In most cases, a waitlisted student's chances of getting off the waitlist are relatively slim. As I wrote earlier, the math is generally not on the side of the waitlisted student. This year, however, there is a little room for encouragement. As The New York Times recently reported, many top colleges are going deeper into their waitlists than usual.
Waitlists tend to have a cascade effect. For example, if Harvard admits 150 students from its waitlist, many of those students may sacrifice their deposits at other schools in order to attend Harvard. Suddenly those other schools have vacancies they need to fill, so they turn to their waitlists.
The reasons for the current waitlist activity are connected to the record number of college applicants this year. Nearly all the elite schools saw unprecedented numbers of applicants in 2007 - 08, so they had a harder time predicting the yield from their accepted student pool. When a school misses its target for the incoming class size, it turns to the waitlist to fill out the class.
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