Your Student is on a College Waitlist…Now What?

Last Updated on February 27, 2024 by Jill Schwitzgebel

According to the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, colleges are using waitlists more than ever before.  Between the Fall of 2017 and fall of 2018, the number of students put on a college waitlist increased by 18%.  And 43% of institutions reported using a waitlist.

Let’s talk about exactly what that means and how your student should handle it, if they’re included in that statistic.

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What IS a Waitlist?

A college waitlist is exactly what it sounds like – it’s a waiting list.  It means that the college didn’t accept the student for admission outright.  It means that the student is on hold or in limbo.  Students often feel like it’s a rejection, but it’s not!  It usually means that the student actually did meet the college’s admission requirements, however the college just did not have enough available seats for them in the incoming class.

Sometimes, though they will not say this, colleges will also waitlist a student when the applicant’s qualifications appear to be well above their typical accepted students’ qualifications.  The college may not be sure that the student is truly interested in the college and so they believe the student will actually go elsewhere, if accepted.  In that case, the waitlist is to protect the college from a rejection!  Rarely, the waitlist is used as a courtesy – if the applicant’s parents happened to be alumni of the college, sometimes colleges will offer applicants a spot on the waitlist to avoid offending them.

If fewer accepted students than anticipated accept their offers of admission, that’s when the college will move to offer admission to students on their waitlist.  They will offer students from the waitlist a place in their incoming class sometime after May 1st, which is the deadline for accepted applicants to accept their offers of admission.

A Deferral is Different Than Being Placed on a Waitlist

Sometimes, students confuse a deferral with being put on a waitlist.  However, a deferral puts them in a different category.  Deferrals are usually used during the early admissions process.  It means that the college is not rejecting the student in that early admission decision round, but they are  delaying an admissions decision until they receive their regular admission applications.  At that point, they will reconsider the student’s application in the regular admission round.  Students will then receive their admissions decision with the regular decision applicants.  If the student applied early decision, and is deferred, they are no longer obligated to attend that school, if accepted during the regular decision round.

Occasionally, students will receive a deferral during the regular or rolling admissions process.  That usually is because the school would like more information prior to making a decision – generally they want to see either updated grades or a college entrance exam score.

What Are the Odds of Getting OFF of the Waitlist?

This varies quite a bit.  In general, the odds are not in a student’s favor.  At the most selective schools, fewer than 5% of the students on the waitlist are offered spots.  For instance, you can see on the College Board website that Amherst College, (acceptance rate – 13%)  had 836 students accept spots on their waitlist in 2018, but they did not end up offering seats to any of them.  At Rollins College (acceptance rate – 67%), 75 students accepted spots on the waitlist, and the college went on to accept 16 students from their waitlist.  Still, the odds are not great.

Recently, the trend has been for students to apply to more and more colleges.  This has made it much more difficult for colleges to predict their yield rate.  In turn, this has increased the number of colleges using a waitlist.  It’s their hedge against having too many open seats in next year’s freshman class.

The tricky part is that students have no way of knowing how many other applicants were placed on the waitlist, and also don’t know where they fall on the waitlist.  Beyond that, the number of students receiving offers from the waitlist varies greatly from year to year.  Just because a college didn’t take any students from their waitlist last year, does not mean they won’t take any from the list this year – and vice versa.  Sometimes, colleges will rank the students on the waitlist.  But, other times, they want to fill in gaps in the incoming class, so they are looking for students with specific majors or interests from the list.  And sometimes, they will even rank students by whether they believe the student is likely to attend if taken off of the waitlist.

Steps Waitlisted Students Need to Take

•  Decide whether they wish to accept the place on the waitlist.   Know that accepting a spot on the waitlist does not obligate the student to attend if they end up being offered admission.  Consider whether the student would be comfortable with making a last minute change of schools if they get offered a place over the summer.  And, when making the decision, consider that it’s possible that there will be fewer housing options and possibly less financial aid available if they do get offered a spot.

If the student chooses to accept a place on the waitlist:

1.  Officially accept the place on the waitlist by the deadline.
2. The student should still prepare to attend another college.  Send in an enrollment deposit to the next favorite choice by the May 1st deadline.  BUT, know that they will likely forfeit that deposit if a spot opens up from the waitlist, and they choose to attend that option instead.
3. Contact the admissions department and find out how their waitlist works.  Is it ranked?  If so, will they tell you how?  It doesn’t hurt to ask.  Ask them when you will be notified if you have been accepted (or denied) from the waitlist.  Note: this is for students to do, NOT the parents!
4. Students can write an email to their admissions counselor, emphasizing their continued interest, and include any important new information that the college did not have at the time of application.  This is not the time to send in three more letters of recommendation from other people.  Remember, by placing the student on the waitlist, the college already feels that they meet the standard for admission.  So, it’s just about letting the school know that the student remains interested.
5. Keep the grades up.

Finally

Remember, being placed on the waitlist is not the same as being rejected.  But, it’s frustrating to be placed in that kind of holding pattern and it’s okay to turn down a place on the waitlist.  If the student chooses to accept the place on the list, it’s often anxiety-provoking while they wait to hear.  Sometimes, during that time, the student decides that they are equally happy with their alternate choice.  It’s okay to tell the college that you no longer wish to be on the waitlist or to turn down their offer.