Your Questions Answered, Part 1
We’ve seen some questions several times in the comments, and so a couple of us are going to take a crack at answering the more popular questions over the next few days.
For my part, I’ve got two:
1)What is the desired entering class size for the class of 2012?
We’d like it to be 1550 kids. That’s about 100 fewer than last year’s entering class, which is one of the main drivers of the increased selectivity this year. We’re moving to the Commons for first-year students this fall, as most of you know, and it only holds 1550, so we had to make the target class a little smaller.
2)How many applicants did you take from last year’s waitlist?
The real question here, if I’m interpreting this correctly, is ‘how many will you take off the waiting list this year?’ Last year’s number alone won’t help you much there. The number of students admitted from the waiting list varies pretty greatly from year to year, and there’s no trend as far as we can tell. In the past five years, we’ve taken fewer than 20 in some years and more than 200 in others. Last year was on the low end of the scale, but two years ago we took the most we’ve ever taken. We’re expecting the number for this year to fall somewhere in the middle of those two numbers, but it’s hard to know more until the matriculation deadline passes.
April 11th, 2008
I still do not understand why and how you do not rank your waiting list. It defies logic and keeps students on the tenterhook.
Enjoy Chicago while those waitlisted cringe and hope for a miracle. I know that you are wishing for a zero accpetance rate. That would trally boost your ego.
April 11th, 2008
Excuse my typo.
April 11th, 2008
Personally, I think Vandy has done an excellent job in explaining just how they canNOT rank the wait list.
Waitlisted students are those that are just as academically strong as any of the initially admitted students. Somewhere – there is a discriminator – strength of essay, ECs, geography, ethnicity, etc. Hey, I’m the Dad of a great waitlisted daughter – and am hoping that Vandy sees the light and is able to get the chance to admit her – but know going in that there is no “rank”..if she is offered a shot at The Commons, it will truly be a combination of her outstanding prep career (both academically and athletically) along with pure blind luck when someone with many of her same characteristics makes the choice to attend college somewhere else. We are pleased that our daughter has been found academically worthy at a Vandy campus that merely ran out of room…for now. We are PROUD to know that our daughter will succeed wherever she goes…if that’s not Vandy – that’s Vandy’s loss….waiting….out.
April 15th, 2008
I doubt the admissions office gets any thrill or ego boost from denying students.
April 15th, 2008
Based upon comments I have seen on the College Confidential website as well as personal knowledge of a few accepted students struggling with the dilemma of choice, I think those on the waitlist can be reasonably optimistic that a number (?) of students will be offered a spot. The interesting thing in all of this is that I have spoken to parents whose children have also been accepted at Ivies and both the parents and their kids are truly conflicted and are having a very difficlt decision. Vandy has clearly “arrived.”
April 15th, 2008
I strongly recommend that the 1st and 2nd posts/comments be deleted by the administrator.
April 26th, 2008
My neice was on the waitlist for 2007 and was told late summer by her Vanderbilt counselor than NO ONE was taken from the waitlist in 2007, so it is curious to see that “last year was on the low end of the scale” if in actuality the number was zero.