Who actually clears a top college's waitlist?

Waitlists function as a standby pool of applicants for colleges to draw on when they fail to meet target enrollment numbers from the pool of applicants accepted from a combination of Early Decision, Early Action and Regular Decision rounds. Colleges draw applicants off the waitlist as a way to maintain a consistent class size for their incoming freshman class.

The chances of clearing a waitlist at any one college are unpredictable at best and the data from the highly selective colleges bears out this volatility.

2021 Waitlist Admit Rates

The admit rate from waitlists fell dramatically across the 61 highly selective colleges for the freshman class of 2021, compared to 2020, 2019 and 2018, based on the data we compiled data from the Common Data Sets. The average waitlist admit rate for the highly selective colleges decreased from 16% in 2020 to a paltry 3% in 2021.

Of the 38 highly selective colleges in 2021 which disclosed waitlist data, 10 of them admitted no students from their waitlists and 2 admitted one student each off their waitlists.

The 10 colleges who admitted no applicants from their waitlists in 2021 include Amherst College, California Institute of Technology, Colorado College, Dartmouth College, Hamilton College, Harvey Mudd College, Pitzer College, Tufts University, Tulane University and Wellesley College despite offering a total of 20,057 waitlist spots to applicants. Boston University admitted one applicant off their waitlist despite offering 14,991 waitlist spots to applicants for admission in Fall 2021. Williams College offered out 2,371 waitlist spots but admitted only one applicant off their waitlist.

Tulane University stands out in never having admitted an applicant off their waitlist from 2018 to 2021 despite offering between 5,000 and 12,000 waitlist spots each year.

University of Southern California is unique among the highly selective colleges in not offering waitlist spots to applicants at all.

Of the remaining 25 highly selective colleges with disclosed waitlist data in 2021, 12 of them admitted less than 1% of applicants from their waitlists, another 5 colleges admitted between 1% and 3% of applicants from their waitlists, 4 colleges admitted between 3% and 6% of applicants from their waitlists and the remaining 4 colleges admitted between 9% and 15% of applicants off their waitlists.

University of California Berkeley and University of California Los Angeles, both of which admitted substantial numbers of applicants from their waitlists in 2019 and 2020, saw their waitlist admit rates drop to 5.2% and 2.2% in 2021, a stunning reversal from their historical trend.

The colleges that stand out as going against trend are Princeton University and Vassar College.

Princeton increased their waitlist admit rate from 0.1% in 2019 to 4.3% in 2020 and tripled its waitlist admit rate to 15% in 2021 with an intake of 150 waitlisted applicants.

Vassar College more than doubled its waitlist admit rate from 5.1% in 2019 to 13.9% in 2020 and increased its waitlist admit rate again to 15.1% in 2021 by admitting 96 applicants from its waitlist, going against the trend set by the other highly selective colleges.

It is notable that 12 of the 61 highly selective colleges have followed consistent policies of non-disclosure in not sharing any waitlist data despite offering waitlists spots to applicants between 2018 and 2021. These 12 colleges include Boston College, Bowdoin College, Colby College, Columbia University, Davidson College, Grinnell College, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Northeastern University, New York University, University of Chicago and Wake Forest University. The reasons given for non-disclosure have focused on the unpredictability and volatility of the waitlist admit numbers.

Table 1 - Percentage of students admitted from those who accepted a position on the waitlist from 2018 to 2021.

Data compiled exclusively from the Common Data Sets. ND means that while the college maintained waitlists, it did not disclose or has not yet disclosed all relevant data for calculating percentages.

