Top US colleges putting thousands of applicants in wait-list limbo
Such offers far outnumber seats in the entering classes at many of those schools
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New York
STUDENTS applying to top colleges crave to hear "yes!" when decisions roll out in March and brace themselves for "no". But huge numbers get a vague answer that is neither admission nor denial - a tantalising "maybe" - with an invitation to join a wait list.
Wait-list offers far outnumber seats in the entering classes at many of those schools, a Washington Post analysis found. The University of Michigan last year invited 14,960 students onto its wait list, by far the largest total from among dozens of schools that The Post reviewed and more than 25 per cent of all applicants to the state flagship in Ann Arbor. Of the 4,512 who accepted a wait-list spot, just 90 - 1.99 per cent - were admitted to a class of 6,071.
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