It’s college decision time and there will be disappointed teens receiving those words from the college, “You have been placed on the wait list.” You might think it somewhat softens the blow of the rejection, but does it? What are the odds that your student will be taken off the wait list and offered admission?

My advice: skip the wait list. Why? Getting off the wait list is like playing the lottery. Here’s are three examples of wait list statistics taken from the College Board’s website:

University of Texas

Stanford University

University of Michigan

(Note: To see any college wait list statistics, click here, type the college name, and select “applying” for the specific college)

As you can see, the odds are NOT in your student’s favor. And for highly selective colleges like Notre Dame and Dartmouth, the number is zero. Students who place all their cards on the table for their wait list schools are often disappointed. They reject offers of admission from perfectly good colleges hoping against hope that they will be taken off the wait list.

Instead of playing the wait list odds, take a second look at your second choice colleges. Read my list of 5 Good Reasons to take a look at your 2nd Choice College.

Colleges who offer admission want your student. They see potential and have offered them a spot in their freshman class. And if a college backs that up with an excellent financial aid package, all the more reason to reconsider your options.

Why do colleges use the wait list?

Lynn O’Shaughnessy on The College Solution blog, explains the college’s rationale when using wait lists:

Schools use their wait lists as a way to manage their admission yield. They’d rather put more students on a wait list and pluck teens off as needed than accept more students and then see too many of these teenagers spurn their admission invitation.

Schools want to be in control of saying, “No.” And when they say no to more students, they look more selective which appeals to families looking for elite schools.  And U.S. News & World Report’s also rewards schools that reject more applicants.

One major reason why highly ranked schools are placing more students on wait lists because admission administrators are stressing out that ambitious applicants are applying to a very large number of elite schools and they can’t get a handle on which teens would accept an invitation to their school.

With help from the Common Application that makes it easy to apply to many schools, some high-achieving, affluent students are treating college admission to elite schools like a high-stakes lottery. The application mania also explains why prestigious private schools are accepting more early-decision candidates whom they can lock up early.

Using a wait list is also a way to reject students without completely demoralizing them. It can be a helpful tool, for instance, to turn away students of alumni, who are not desirable candidates. Some students see an invitation to a wait list as something to even brag about. I’m not joking.

The wait list also allows some schools to generate more revenue by not offering financial aid to anyone rescued from their lists.

Don’t fall prey to these tactics. Encourage your student to consider the colleges who have offered admission. In the long run, it will probably be the best decision you ever make.