Percentage of Students Admitted from Waitlists at Highly Selective Colleges
College2021202020192018
Amherst College 0.00%0.60%6.30%0.00%
Babson CollegeNDNDNDND
Barnard College 5.46%NDNDND
Bates College0.16%0.60%6.50%0.00%
Boston CollegeNDNDNDND
Boston University 0.01%12.10%11.30%0.03%
Bowdoin College NDNDNDND
Brown University NDNDNDND
California Institute of Technology (Early Action)0.00%4.30%1.30%1.17%
Carleton College 1.90%12.60%0.00%6.12%
Carnegie Mellon University0.66%8.30%3.90%4.72%
Claremont McKenna College 1.53%15.40%13.10%3.84%
Colby College NDNDNDND
Colgate UniversityND9.60%12.00%0.00%
Colorado College0%10.30%8.40%24.59%
Columbia University NDNDNDND
Cornell University0.41%4.00%4.40%3.61%
Dartmouth College 0.00%4.90%0.00%0.00%
Davidson College NDNDNDND
Duke UniversityNDNDNDND
Emory University 0.54%16.50%4.50%0.00%
Georgetown University (Early Action)ND15.90%5.60%0.91%
Georgia Institute of Technology (Early Action)5.61%20.10%24.10%3.18%
Grinnell CollegeNDNDNDND
Hamilton College 0.00%1.60%2.00%3.69%
Harvard University (Restrictive Early Action)NDNDNDND
Harvey Mudd College 0.00%12.00%2.60%0.00%
Haverford College 0.63%2.80%1.60%1.79%
John Hopkins University NDNDNDND
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (EA)-0.00%5.10%0.00%
Middlebury College 0.12%19.50%19.00%2.63%
Northeastern UniversityNDNDNDND
Northwestern University NDND3.70%1.29%
New York UniversityNDNDNDND
Pitzer College 0.00%20.30%12.40%1.71%
Pomona College4.74%29.70%8.30%12.71%
Princeton University (Restrictive Early Action)15.00%4.30%0.10%0.00%
Rice University 0.09%7.60%0.10%1.45%
Stanford University (Restrictive Early Action)11.40%36.60%1.40%4.41%
Swathmore College NDNDNDND
Tufts University 0.00%21.80%16.00%1.11%
Tulane University0.00%0.00%0.00%0.06%
University of California Berkeley5.22%32.70%27.60%37.22%
University of California Los Angeles2.16%19.20%NDND
University of Michigan 0.52%12.70%1.80%6.92%
University of Chicago (ED and EA)NDNDNDND
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (EA)9.86%16.60%4.20%0.96%
University of Notre Dame (Restrictive EA)ND42.30%10.50%2.19%
University of Pennsylvania ND16.60%4.90%0.35%
University of Southern California ---ND
University of Virginia1.75%4.40%0.30%0.36%
Vanderbilt University NDNDNDND
Vassar College 15.14%13.90%5.10%8.48%
Villanova University2.70%11.30%4.00%1.65%
Wake Forest UniversityNDNDNDND
Washington and Lee University0.96%ND3.60%0.25%
Washington University in St. LouisND33.90%9.60%ND
Wellesley College 0.00%5.60%8.10%2.89%
Wesleyan University0.50%9.70%8.70%0.00%
Williams College0.11%8.60%3.80%11.64%
Yale University (Restrictive Early Action)0.54%NDNDND

Waitlist admit rates vary widely by college and are volatile

Table 2 below shows that the waitlist offers and waitlist admit rates for each of the colleges fluctuate quite widely from year to year.

For example, Emory University did not admit anyone from the waitlist in 2018, and it admitted 4.5% of applicants (168 admitted) from the waitlist in 2019, 16% of applicants (477 admitted) from the waitlist in 2020 and 0.54% of applicants (21 admitted) from the waitlist in 2021 demonstrating a dizzying fluctuation in the number of applicants it draws from the waitlist. These fluctuations at Emory University took place while the college steadily increasing the number of waitlist spots offered to applicants each year from 4,679 spots in 2019 to 5,215 spots in 2020 and 6,539 spots in 2021.

Based on the waitlist positions offered to applicants, it is clear that the highly selective colleges act to protect their freshman class sizes by offering huge numbers of waitlist spots to applicants, far more positions than they could ever realistically admit no matter what.

Table 3 shows you the average waitlist admit rates for 2021, 2020, 2019 and 2018 respectively at 3%, 16%, 8.8% and 5.5% which means the chances of clearing a waitlist have never been great and these chances are unlikely to improve going forward.

A handful of universities in 2020 offered admission to an unusually large numbers of waitlisted applicants, most likely due to pandemic related shortfalls resulting from students choosing to defer their admission by a year. These universities included the University of Notre Dame which offered admission to 42.3% of waitlisted applicants, Stanford University which offered admission to 36.6% of waitlisted applicants, Washington University in St Louis which offered admission to 33.9% of waitlisted applicants, University of California Berkeley which offered admission to 32.7% of waitlisted applicants and Pomona College which offered admission to 29.7% of waitlisted applicants.

Table 2 - Waitlists at Highly Selective Colleges in 2021, 2020 and 2019

Data compiled exclusively from the Common Data Sets. ND means that while the college maintained waitlists, it did not disclose or has not yet disclosed all relevant data for calculating percentages.

