According to a 2019 survey from the National Association of College Admissions Counseling (NACAC), 43 percent of four-year colleges reported using a waitlist in 2018. Of all the students who accepted a position on the waitlist at these colleges, 20 percent were admitted.
Inform the school where you submitted a deposit.Accept a Spot on the Waitlist.Express Interest Again in the School.Submit a Deposit to Another University.Manage Expectations in the Admissions Process.Continue to Focus on High School Academics.Be Ready to Make a Decision if Admitted.More items...
If your college application is waitlisted, it's basically the same as receiving a "maybe" from that school. If your application is deferred, you will not receive an early admission decision. If waitlisted, agree to enroll in a backup school, but consider writing a letter of continued interest.
Waitlists and deferrals are two different things, but they share some similarities. While neither is an outright rejection, they both mean you will have to wait longer to see if you will be admitted. Being deferred can mean a wide variety of things.
Overqualified students (quantified primarily by GPA and SAT/ACT) are routinely being waitlisted or denied at “no problem” colleges because the admissions committee feels doubtful these students are likely to enroll if accepted.
While most colleges that have waitlists often don't rank their students, taking students off these waitlists is by no means a random process. In selecting the next class, highly selective colleges look to form well-rounded classes of talented students.
Here's what you can do to boost your chances of being accepted.Get a sense of your chances of admission. ... Write a letter to the admission office. ... Study hard. ... Stay involved. ... Request another (or a first) interview. ... Realize that you've already achieved something. ... Reconsider the colleges that accepted you.
Being waitlisted is better than being rejected because you still have some chance of getting into the school. According to the NACAC survey, the average acceptance rate across all institutions for those who choose to stay on the waitlist is 20% and 7% for selective institutions.
So if you're ranked highly, you're more likely to be accepted off the waitlist. Nevertheless, most colleges don't rank waitlist applicants and instead make their admissions decisions based on other factors such as what majors they want to have represented and which applicants will be most likely to attend if admitted.
Most of the time, it means you have the academic credentials to be admitted, but for one reason or another, the admissions office wasn't ready to accept you. If you've been waitlisted, don't panic. A good plan of action is to make sure you have a solid list of safety schools to apply to just in case.
Just like in the regular admissions process, colleges need to evaluate their yield, institutional needs, legacy status, and other factors before deciding which students, if any, to admit from the waitlist. Waitlists aren't ranked – meaning there's not a number one student who will definitely get in if there's room.
For a waitlist letter, express that you'd definitely attend if you get in off the waitlist. For an appeal letter, you'll need to politely ask the admissions committee to re-evaluate your application.