Thoughts on Deferred Students and the Waiting List
Back in (chilly) Providence after my short visit to Maryland for yesterday's college fair. I arrived back in the office today to find the rest of the admission staff continuing to proofread and organize decision letters, which will be leaving our hands this week. Before the letters go out, I do want to talk about students who were deferred from Early Action, and the decisions they could (and will) receive in the next week.
One thing the admission committee always struggles with is whether to place a deferred student on the waiting list after they have been reviewed again during the regular decision process. It is very difficult for us because we have already postponed making a final decision for these students once-- when we deferred them to the regular decision pool after they applied at our Early Action deadline. Therefore, by placing them on the waiting list, we are asking these students to wait again-- this time until after May 1 to see if any spaces become available in the freshman class after the students who were initially invited have decided where they will enroll. Although it is a dilemma for us, we do place deferred students on the waiting list in some cases, and below is the explanation as to why we do...
When we defer a student at Early Action, there are two main reasons for this decision: (1) to see the student's senior year academic performance and (2) to see the student in the context of the overall applicant pool (not just the Early Action group). Students who are deferred receive a complete review again with the Regular Decision applicants, and there are three potential decisions that all students could receive at this point: invite; wait list; deny. Looking at the deferred students in the context of this group, a number of these students (many times even if they have a strong first semester performance) have the academic and overall profile of a student who is not strong enough to invite, but too strong to deny; therefore, we place them on the waiting list.
Consider the following two examples:
(1) A deferred student is considered in the context of the overall pool and has the profile of a wait list (their performance is not on the level of the Regular Decision invited students). So, because we don't want to make this student wait again, we deny the student. This effectively would be penalizing this student for applying Early Action-- giving them a deny decision when they have the credentials to be placed on the waiting list. While placing this student on the waiting list does mean they have to wait again for a final decision, it also keeps the door open for those students who have their heart set on attending Providence-- something a deny decision obviously would not do.
(2) A deferred student has a strong senior year but still looks like a wait list in the context of the overall pool. But not wanting to make the student wait again, we decide to invite the student. By doing this, we would be penalizing Regular Decision applicants by admitting an EA student who is less qualified simply because we wanted to give the deferred student a final decision. For all of you who applied Regular Decision, rest assured that the EA students did not have any competitive advantage in the process just because they applied early.
We strive to make the Early Action and Regular Decision review processes consistent, and because of that philosophy, students who are deferred can and do end up being wait listed because that is the decision that is most appropriate to make in the context of the overall applicant pool. We know that it is painful for these students to have to wait a second time and we wish there was a better way, but we feel our decision to wait list deferred students when appropriate is most fair to everyone. I would love to hear your observations, opinions, or comments on the subject as well-- please feel free to post them!!
Comments
Hello Scott:
I wanted to commend you on the great job you did explaining the deferred/waitlisted action. My daughter has applied to Providence and we will be waiting for her letter to come soon. I have been reading your blogs about the admission process and it has answered a lot of questions I bet most parents have and won't bother calling the colleges to ask. This is a great communication tool for both the students and parents. Keep up the good work. Like many this whole college admissions has been quite an experience and you have made things easier to understand.
Thanks again!
Posted by: Anonymous | March 22, 2007 6:06 PM
Hi! I just wanted to say thank you for the blog that you have been keeping up; it really helps me to not be so tense when it comes to thinking about my letter. I was wondering, when you guys were doing committee and saw all of the deferred students, did one bad grade, not failing but average, really weigh the outcome?
Posted by: Elizabeth | March 23, 2007 9:43 AM
Hi Elizabeth,
When the admission committee reviewed deferred students, we did take a close look at senior year academic performance-- it is a very important part of the review for all of the students we considered during the Regular Decision process.
Could one lower grade senior year be a major factor in our decision-making process? It could... it depends on a number of different factors, including:
1. What is the grade? (How low is the grade?)
2. What class is the lower grade in?
3. What do the student's other grades senior year look like?
Let me give you a few examples:
1. Is the grade a "B"/"B-"? (To some students, these are lower grades). One "B" or "B-" with a bunch of other "A's" and "A-'s" probably wouldn't have been looked at too negatively. However, if we are talking about "C's" and "D's," they are always looked at closely by the committee.
2. If a student has a "C+" in AP Calculus but straight "A's" in a number of other Honors/AP level classes (and does NOT want to be a Math major), that lower grade might not be too big of a deal for the committee. However, a lower math grade for a math major or a lower math/science grade for a Biology major (even a "B" or "B-" in some cases) can be seen as a negative by the committee-- because there are so many students in the applicant pool (and in the committee meetings) that are science majors with "A's" in math and science! A lower English grade senior year (regardless of major) is also problematic for us because we are a Liberal Arts school and even if a student is not going to be an English major, he or she will be doing a lot of writing in our curriculum.
3. While we obviously are looking at the grade a student has received in each individual class senior year, we are also looking at the overall performance. Having a "C" senior year and 4 other "B-" grades is not going to be looked at positively.
That is the very long answer. The short answer is: "It depends." We are looking at a lot of different factors when we consider all students' applications, including EA defers. If there is a reason for a lower grade senior year (illness, difficult teacher who didn't give any "A's," etc.) that we are aware of, it could be less of an issue to us. Please understand, however, that in an applicant pool the size we had, there are many students who have outstanding senior years and a student who has not done well first semester is going to be at a disadvantage in the review.
-Scott
Posted by: Scott Seseske | March 23, 2007 9:53 AM
Hello Scott
I concur on the great insight you've provided to the Admissions process. It would also be helpful to understand better how Providence handles the wait list process. How many applicants are invited to the wait list and historically, how many students have been accepted from the wait list? My daughter was put on the wait list at her top two universities, but is not very hopeful of gaining admission. In addition, how does Providence consider future transfer candidates who were wait listed and go to another university and perform at a strong level?
Thanks again.
Posted by: Anonymous | March 23, 2007 11:21 AM
Hey Scott:
Like everybody's saying, thanks so much for this blog. It has made the college process much easier to understand!
Kaitlyn
Posted by: Kaitlyn | March 23, 2007 12:38 PM
Hi Scott,
As the parent of a PC applicant, this blog has been an interesting window to this year's college admission's world--which by all accounts has been one of the toughest years with so many very qualified students applying to top colleges like PC. At times it has been a little scary, but I always prefer the known to the unknown, so I thank you for taking the time during such a busy admissions year to keep us all informed. It has been invaluable. Thanks!
Posted by: Liz | March 23, 2007 7:38 PM
Kaitlyn & Liz:
Thank you for the kind words!
-Scott
Posted by: Scott Seseske | March 24, 2007 5:48 PM
Can you share with us what you were looking for in the applications? My child is on the waiting list. We really belived that she would be accepted due to her 4.2 GPA, top 4% of his/her class, varsity sports, NHS, and community involvement. I am curious as to how the decision process works.
Posted by: Concerned parent | March 26, 2007 7:51 AM
To "Concerned Parent"--
My next few postings will explore the review process in detail!
In addition, I will also talk about the wait list itself and the process for students who were placed on the waiting list. Stay tuned.
-Scott
Posted by: Scott Seseske | March 27, 2007 10:19 AM