• D3Playbook
  • Posts
  • The Nation’s Most Selective Colleges Might Have Just Snatched Away Your Students

The Nation’s Most Selective Colleges Might Have Just Snatched Away Your Students

Went to their wait list for the first time in years

Author

Steve Ulrich
August 29, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

AUGUST 29, 2025 | composed by STEVE ULRICH
No publication covers NCAA Division III better. #whyD3

🧨  Today’s The Day. The fall season is underway

🗞️ In Today’s Edition. Nation’s Most Selective Colleges Might Have Just Snatched Away Your Students. CCIW Launched CCIW Network. Cross Country Preview. Hail Adrian! The Best Fight Song in DIII. Lightning Round. Photo Finish.

😃 Find Us on Facebook. Join our D3 community

📖 Subscribe Today. Our free coverage ends Monday. Our paid subscribers will continue to get D3Playbook delivered every weekday, while our free subscribers will receive access to one edition per week.

TOP STORY

1. The Nation’s Most Selective Colleges Might Have Just Snatched Away Your Students

Williams College

by Sonel Cutler, Chronicle of Higher Education

“Plagued by severe budget cuts and a precipitous drop in international-student enrollment, several highly selective colleges, including Duke, Harvard, Rice, and Stanford Universities, have admitted dozens of students on their wait lists just weeks before the start of the fall semester.

Many of those students had already paid tuition, attended orientation, connected with roommates, or received their class schedules at other institutions. Universities typically close their wait lists before the summer begins.”

» History. “Wait lists emerged as demand for college degrees skyrocketed after the passing of the 1944 G.I. Bill. College administrators had to find a way to manage class sizes and yield so as to not enroll more students than they could accommodate. For college applicants, as admissions have become more and more competitive, wait lists have become a sort of purgatory, stringing along applicants’ hopes of admission.”

» What Changed? “Now, some colleges, undergoing severe budget cuts, are offering incentives for prospective students to make the last-minute switch late into the summer months. Coming in under a target class size means that, over the course of four years, a college could be looking at losing millions of dollars.”

» What They’re Saying. “It just shows that the wait list at these highly selective places is an incredibly powerful lever that they can pull,” said Jeff Selingo, who is a former editor for The Chronicle. “... You have to have such a brand that you’re able to pull people who not only moved on from you, but are integrated into another university.”

2. CCIW Partners With Hudl to Launch CCIW Network

“The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) is proud to announce the CCIW Network, a new streaming platform launched with Hudl that will serve as the official streaming home for all nine core conference institutions.

Live broadcasts on the network will be free of charge for viewers and will not require a subscription. The CCIW Network is currently available at cciwnetwork.com for both desktop and mobile devices and will debut this Friday, Aug. 29. The launch of the CCIW Network represents another step in the conference’s mission to elevate the student-athlete experience and broaden fan engagement.”

» What They’re Saying. “We are thrilled to bring the CCIW Network to life with Hudl,” CCIW Executive Director Maureen Harty said. “For the first time, fans, families and alumni will be able to find broadcasts from across our nine core institutions in one place. This partnership makes following CCIW athletics easier than ever and we are excited to showcase our student-athletes and coaches on a unified platform.”

3. Cross Country Preview

Get ready for the 2025 season with the D3Playbook season preview.

» 2025 Preseason USTFCCCA Top 10 Ranking (M). 1-UW-La Crosse, 2-Wartburg, 3-Geneseo, 4-Johns Hopkins, 5-Pomona-Pitzer, T6-North Central (Ill.), T6-St. Olaf, 8-RPI, 9-Williams, 10-UW-Whitewater | Complete Poll

» 2025 Preseason USTFCCCA Top 10 Ranking (W). 1-MIT, 2-Williams, 3-Chicago, 4-New York U., 5-Johns Hopkins, 6-Claremont-M-S, 7-Washington U., 8-Amherst, 9-Carnegie Mellon, 10-UW-La Crosse | Complete Poll

» Top 10 Returning All-Americans (M). Mohammed Bati (Augsburg), Grant Matthai (UWL), Nathan Tassey (Roger Williams), Aidan Matthai (UWL), Emmanuel Leblond (Johns Hopkins), Isaiah Hammerand (Wartburg), Quinn White (Pomona-Pitzer), Jacob Green (Wartburg), Joey Sullivan (UWL), Ian Petruska (Hope).

» Top 10 Returning All-Americans (W). Haley Schoenegge (Vassar), Jules Bleskoski (RPI), Audrey MacLean (Middlebury), Hannah Preisser (Carleton), Kate Tuttle (Williams), Olivia Warr (Washington and Lee), Janie Cooper (NYU), Keira Rogan (Hamilton), Kate Sanderson (MIT), Riley Capuano (Claremont-M-S)

excludes 2024 seniors and grads

4. Hail Adrian!

It’s a three-peat for Adrian as the “Best Fight Song” in DIII. The Bulldogs downed Central (64%-36%) in the D3Playbook’s bi-annual competition to keep the title in southern Michigan.

Thanks to everyone for participating!

5. Lightning Round ⚡️ 

» Baseball/Softball. The University of Wisconsin-Superior and Yellowjacket Athletics is unveiling plans for a new, state-of-the-art baseball and softball complex that will serve as the on-campus home for Yellowjacket baseball and softball.

» Tennis. The Intercollegiate Tennis Association and PlayReplay, Inc. announced a three-year partnership to bring electronic line calling to all divisions of college tennis.

6. Comings and Goings 

7. Photo Finish

A one-in-a-million shot of Jasmine Paolini in action at the U.S. Open. (Ray Giubilo)

“I know Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce got engaged or whatever, but this might be the most perfectly-timed sports photograph ever taken and deserves our full attention. I may have just found my Halloween costume.”

📬 Thanks for starting your weekend with us.
Please invite your colleagues to sign up for D3Playbook

Copyright © 2025, D3Playbook.com All rights reserved

Reply

or to participate.