Let's get to the details...
We have some room in each school and program that takes first year students and we are able to make offers to both Virginia residents and out-of-state students (that includes international students). The one trend that has continued is that there is more room in the College of Arts and Sciences than in the specialty schools and programs.
When we decide to make an offer to a student on the waiting list, we give them a call so they have a heads up that their SIS status is about to change. Once their status updates, they have 48 hours to make a deposit. If they applied for financial aid, the 48 hours starts once the folks at Student Financial Services email them a package. We're sort of on hold while we wait for that student to deposit.
Of course, we don't just make one offer at a time. We could have multiple offers extended at once and be waiting to hear back from several students. This is why the process takes a while. We typically have everything squared away by the middle of June. We obviously aim to be quick and efficient, so if we can be done earlier, we'll "release" the waiting list (that's our word for closing things out).
As always, if you decide that you don't want to be on the waiting list anymore, you can log into SIS and hit the "decline" button at anytime. This is why the buttons remain after you accept your spot on the waiting list.
Waiting.