Random question

[sconnors]

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What exactly does "sends acceptances in waves" mean? Do you think they send out acceptances as they review applications or do they look at all of applications and send out the first round to the "top" applicants?

 

[DPTlover1]

From my experience, it definitely depends on the school. Some schools that have "rolling" admissions generally review applicants on a first come, first serve basis. Admissions committees meet certain times throughout a given semester, and that's when they pull applicants from the applicant pool that they wish to interview. That's why some people will receive an interview invitation date on, let's say, October 12th for October 24th, depending on whether they applied on September 28th or October 11th. Sometimes, it's just good timing with when the Admissions Committees meets. Again, I can only postulate this based upon my experiences with interviews thus far. I'm not completely certain how it all works. Basically, as they meet throughout the semester, they just pull chunks of people and whether its based on merit or just time of application is uncertain.

I think with larger state schools, it seems like they utilize the above method you described of sending out the "top" round of applicants first - however in most cases, those who apply earlier have a greater likelihood of being accepted due to the sheer nature that there are more spots open in the beginning of the application cycle than at the end. Some larger state schools will weed out and send out rejections to out-of-state students immediately, it seems, if you are not a 4.0 student because of the fact that you are not a resident of the state and the likelihood of you actually attending are slim. Again - just postulations, but definitely what it seems like in my experience.

I am curious to see others opinions of the process as well! Definitely an interesting question!

 

[PassionateDPT21]

I think it is probably pretty simple, meaning that in waves they do acceptances. So, they have the first set of acceptances go out with their own specific deadline. When that deadline is over, they take the denied spots and use their "ranking list" to send out the next set of admissions. They do this however many times until the spots are filled. Then if there are more openings because people change their mind later in the process, they probably continue in more of a person by person 'wave.' Rolling admission may affect the amount they look at before they send out the first decision or portion of the first decisions depending on the school, but eventually it catches up and they have everyone they need to choose from. Some schools who do rolling may have some very qualified people on the waitlist because of previous early applications that were a great fit for that school, but possibly not superior in stats to those on the list.