hen juniors start applying for college this summer, certainly this fall, some may assume an automatic or easy acceptance to the college of their first choice. Recently a new trend has occurred or perhaps seniors didn’t freely discuss difficulties receiving full outright acceptance letters.

College waiting lists are not necessarily a bad thing. According to the Time Magazine article "Getting off the College Waiting Lists", colleges admitted, on average, 29% of these students from the ‘06 waitlist. Despite the fact that the numbers are old, it still has an effect on the outlook of waiting to get in.

"Waiting for a response from the colleges will be very nerve-wracking for me. I’m stressing out because of the pressure of doing my best in school." said Heather Krauss (11).

According to an article in USA TODAY titled "College acceptance rates: How many get in?" the University of Missouri-Columbia accepted 79.8% of students that applied. However, the University of Missouri-St. Louis accepted 59.8%. The actual choice of the specific school could turn out to be the decisive factor.

Also in the list, the most accepting college was tied, between Washburn University and West Virginia State University with 100% each. However, the least accepting was Harvard University with 10.4% of students getting in. From the 19,690 students who applied, only 2,054 students got in.

Even if you have good grades, there could be other students to choose from. With the senior class of 2008 at approximately 3.4 million, according to the Time Magazine article, colleges are narrowing down their choices to the best of the best, leaving the waiting list as an option for those who don’t do so well.

"I was really upset because my first choice college only took 36 students for veterinary tech. I plan on going to Meramac now to get the basic courses done, and then trying to apply to Jefferson again," said Megan Tracy (12).

The Seattle Times wrote an article titled "How to Handle a College Waiting List", and it has tips on what to do if you may be put on one. In a note, it says that it is not the same as being denied from a college.

The article states that a student may be put on a wait list due to lack of interest to the university. It could also be that the student is a "late-bloomer" which means that the college wants to see the spring semester grades.

Students also may consider arranging an appointment with to Jenny Klug, College and Career Counselor for getting other college options and information about specific college applications.

"Schools tend to have an increase in waitlists because they give a backup plan to those who don’t apply to the college. For those who want a chance to get off the wait list, you could write letters with specifics on what you’ve done including activities and leadership positions. The worst thing you could do is get off of the list entirely" said Klug.

Even though, according to the article, most colleges require students to decide where they want to go by May 1, waiting may not be the worst thing to do. It can provide other academic options for someone to take, and it could prove to show someone that other schools have similar options.