The University of California, Berkeley had almost 6,500 students on its wait list last year. It ended up admitting none of them.
The only thing harder than getting into college, it seems, is getting off the wait list. At some schools, the wait list is far more selective than the college’s overall acceptance rate. That’s a tough reality for thousands of wait-listed students across the country now, still holding out hope of getting into their dream schools after the May 1 commitment deadline passed.
For colleges, it’s harder than ever to predict who will enroll because students are applying to more schools. Colleges have always used wait lists to manage enrollment, but the lists have ballooned in recent years. It’s part of many colleges’ elaborate cat-and-mouse game to manage yield, or the share of admitted students who enroll. And wait lists have turned increasingly unruly, with fewer standard protocols than traditional admissions.