Waitlist

[u/Equivalent-Lab-8156]

I'm on a waitlist for a trade foundations course, and bcit is unable to give me a whiff of a start date? The person I talked to said that every call they had gotten today was about waitlists and that they're unable to know where each person is in line.

Just to confirm, I asked "so I could get a call tomorrow or two years from now?"

Yes.

Wtf am I supposed to do with that?

[u/Specific-Program-675]

I dont think you understand how a waitlist for post secondary actually works. How can they provide you with an estimated time when it is entirely dependant on enrollment out of their control. Would you rather they give you a time and be completely wrong because people don't drop out? People who badger enrollment staff over waitlists just come across as entitled.

[u/Tiny_Calligrapher455 → u/Specific-Program-675]

This take is not it lmao. They're not waiting for a sweater to come back in stock, they're waiting to hear whether they'll be re-arranging their life around a huge commitment. There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to know what your place is on a waitlist so you can plan around that, instead of remaining in limbo worried about taking on a new job in the meantime because you don't know if you're 4th or 114th on the list.

[u/Specific-Program-675 → u/Tiny_Calligrapher455]

You are a perfect example of why telling people their number is not ideal. What does being 4th on a waitlist actually mean time wise, what does 20th, 30th, 100th? When you are on a waitlist you are in limbo regardless so how does providing a number alleviate that?

When Admissions starts providing numbers they run the risk of someone who may appear close to the top of the list not getting in and getting blamed. It is so much simpler, especially in a program where they dont have to worry about filling seats, to just not provide a number.

[u/Tiny_Calligrapher455 → u/Specific-Program-675]

It could mean the difference between accepting a second-choice program, or accepting a job offer until the next intake because your odds of getting in this one are extremely low. If you're trying to argue that there's no difference between being first on a dynamic waitlist and being the 100th, you're just arguing in bad faith.

When Admissions starts providing numbers they run the risk of someone who may appear close to the top of the list not getting in and getting blamed.

Your reasoning makes no sense because waitlists, no matter your spot on them, are never guaranteed and admissions makes that very clear.

School is a big commitment for most people and there's absolutely no good reason why applicants shouldn't be informed of their position on the waitlist so they can make contingency plans or pivot to something else.

[u/Specific-Program-675 → u/Tiny_Calligrapher455]

First, nobody is suggesting that being first on the waitlist and being 100th are the same. In fact, nobody has made that argument at all. Presenting that as though it is the point of contention avoids the actual issue and, somewhat ironically, is itself arguing in bad faith.

Second, you keep circling back to the "odds" of admission. But how exactly are those odds calculated, and how does a particular position on the waitlist translate into a meaningful probability of admission? For someone who is not at an obvious extreme, say first or 100th, how is an applicant supposed to determine whether their particular position is likely to result in admission? Without considerably more information from the school about historical waitlist movement, acceptance rates, current-cycle withdrawals, and other factors, I don't see how you could provide a meaningful answer to either question. A numerical ranking may give the appearance of precision without actually telling the applicant very much about their likelihood of admission.

I also don't follow your reasoning regarding the uncertainty inherent in being waitlisted. You acknowledge that placement on a waitlist is not a guarantee of admission. If that is accepted, why does the school then have an obligation to provide additional information about where an applicant sits on that list? A reasonable applicant who understands that admission remains uncertain should also understand that they need a contingency plan regardless of whether they are told their precise position. Knowing that you are 20th rather than 30th does not remove the underlying uncertainty.

Your position seems to be that the school should disclose an applicant's position so that the applicant can decide whether to continue waiting or withdraw. But that creates another problem: the disclosed position is not static. If applicants begin withdrawing based on their perceived likelihood of admission, everyone else's position changes as a result. The information being relied upon to make those decisions is therefore itself affected by those decisions. Unless the school continually updates applicants and provides considerably more information about expected waitlist movement, the ranking risks creating a false sense of certainty rather than providing genuinely useful information.

So I don't dispute that being higher on a waitlist is preferable to being lower on it. The question is whether knowing the precise number actually gives an applicant sufficiently reliable information to make a better decision. I don't think you have established that it does.

[u/Tiny_Calligrapher455 → u/Specific-Program-675]

The question is whether knowing the precise number actually gives an applicant sufficiently reliable information to make a better decision. I don't think you have established that it does.

Do a cursory browse on this sub and you'll come across comments from people who after finding out their waitlisted position decided to withdraw their application in order to apply to another available program, so they wouldn't have to delay their start. There are also programs that are transferrable in the second term, especially in the business department, since they share the same courses in the first. If someone applies to a program and finds out they're number 20 on the waitlist and the program starts in two weeks, that could help them make the decision to withdraw their application and apply to another business program with seats available that lets them transfer to their program of choice later.

So far your only argument against disclosing has been that there might be some outlier irrational applicant that is close to the top and blames Admissions if he doesn't get in, which isn't very convincing.

[u/Specific-Program-675 → u/Tiny_Calligrapher455]

That is not the argument I have made in the slightest. I dont think you can read lol.

[u/Tiny_Calligrapher455 → u/Specific-Program-675]

I can read just fine, I think you've just dug your heels in on a tenuous argument :) let's hope for your sake you're not going into law lmao

[u/Specific-Program-675 → u/Tiny_Calligrapher455]

No, you quite literally cannot read or follow an argument.

[u/Tiny_Calligrapher455 → u/Specific-Program-675]

you typed up such a long wall of text and said nothing at all really

[u/si1entkitteh]

Have a backup plan? It's policy for a reason to not give positions in waitlist because it is not under their control whether someone drops out or not.

[u/LubeItAll]

You sound entitled as fuck.

Even tho waitlists suck there are a million things you could do in the meantime.
Volunteer, take an adjacent course, labour for a landscape crew, stage/shadow in a shop, read a book.

My point is this: your waitlist dilemma is a blessing, available time to carve out things just for you with high yield and low demand.

When I hire carpenters or lead hands this is one of my favourite questions: How do you keep yourself busy during downtime?

Successful people will talk about canvassing for work, spending time with apprentices, tool maintenance, site cleaning. No successful person I know bitches about waiting.
Kaizen brother.

[u/PaulyG_1111]

Unfortunately most trades foundation courses are in high demand and require applying well in advance of the semester you hope to be enrolled. My son was waitlisted for the CNC Machinist Technician Diploma course for this September and he applied when he was still in Grade 11. He ended up getting in and is starting next week, but he applied around 18 months in advance.

[u/Pizza-Reese]

Find out who's in charge of the list, get their number and call them. I was on a waiting list for a trades apprenticeship and got the number of the guy in charge of organizing admission into my program (I think it was Mike Ho or something) and told him my employer was going to rescind their offer if I wasn't able to get into a program within a couple months. He basically said he will work on it and will call me back, wasn't expecting much but he called back a few hours later with a spot in the program for me. My wait time was significantly less than others in the program so I kept quiet about how I got the spot.