (I wasn't one of these, does this mean that I should be optimistic? No clue.)