Right, I understand from the colleges perspective, and I agree that students need to realize that chances are small. But I think getting a student to realize that his chances are slim is, like I’m sure you know, easier said than done — there’s still that lingering chance that he “might get in,” and I think that adds a lot to the stress of making the final decision.

Colleges use the wait list for their own protection to make sure they don’t have empty seats in the fall. Although many of these colleges use software to estimate who will accept the admission, it is still a guess. Personally, I don’t think a wait list is a problem and a 50% increase only indicates more uncertainty. What is a problem is students who don’t understand that the chances of getting in off a wait list of a highly selective college is usually very small.

The other thing to keep in mind from the college’s standpoint is that if they have to go to the wait list, the more people they have on the list the better chance they have of finding a student that might meet a need of the college such as the soccer goalie or tuba player.

Do you think that a 50% increase in the wait list at MIT is too much of an increase? 739 applicants seems like an awful lot to wait-list.

–Andy and ScholarsForStudents