How to find out the past years use of a school's waitlist (Davis)?

[Nicky]

Hi all you fellow waitlistees, probabally too experiencing the slow and anguishing pain, not quite as sharp as the dings, but after the long haul maybe more so.   

Do any of you know how I can find out if a school (UC Davis in this case) is known for making use of their waitlist in the past, to decide if this is worth a shot of waiting or better to look for other pastures?  Thanks and best of luck to you all.

[apartment]

Funny, how no one replies to these sorts of questions.

I would say, first, see if you can call the school for more information. Ask if you can find out the size of the wait list or at least what the chances have been in the past.  The next three years of your life are at stake here and you should know your odds.

Next, try asking on a high traffic board, if anyone has come off the waitlist in the past they should be able to tell you.

Good luck.

[Rubin]

US law schools don't tell you about your position in the waitlist, do they? It would be great to know whether you're 10th or 270th on the list!

[Nicky]

Thanks for the suggestions random-poster.  The letter I recieived from Davis clearly states (in bold) everything I need to know is in the letter and not to call them.  But maybe I can ask on other boards for people with past experience.

Yeah, it would be nice to know rankings but Davis said that their waitlist isnt ranked, so Im not sure if they just drop a pencil down and whereever it lands thats who they call.  Hope it lands on my name and Im by my phone!

[apartment]

I have never heard of a law school that tells you where you are on a wait list even if they are ranked.

And if they are not ranked, if law schools are anything like undergrad schools, the adcoms will take a look at the decided entering class and "fill-in" the people from the waiting list they think will best fit the existing class.  That means there is no way even an admissions officer could know your chances until deposits are in and it's time to start calling people off the wait list.  It is senseless to try to second guess those chances.

The information that could be useful is the approximate size of the waitlist and the number of people they have taken off the list in past years.  Seems the smaller schools are more open with this information, but I guess the UCs are so busy still reviewing apps that they'd just rather not deal with questions.

[sej23]

Nicki,

I'm waitlisted at UC-Davis also and when I called them they said that they waitlist about 600 people and in recent years have admitted between 5 and 25 people.  I have no idea why they waitlist so many people.