Born2c - to look at the opposite side of your comment, i think the fact that i was waitlisted means that i had a good audition AND good academics.
i talked to tisch admissions and they explained their waitlist system to me. in order to be waitlisted, you have to actually be preliminarily accepted into the studio you want to be in. they originally "accept" (as in decide they want, but don't actually send letters out to) as many people as they want. they then go through this list of people who are qualified and decide who fills out their demographics correctly, and these are the people they send the acceptance letters out to.
so even to be waitlisted is a pretty good thing -- that's coming straight from Tisch admissions.
"grace, you're stuffed in a box getting rid of ass plaque. let's face it, this evening is a bust."