As college acceptances have gone out, students are choosing where they want to attend next year, sending in their deposits, beginning to plan their courses, looking into housing, and reaching out to potential future roommates. Other students, however, are still looking for the letter from the school that put them on the waitlist, the first choice they are still pining for.
But how long should you wait, and when can you expect to hear back if you have been put on the waitlist? We’re going to look into this today, to both determine when you can expect to hear back from schools that have waitlisted you, and what you should do while you wait. Let’s get started!
When will you hear about being admitted off the waitlist?
This depends on the school that has waitlisted you. Traditionally, colleges do not begin admitting students off of the waitlist until all of their other applications have been processed; thus only once all of the students admitted regular decision have either confirmed or rejected their space, or the deadline for them to do so has passed, do they turn to the waitlist.
This makes sense; a college can’t start admitting students off the waitlist until they know how many seats they need to fill. Colleges admit slightly more students then they have seats available; this is because not all students admitted will attend. After all, if a student is admitted to Columbia and Harvard and Stanford, they can only attend one of those, regardless of how great each of those schools are.
Just how many students admitted choose to attend varies year by year and college by college; while universities try very hard to predict this, they are subject to random chance here far more than elsewhere. Thus the number of students a school admits off the waitlist changes far more year-to-year than the number of admits generally. It can be as low as the single digits, or over a hundred. It is difficult to predict, but is generally more competitive at top colleges.
Thus, in general, you will begin to hear back from colleges about waitlist admissions at the start of May. The exact day varies, and you can hear back later than expected, as students on the waitlist are contacted in sequence, and if one says no, they move to the next in line. This can go on for longer than expected; on at least one memorable occasion we had a student admitted to an Ivy League school in August. This is rare, but can happen.
If you are not admitted off the waitlist, colleges generally won’t send you anything. This is disappointing, and can lead to stress. Our advice is to proceed as if you are definitely attending the college you have made your deposit at; a happy change may come, but you should not count on it.
A Note on Ranked Waitlists
Some colleges rank their waitlists; others do not. This ranking determines the order in which students are admitted off the waitlist. This will let you know approximately what your odds are of acceptance, though again, they admit varying numbers of students each year. Thus ranking high on a waitlist is not a guarantor of acceptance, just betters your odds slightly.
Note that most colleges, especially top colleges, do not rank their waitlists. This is because the decision of who to admit off the waitlist often revolves around balancing the class as it develops; thus if they end up with fewer political science majors than they preferred, then they will prioritize students interested in that major to admit off of the waitlist.
This makes it almost impossible to predict who will be admitted off the waitlist at these schools. The particular needs of each school are already variable year-to-year, and adding another layer of noise to that simply makes prognostication impossible.
Hearing Back From Waitlists Early
In some cases, it is possible to hear back from schools which have waitlisted you before May, even into April. This happens if enough students make commitments early in the month for universities to see how their classes are developing, and to admit students off the waitlist accordingly.
This is not guaranteed, but is becoming increasingly common. To aid in this, we advise all of our students to commit to a college once they decide, and to withdraw their applications from other schools. We advise you to do so as well; a school may not be your first choice, but there is doubtless a student languishing on their waitlist who would be eager to have your spot.
As with everything else about waitlists, this isn’t guaranteed; only some schools are letting students know early, and this depends entirely on how speedy other students are with their own responses to universities. This year specifically, it may take longer to hear back, as many more students are carefully weighing financial aid offers when deciding where to attend.
Thus you should not be surprised if you hear back from a college which has waitlisted you before May, but you should not count on such a thing happening either. Always accept a place at another college and pay your deposit before the deadline, to ensure that you will be attending some school next year. It is perfectly reasonable to dream big; indeed we often encourage this. The trick is to do so with a safety net, to cover the risks you are taking.
What This Means for You
If you are on a waitlist, then you may hear back soon; but this is not guaranteed. There are ways to improve your odds of admission off the waitlist, as we have discussed before, but it is always a chancy thing, fully dependent on what a college needs at that exact moment.
We recommend focusing your time and energy on the college that has admitted you, and which you will definitely be attending next year. Put in your bid for housing, select a meal plan, start building your course schedule and researching student organizations on campus you may want to join. You will need to do a lot of work very quickly if you are admitted off the waitlist, yes, but you should not count on such an eventuality.
Next, if you think you really won’t be happy at the school you are set to attend, you should begin looking into transfer admissions. Thousands of students transfer every year, trying to find a college that is a better fit for their interests. You can avail yourself of this as well, for another shot at your top choice college.
If this is your goal, then you will still need to investigate the college you are going to attend closely, to find resources to make use of and things to participate in. When you are transferring, admissions officers look closely at what you have done and how you have fared at your current school to get a sense of how successful you will be at their college. Showing you are capable of handling the work and contributing positively to the community are key factors they look for.
Finally, we want to encourage you not to dwell too long on what might have been. You can keep the waitlist in the back of your mind, but should not obsess over it. Instead, focus on the school you know you will be attending next year, and how you can make the most of your time there.
Final Thoughts
Getting waitlisted is never fun; it’s getting told that you are good enough, yes, but that there isn’t quite room for you, and nobody enjoys that as an experience. This is then compounded by another agonizing wait to what back, when so much of the admissions process is already a very long wait to what about your future. That said, results should begin coming out soon, and we hope this article has given you a sense of when you can expect them, and why it takes so long for them to appear.
College admissions are a difficult time, but as with all difficult tasks, they are made easier with expert help. Having a guide who knows the lay of the land and who can help you avoid the pitfalls will make the entire experience smoother. If you want a guide for your own admissions process, or to navigate the sometimes murky waters of transfer admissions, then Ivy Scholars can help; schedule a free consultation today to learn how. We have a long experience advising students on every aspect of the admissions process, and are always happy to hear from you.
