Graduating high school seniors roll the dice with wait lists

[flashl]

Eighteen-year-old Zachary Cobb spent his senior year at Asheville (N.C.) High School perusing college guidebooks, touring campuses and filling out applications. But with graduation today and classmates already picking dorm rooms, he still isn't sure where he's going to school in the fall.

Cobb is in wait-list limbo. He has sent a deposit to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill but is wait-listed for his first choice, the University of Pennsylvania.

A number of admissions deans at elite private schools, including Harvard and Penn, have accepted more students than usual from their wait lists this year. That gives Cobb and others reason to hope.

Harvard, for example, will take about 220 students from its wait list, compared with 50 last year, says William Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid.

USA Today

[HockeyMom]

1. My daughter was wait listed at her top choice

She went to another college for 2 years and then put in to transfer to her top choice. They accepted her application in 3 weeks.