I went to an open house at Shenandoah, and they talked a lot about being on hold vs. wait-list/alternate. They said being on hold is the worst situation. Of course we all think being rejected is the worst, but that way we can concentrate on other schools or prepare for next year. If you're on hold there is something confusing about your application. examples:
you make good grades when you take a lighter load, but when you take 17 hrs you have a few Cs and Ds.
you did poorly your first semester, but you did great in all the others
one of your referrences might have said something like, "sally does great work when she's in class"
It seems like if your put on hold they look at everyone else's applications before they review yours again, but they haven't rejected you yet. So they're basically dangling it in front of you.
You might be on the wait list if you meet all requirements and they think you would be a good pharmacist, but you aren't as competitive as the others. Shenandoah actually said that last year 20 people from the wait list were accepted. You are ranked, but they don't let you know what your rank is or how many people are also alternates.
So, I would say that alternates have a better chance of being accepted than those on hold.