difference b/w waitlist, alternate, and acceptable?

[hellojed]

Hi guys! I hope you don't mind the silly question, but I've heard these terms thrown around and I've been "waitlisted" at one school and "acceptable" at another-- do these mean subtly different things, or are they all one and the same? Also, does anyone know if schools wait to interview everyone first and send out a whole bunch of acceptances before they consider taking people off their waitlist/alternate list/acceptable pool? I'm kinda confused here! <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

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[Resident Alien]

Im confused too.....to the ones you listed, there's also the "Deferred List" (OSU) and the "Hold" (CWRU).
<img src="confused.gif" border="0">

 

[Jamier2]

Originally posted by hellojed:
•I hope you don't mind the silly question, but I've heard these terms thrown around and I've been "waitlisted" at one school and "acceptable" at another-- do these mean subtly different things, or are they all one and the same? Also, does anyone know if schools wait to interview everyone first and send out a whole bunch of acceptances before they consider taking people off their waitlist/alternate list/acceptable pool?•••

Waitlist/Alternate/Acceptable are the same thing with a different name. I haven't heard "acceptable" before, but I'm betting it's just another way of saying "waitlist".

Hold signifies that you application is not being reviewed for either acceptance or waitlist.

As for how many interviews are given before acceptances go out, that varies widely between schools. You'd just have to ask about specific schools for an answer on that.

If I am mistaken, by all means correct me.

 

[mma]

Acceptable is something that is sent out before acceptances/rejections/waitlists are made. After an interview, adcoms will meet and make prelim decisions on the people they have interviewed. Some will be viewed as "acceptable," some will not. The "acceptable" ones go into another round of reviews and from there the adcoms choose whom they will accept and whom, despite having previously been "acceptable," they will reject after full review.

BU does this whole "acceptable" thing--they send this out about a month to six weeks post-interview. In the letter they explain that they will do full reviews in March and that the letter indicates you are still in the running. They then ask you to write them a letter telling them that BU is your first choice (essentially), if it is--they really want to know that you want to go there.

So, in sum, "acceptable" means "You did not mess up your interview."

Good luck!

mma

 

[ConstantlyWaiting]

For UCSD the acceptable pool is basically a slightly euphemistic way of saying "wait list"

 

[hellojed]

Cool, thanks for all your help guys!!!! Here's to all of us being accepted off of waitlists/alternate lists/acceptable pools/deferred/on hold!!!!

 

[USeF]

second definition of hold

University of Florida places the application on 'hold to compare with future interviewees' accepting people on hold throughout the process.
In the past, half of those placed on hold are eventually accepted or placed on the alternate list. We feel this year will also..

so I guess this is a hold for continued review, as opposed to the CWRU hold. Just to clarify, all these are post-interview status, right?

 

[E'01]

A poor friend of mine is on hold for an interview at two places - whats that about??