The papers have been filled with discussions of waiting lists at UC’s since the Regents meeting last week. Waiting lists are not new to colleges/universities, they allow universities to avoid the risk of too many seniors accepting their offers which wrecks havoc on dorms and class size. They are new to the UC’s driven by reduced capacity and budgets.
Historically, not many seniors are accepted off of the waiting list because admissions officers “guess” right with their targets for freshman admissions.
As you can see waiting lists for colleges are much like standby lists for airlines–great for the airline and sometimes good for the passenger who happens to want to fly on an unexpectedly open flight . For private colleges/ universities that report their admissions off of the wait list it is typically 1-3% of those on the waiting list.
I hope that Seniors and their parents who are placed on a waiting lists for one or more UC will recognize that much like flying standby your acceptance requires an unexpected opening at one of the all very, over-crowded and under-funded UC’s…not likely. Make alternate plans.