Wait list

It has been described as a type of college admissions "purgatory",[2] or being held in "the higher-ed equivalent of limbo".

In the United States, for students applying by regular admission, the month of April is a time when much activity happens; colleges email offers of acceptance and rejection, and students select a college by sending a deposit.

According to several reports, colleges and universities use wait lists to try to hedge their guesses about how many students will ultimately decide to accept their offers of admission in any given academic year, with the idea being to build "a reservoir of qualified students to draw from to replace successful applicants who choose to go elsewhere.

Of the students on a wait list at a highly selective school, a fraction may be offered admission before classes begin in late August or September.

Students who are wait-listed can take steps to improve their chances of admission from a wait list by writing letters of interest and by sending second-semester senior grades.

Colleges use waitlists to hedge their bets, uncertain about how many accepted students will say yes, and to draw applicants from the waitlist when vacancies open. In addition, waitlists allow colleges to target acceptance letters to students likely to attend to maintain the college's selectivity ranking and yield .