Independent Conn. college counselor Gay S. Pepper attributed the large waitlist to the admissions office’s need to have students on the list with interests similar to those of their accepted counterparts, in case those students choose not to attend.

“The role of the admissions office is to bring a class that represents the goals of the college in terms of the kind of student body they want,” Pepper says.

Admissions offices are also unable to predict how many students will actually choose to remain on the waitlist.

According to Fitzsimmons, approximately a third of those who are offered a place on the waitlist take themselves off.

SITTING AND WAITING

While most students see May 1 as the end of the stressful college admissions process, students who decide to remain on the waitlist still have work to do.

Waitlisted students are expected to send in a letter reiterating their interest in the college and sharing any new developments since the submission of their applications in the fall.

“It’s very important that they reflect that its their first choice and [that] if admitted, they will attend,” Goran says, noting that at this stage colleges do not want to risk accepting someone who will not attend.

According to Fitzsimmons, the information a student sends in is often a definitive factor in an admissions waitlist decision.

“Sometimes the [application] you’re looking at in May or June is infinitely better than it was earlier,” he says.

After submitting new information, students are left to wait for an indefinite period of time, though Fitzsimmons says that Harvard aims to make its decisions by July 1.

Although the acceptance rate for waitlisted students is generally low, students who choose to remain on the list typically accept the offers if they receive them, Goran says.

“It’s not that often that students make it off the waitlist,” he says. “But it does happen.”

Still, many students who are waitlisted choose to end the stress of the process rather than hold out hope for a later admission.

“Unless it’s the school of their dreams, often students will let go and say, ‘[I] don’t want to be in limbo. I’m happy with the schools [I’ve] gotten into,’” Goran says.