202120202019
CollegeOfferedAcceptedAdmitted% AdmittedOfferedAcceptedAdmitted% AdmittedOfferedAcceptedAdmitted% Admitted
Amherst College 1,285 788 - 0% 1,640 1,081 7 0.6% 1,447 762 48 6.3%
Babson College ND ND ND - ND ND ND - ND ND ND -
Barnard College 2,612 1,904 104 5.5% 2,096 ND 258 - 1,545 ND 46 -
Bates College 2,473 1,245 2 0.2% 1,995 676 4 0.6% 1,605 643 42 6.5%
Boston College ND ND ND - ND ND ND - ND ND ND -
Boston University 14,991 8,944 1 0.01% 8,791 5,592 674 12.1% 5,235 2,987 339 11.3%
Bowdoin College ND ND ND - ND ND ND - ND ND ND -
Brown University ND ND 28 - ND ND 194 - ND ND 127 -
California Institute of Technology (Early Action) 268 213 - 0.0% 312 235 10 4.3% 501 394 5 1.3%
Carleton College 1,367 580 11 1.9% 1,325 603 76 12.6% 1,522 664 - 0.0%
Carnegie Mellon University 8,792 5,319 35 0.7% 6,819 3,461 288 8.3% 5,761 3,579 140 3.9%
Claremont McKenna College 897 589 9 1.5% 776 486 75 15.4% 578 328 43 13.1%
Colby College ND ND ND - ND ND ND - ND ND ND -
Colgate University ND ND ND - 1,630 1,009 97 9.6% 1,800 841 101 12.0%
Colorado College 739 174 - 0.0% 700 224 23 10.3% 1,052 275 23 8.4%
Columbia University ND ND ND - ND ND ND - ND ND ND -
Cornell University 7,746 5,800 24 0.4% 6,750 4,791 190 4.0% 4,948 3,362 147 4.4%
Dartmouth College 2,669 2,120 - 0.0% 2,661 1,945 95 4.9% 2,151 1,381 - 0.0%
Davidson College ND ND ND - ND ND ND - ND ND ND -
Duke University - - 381 - ND ND 381 - ND ND 334 -
Emory University 6,539 3,883 21 0.5% 5,215 2,898 477 16.5% 4,679 3,731 168 4.5%
Georgetown University (Early Action) ND ND ND - 2,215 1,733 275 15.9% 2,420 1,541 86 5.6%
Georgia Institute of Technology (Early Action) 6,613 4,916 276 5.6% 6,214 4,235 853 20.1% 3,800 2,623 632 24.1%
Grinnell College ND ND ND - ND ND ND - ND ND ND -
Hamilton College 2,964 1,782 - 0.0% 1,875 1,060 17 1.6% 1,934 1,062 21 2.0%
Harvard University (Restrictive Early Action) ND ND ND - ND ND ND - ND ND ND -
Harvey Mudd College 648 433 - 0.0% 630 457 55 12.0% 500 341 9 2.6%
Haverford College 1,593 955 6 0.6% 1,331 741 21 2.8% 1,546 924 15 1.6%
John Hopkins University ND ND ND - ND ND ND - ND ND ND -
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (EA) ND ND ND - 617 559 - 0.0% 460 331 17 5.1%
Middlebury College 1,742 1,716 2 0.1% 1,338 534 104 19.5% 1,576 584 111 19.0%
Northeastern University ND ND ND - ND ND ND - ND ND ND -
Northwestern University ND ND 69 - ND ND 108 - 3,067 1,482 55 3.7%
New York University ND ND ND - ND ND ND - ND ND ND -
Pitzer College 814 357 - 0.0% 500 148 30 20.3% 583 186 23 12.4%
Pomona College 840 570 27 4.7% 862 505 150 29.7% 839 566 47 8.3%
Princeton University (Restrictive Early Action) 1,265 1,000 150 15.0% 820 598 26 4.3% 902 668 1 0.15%
Rice University 3,016 2,118 2 0.1% 3,151 2,045 156 7.6% 2,788 1,869 1 0.05%
Stanford University (Restrictive Early Action) 652 535 61 11.4% 850 707 259 36.6% 750 580 8 1.4%
Swathmore College ND ND 00.0% ND ND 33 - ND ND 27 -
Tufts University 2,579 1,264 00.0% 2,136 1,017 222 21.8% 1,441 524 84 16.0%
Tulane University 5,072 1,871 00.0% 12,813 4,486 - 0.0% 5,412 1,371 - 0.0%
University of California Berkeley 11,725 6,871 359 5.2% 8,753 5,043 1,651 32.7% 7,531 3,975 1,098 27.6%
University of California Los Angeles 15,242 9,897 214 2.2% 14,470 9,254 1,779 19.2% ND ND ND -
University of Michigan 17,805 13,063 68 0.5% 20,723 9,856 1,248 12.7% 12,527 4,922 89 1.8%
University of Chicago (ED and EA) ND ND ND - ND ND ND - ND ND ND -
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (EA) 8,957 6,564 647 9.9% 6,620 3,887 647 16.6% 5,572 3,717 156 4.2%
University of Notre Dame (Restrictive EA) ND ND ND - 1,778 1,253 530 42.3% 1,600 1,028 108 10.5%
University of Pennsylvania ND ND ND - 3,205 2,350 391 16.6% 2,932 2,051 101 4.9%
University of Southern California - - - - - - - - - - - -
University of Virginia 8,690 4,924 86 1.7% 6,465 3,780 165 4.4% 5,486 2,969 8 0.3%
Vanderbilt University ND ND 181 - ND ND 479 - ND ND 453 -
Vassar College 1,526 634 96 15.1% 867 431 60 13.9% 1,139 570 29 5.1%
Villanova University 4,337 2,073 56 2.7% 6,180 3,042 344 11.3% 5,563 2,586 104 4.0%
Wake Forest University ND ND ND - ND ND ND - ND ND ND -
Washington and Lee University 2,207 1,150 11 1.0% - - - - 1,805 856 31 3.6%
Washington University in St. Louis ND ND ND - ND 2,696 915 33.9% ND 1,968 189 9.6%
Wellesley College 3,019 1,291 - 0.0% 2,252 926 52 5.6% 2,061 1,221 99 8.1%
Wesleyan University 3,585 2,031 10 0.5% 2,302 1,370 133 9.7% 1,945 1,076 94 8.7%
Williams College 2,371 929 1 0.1% 1,944 846 73 8.6% 1,857 651 25 3.8%
Yale University (Restrictive Early Action) 1,030 744 4 0.5% ND ND ND - ND ND ND -
158,670 99,247 2,942 2.96% 151,621 86,560 13,625 15.74% 110,860 61,189 5,284 8.64%

