Adrianne is a Senior Admissions Counselor and TV/film director, producer, writer, and actress currently based in LA. She uses her experience in multiple disciplines to help students achieve their personal and academic goals.
Every year, when college admissions decisions are released (both in the Early and Regular Decision rounds), many students get the frustrating news that they’ve been waitlisted or deferred from their dream school. This can be frustrating because it’s neither bad news nor good news — instead, waitlisted and deferred applicants are thrown into another state of college admissions limbo.
However, there are things that waitlisted students can do to impress admissions officers and ultimately secure their spot at the college, such as a letter of interest. While you always want to be cautious when communicating with the admissions committee, you also should take this opportunity to put your best foot forward.
Here are steps you can take to improve your chances of getting off the college waitlist or to receive deferred admission to your top choice.
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What are my chances of getting in off the waitlist or getting admitted after being deferred?
Waitlist admission rates at top colleges usually range between 1 and 5%, depending on the school (most schools don’t necessarily report these numbers, but this is based on previous figures). Deferral rates are much higher — at some top schools, admissions officers may defer 60-80% of early applicants in a given year with 10-15% (or less) actually being admitted.
These figures depend on the school you’re applying to and, ultimately, on how high that school’s yield is in a given application cycle, i.e., how many accepted students accept their offers. They also depend on how many waitlisted students choose to stay on the waitlist. Deferred students, however, are automatically reviewed a second time.
Many competitive schools have had record-high application numbers in the past few years, which has only been boosted by the introduction of test-optional admissions policies at many universities. That means they can afford to keep their waitlists relatively small, since the majority of admitted students will likely end up attending, which gives the school a high yield rate. So, to get admitted off the waitlist, it takes a combination of luck and strategic planning to stand out.
When will I know if I get in off the waitlist?
When exactly you’ll know if you’re off the waitlist depends on the college and the number of admitted students who commit, which usually officially happens around May 1st. The most important thing to remember is that colleges use waitlists to fill spots if they don’t get as many accepted students as they want. This means that waitlisted students will not know if they’re in or out until after the deadline for accepted students to accept or reject their offers of admission. So, waitlisted students will hear back sometime in May at the very earliest and sometimes July or August at the very latest — check the school’s admissions website for more information.
If you do end up getting off the waitlist, it’s important to consider your plan beforehand. By the time you’re notified, you may have already committed to another school and put down a deposit, so it’s important to really think about what changing that decision might look like for you.
How do colleges evaluate waitlisted and/or deferred students?
Whether you get in off the waitlist or are admitted after deferral has to do with all the same factors that the college initially considered. You also have the opportunity to update the admissions committee about any recent achievements. This is one of the main reasons it’s very important not to slack off during your senior spring, by the way! But still, a lot of it is more about what the college is looking for as they’re building their incoming class and less about what you personally can contribute.
Oftentimes, an admissions committee will rank waitlisted applicants and/or put them into different groups based off of how each student would complete the incoming class of first-years. Remember, they’re trying to create a well-rounded class filled with students who have a wide variety of strengths and specialties. Maybe they’ll send out decisions and then, based off the pool of students who accept offers of admission, recognize that they need another standout chemist or a talented gymnast. If so, that’s who will get off the waitlist or be admitted after initially being deferred. So, as is almost always the case, it’s equal parts luck and strategy.
What is the difference between “waitlisted” and “deferred”?
For students who apply via Early Action or Early Decision, they can be deferred, which means their application is still under consideration, but they now will receive a decision in the Regular Decision round. If a student is waitlisted, however, they’re not actively in consideration and are instead on a reserve list of students. It’s rare for early applicants to be waitlisted instead of deferred, although it does happen. It’s also not uncommon for deferred applicants to become waitlisted once the Regular Decision results are released. The process for getting admitted in both cases is very similar, i.e., sending an update letter; the difference is the timing.
What should waitlisted and deferred students do now?
If you’re deferred, there’s nothing more you have to do to confirm you still want to be considered. If you’re waitlisted, make sure you take any necessary steps to ensure that you keep your spot on the waitlist. You will be asked to confirm that, yes, you want to be considered for a spot should one open up. If the school does not provide a form or an email address for you to confirm that you wish to remain on the waitlist, send a letter to the admissions office reaffirming your interest in the school. In fact, you’re probably going to want to send that waitlist letter regardless, unless the college specifically asks you not to (if, for example, they simply want you to fill out an online form). Follow the school’s instructions to a tee — ignoring them is not the way to get in.
The waitlist letter or deferral letter, also known as the letter of continued interest, is an opportunity for you to tell the admissions office that this college is still your first choice (if it is) and also to highlight any of your achievements that the admissions office doesn’t already know about. However, not all achievements are created equal — they should be new, and they must be significant enough that you might’ve added them to your initial application. For example, don’t just let them know that you won your most recent regular-season basketball game, but tell them if you won a state championship or won MVP for your season.
Do you have any new standardized test scores that are appreciably higher than the ones you submitted? Have your grades improved significantly? If so, let the admissions committee know. Just as importantly, have you won any new awards? Undertaken an impressive project over winter break? Maybe you recently got a feature in a local paper for your community service work, or you’ve made impressive progress in one of your extracurricular activities? Put this in your waitlist letter. You may also send an additional recommendation letter, but make sure it adds something new to your application, but do not do this if you’re not sure they allow this.
In fact, before sending any additional materials, make sure to do some research on the school’s waitlist or deferral policy. If you have trouble finding information on the website, give the admissions office a call. Don’t be shy — the admissions committee is usually full of lovely people who are happy to answer questions! You’re also welcome to ask them when you can expect to hear about a decision and whether they rank students on the waitlist. This information may not be available to you, but it’s worth the ask.
Just be cautious about directly contacting your admissions officer too much; in fact, you should really only be sending them letters of continued interest and directing other inquiries to the general admissions office. Some schools explicitly ask that you send additional information. If the school doesn’t want additional letters of recommendation, an additional interview, or an in-person visit, then don’t insist. If you’re curious about best practices when emailing an admissions officer, check out our blog post on the topic.
I’ve sent my letter of continued interest. What’s next?
Once you’ve written your update letter and determined which new materials you should send to the school that waitlisted you, there’s one last thing you need to do: make sure you have a plan B. While deferred students will know if they’re accepted once Regular Decisions are released, if you’re waitlisted, you won’t know whether or not you’re accepted off the waitlist until after your reply deadlines for your other schools. In other words, you need to make a choice about which college you will be attending, assuming you do not get off the waitlist at your dream school. Unfortunately, you will need to send this school nonrefundable deposits to secure your spot.
Take your plan B very seriously. In fact, don’t think about it as a plan B. You have the potential to be very happy at your second (or third, or fourth…) choice college. For instance, we had a family come to H&C to ask for help with the transfer process. Their son had ended up at a big state school (a very good one) after being waitlisted at, and then rejected from several Ivy League schools, including Harvard. One of our admissions consultants met with the student a couple of times, but after a month or so, the student was so happy at the state school that he no longer wanted to transfer. He was so bright and motivated that he immediately formed meaningful intellectual relationships with a number of his professors and wanted to continue working with them.
If you’ve had a strong senior spring so far, written a great letter, and can convince your parents not to make pesky phone calls to admissions officers, you may still get that acceptance letter. But don’t worry — whatever happens, you’ll end up where you’re meant to be.
Have you been waitlisted or deferred from your dream school and need help writing your waitlist letter? Contact us today to set up a free consultation with one of our Ivy League admissions consultants.
