im confused..What is the difference between a HOLD vs. a Waitlist???

[cam108]

any input is welcome!

thx

[Comm-Law]

I could be wrong, and I'm sure that it varies from school to school, but here is my guess:

HOLD = We are out-of-seats (or overcommitted) but will go back to the "hold-list" once seats open up (after seat deposits). 
DEFERED = we aren't out of seats yet, but we see you as marginal so we'll push you back for later review.
WAIT-LIST = We are putting you on the don't-call-us/we'll-call-you list.  Meaning... after the school has reviewed all of the apps, given-out all of the seats, exhausted the deferals and holds... then and only then will they offer you a seat.  This is really their go-to list for last-minute seat openings (up-to-the-first-day-of-class).

- Comm-Law

[cam108]

cool thanks! 
i suppose having your application "held" is the cream of the crop compared to the other 2 choices.

[starrynite]

from my experience the terms "hold" and "defered" are used in reference to those people who applied either early action or early decision and were not admitted with that pool of early applicants--this is what happened to me at both duke and cornell; they put your file on hold/defer it to the regular applicant pool and then decide on you later on (i.e. during the regular cycle) so that they can get a better sense of their applicants for that year.  if you apply EA/ED and don't have great numbers (i.e. at least one number above their 75%) you can usually expect to get put in these categories (they mean the same, at least to me; duke uses "defered" cornell uses "hold".) you will get your "real" decision (admit, deny or waitlist) by the same time frame as those who applied regular (by april.)

waitlists are given out during the regular admissions cycle and they usually mean you will be hanging on for a decision as late as august.

[Comm-Law]

starrynite is correct that the terms hold and deferral are also used when the EA/ED cycle is performed.  But the concept is the same... all seat offers are exhausted for the EA/ED program and your app is being tossed into the next cycle for reconsideration.  This late in the season, all regular seats are exhausted or you are just too marginal to be offered but likewise too good to be denied, so you are being given a re-consider at a later date.

- Comm-Law

[pumpkinfreak]

I could be wrong, and I'm sure that it varies from school to school, but here is my guess:

HOLD = We are out-of-seats (or overcommitted) but will go back to the "hold-list" once seats open up (after seat deposits). 
DEFERED = we aren't out of seats yet, but we see you as marginal so we'll push you back for later review.
WAIT-LIST = We are putting you on the don't-call-us/we'll-call-you list.  Meaning... after the school has reviewed all of the apps, given-out all of the seats, exhausted the deferals and holds... then and only then will they offer you a seat.  This is really their go-to list for last-minute seat openings (up-to-the-first-day-of-class).

- Comm-Law

I think this depends on the school. I just got waitlisted at UF and their definition of "waitlist" is your "hold" definition.

[PSUDSL08]

Here's my take on the difference between a hold and a waitlist:

Hold: I'd consider this to mean that you're among the first candidates to be offered admission if the class isn't filled. This is like being considered among the elite of the waitlist. So if a school is only needs to fill 10% more of its seats, deferred applicants will be taken and nobody from the waitlist will be accepted. If you're on the deferred list, I'd say your chances are pretty good considering the flood of overqualified applicants who applied to certain schools because of fee waivers.

Waitlist: If all the accept/deferred people don't fill our quota, and we're desperate, we'll start pulling you off of this list. I'd guess you probably will have a 5% chance of being pulled off this list, possibly higher at tier 3 and tier 4 schools.

I also think it's real sh*tty that some schools make you pay a seat deposit to be placed on their waitlist. I'm not going to pay $100+ for wishful thinking. Sorry NC Central, but I'm not going to buy the department lunch so I can hold my breath for another 2 months.

[Name Changing Queen]

I'm going to take a wild guess that you mean "hold" at Case, cause so many, many people have been put on 'hold' at case (myself included).  Most of us, it seems, did not write the optional 'why i want to go to Case specifically' essay, and have scores above the 75th.  So I think it's a yield-protection thing.

What I mean is : They are mostly full, right?  Let's say hypothetically they have 10 percent of their seats left.  They know that it is late in the season, and many people who were initially interested in Case have now made other plans, but not withdrawn. They don't want to have to admit 30 people to find one that will fill a particular seat.  They still want the best applicants they can get.  So what do they do? They send "hold" letters out to a wide cross section of 'attractive' applicants, to get their reactions.  Some of these "hold" people write back with letters of desperate interest. 
Now they have established a pool of people with good numbers who have shown a greater likelihood of matriculating if accepted.

That way they accomplish two things:  They increase their "deny" ratio ultimately, because they deny all those people who don't respond to the Hold letter.  They increase their acceptance-to-matriculation ratio, because they admit people who have already shown that they will seriously consider attending.

This is all majorly hypothetical, but I think it makes sense.  Anyone agree/disagree?

[cam108]

well i suppose that could be case. who will ever know though. once i found out Case now costs 31K a year, it has quickly dropped off my list of top choices anyhow!