Colleges increased their waitlists even as waitlist admits decreased

Based on data disclosed by the highly selective colleges in the Common Data Sets, colleges decreased the total waitlists spots offered by about 8% between 2018 and 2019, but from 2019 onwards, they collectively increased the total number of waitlists spots offered to applicants. Between 2019 and 2020, they increased the number of waitlist spots offered by 39% and between 2020 and 2021, they increased total waitlist spots offered by an additional 5%.

The waitlist admit rate almost doubled from 8.8% in 2019 to 16% in 2020 due to pandemic circumstances where large numbers of students opted to defer matriculation by a year and had to be replaced with applicants from the waitlist.

However, in 2021, the average waitlist admit rate fell dramatically to a low of 3% from 16% the prior year despite a record setting number of waitlists spots offered to applicants.

A total of 2,876 applicants were admitted off the waitlists in 2021 compared to 13,125 applicants who were admitted off the waitlist in 2020, a drop off of 78% in absolute numbers of admits.

Table 3 - Aggregate waitlist totals from the 61 highly selective colleges

Data is compiled and calculated from the Common Data Sets

Total Size of Waitlists at Highly Selective Colleges
2021202020192018
Total Waitlist spots offered158,670151,621110,860 119,902
Waitlist spots accepted by students99,24786,56061,189 62,892
Students admitted from Waitlists2,94213,6255,284 3,365
CHANGES IN WAITLISTS
% increase in Waitlists5%37%-8%-
% students accepting Waitlist spot63%57%55%52%
Admission as % of Spots Offered1.85%8.99%4.77%2.81%
Admission as % of Spots Accepted2.96%15.74%8.64%5.35%
% change in Waitlist Admits-78%158%57%-

Will writing heartfelt letters help get me off a waitlist?

Getting admitted from a waitlist is an event that neither the applicant nor the college appear to have much control over. Whether anyone gets admitted off a waitlist depends on whether the college hits its target enrolment numbers by the acceptance deadline for those admitted through Early Action and Regular Decision.

Given the overall volatility of admissions through waitlists, our view is that applicants should set their sights elsewhere for admission should they be placed on a waitlist. While they can accept a spot on the waitlist if offered, applicants need to understand that the chances of getting admitted are a long shot, at best.

The colleges do not disclose how they select applicants off a waitlist for admission, however none of the highly selective colleges rank the waitlisted applicants. Theoretically, this means everyone on the waitlist has an equal albeit tiny chance in the event that the college needs to draw on the waitlist to fill its incoming freshman class.

In 2021, 10 of the highly selective colleges met their yield targets and ended up admitting no one from their waitlists, while the rest of the highly selective colleges, with only 2 exceptions (Princeton and Vassar), offered very low chances of getting admitted off a waitlist.

Waitlisted applicants in 2021 had slim chances of getting admitted even with heartfelt letters.

That said, an applicant determined to give one last shot at admission to the dream college that waitlisted them, should write that heartfelt letter to stand out and enhance their chances of getting admitted off the waitlist should the opportunity arise.


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Donna Meyer

Donna is the founder of X Factor Admissions and the popular blog Fencing Parents , the single most important reference source for college bound fencers interested in athlete recruitment. In preparation of her sons’ applications to college, she spent years learning the intricacies of college admissions, consulted with a variety of admissions experts, and talked to admissions officers, NCAA coaches and many parents. She is a firm believer in data, and she uses it extensively to gain insight into the college admissions process. She sees that there is method in the madness.

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