Waitlist Explained
Level 3 - Advanced Concepts
Welcome! Around this time of year, admissions decisions are sent to families. Most assume that they will receive either acceptance or rejection letters, but for some families, they will receive a third category:
The waitlist.
This article is designed to answer the most common questions families have:
What is the waitlist
How does one get off of the waitlist/what are the chances you get off the waitlist
What is the waitlist?
The waitlist is a list of students who are in a form of admissions limbo: not outright accepted, but not rejected.
Waitlist means that your academic profile was strong enough to merit acceptance, but not strong enough relative to the admitted class. View it as provisional acceptance - provided there the first batch of accepted students does not fill the class, the college or university will pull from the waitlist to fill the remaining slots in the class.
Not every university treats the waitlist the same way. Some treat the waitlist like a pool with no hierarchy. Some will have a clear hierarchy and call students from the waitlist by offering admissions spots based on preference. Some will have a preference based upon the overall make up of their incoming class. Those preferences will differ from college to college.
Remember, the waitlist is not automatic. You have to choose to accept an offer on the waitlist. If you choose not to be on the waitlist, that is a permanent decision. No one will call you, even if the slot opens up.
How does one get off of the waitlist?
First, a few statistics.
Overall, about 20% of students get off of the waitlist. But that varies significantly based upon the institution. Highly selective institutions have a less than 10% rate of being called off the waitlist. So understand this will vary significantly by the college or university.
Secondly, the process of being accepted off the waitlist is university dependent. If the process is based on a hierarchy, the only thing you can do is try to provide additional details that would somehow move you up the list.
One of the things to consider asking is whether the college or university accepts letters of continued interest. We wrote about these letters previously:
These letters can be helpful for helping you stand out against other competitors seeking the final few slots at a college.
But not every other college does accept these. In those situations, do not write one.
If you cannot write a letter, then the only thing you can really do is to stay patient and make sure you have a great back up school in place.
Understand, the waitlist process can go for a while. There is no magic moment when the waitlist ends. You could get a notification from May 1st until a few weeks before the fall semester.
What are your chances of getting off the waitlist?
Beyond the above mentioned 20% overall number, it varies from college to college. Some colleges will post their statistics, but understand even that number varies from year to year.
Some colleges will have a lot of people come off of the waitlist, while some will have none in a given year. There is no mathematical way to ensure someone will get in.
Have questions about the waitlist? Feel free to ask us!