It's college admissions time...

...for America's high school seniors, and much is being made this year of the increased waiting lists at some schools. From yesterday's Times:

Ashley Koski, ranked third in the senior class at Thomas Dale High School in Chester, Va., has wanted to attend Duke University since she was 12.

Late last month, she learned that Dukehad neither accepted nor rejected her. It had offered her a spot on the waiting list — along with 3,382 other applicants. That is almost twice the size of the incoming freshman class.

“I kind of just went quiet the rest of the day,” Ms. Koski said. “I’d rather have a yes or no. I can’t make plans and be excited like the rest of my friends.”

If Duke’s best guess holds, no more than 60 will be admitted through the narrow gate of what is essentially a giant holding pen.

60 out of 3,382? That's less than 2%.

In today's paper, a high school senior writes:

AFTER nearly 12 years of school, hours of SAT prep and tutoring and $70 per college application, I thought I would finally get some relief this month. I thought I’d get a straight answer from colleges at least — a yes or no. But instead I got on the wait list. In fact, I landed on four wait lists.

I’m far from alone. Universities are increasingly using wait lists to cope with the growing number of applicants, and the resulting uncertainty about how many will accept their offers of admission. The number of students placed on the Yale wait list rose 21 percent this year, even though last year, the school admitted only seven applicants out of 769 on the list. I’m one of the nearly 3,400 students on Duke University’s wait list, meaning that of its 27,000 applicants, about 12 percent are in suspense.

Yale's list is even worse than Duke's. They accept fewer than 1%.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you've been placed on one of these lists you've essentially been rejected. The chances of getting in at this point are very remote. The good news is, if you've been put on one of these lists, you're probably a very good student and should do well wherever you go.

So deal with it. Get on with your life. There are hundreds of good schools out there. Pick one of them; you'll be okay.

Remember, Bill Gates didn't even graduate from college and he seems to be doing just fine.