How To Boost Your Odds Of Getting Off The Waitlist At An Ivy League School
By Christopher Rim | March 26, 2026, 11:22pm ET
Each spring, thousands of high-achieving students open admissions decisions from elite colleges expecting a final response, only to discover that they are stuck in limbo. A waitlist decision from an Ivy League or other top school can be a disappointing extension of the waiting process, leaving many students unsure how to evaluate their options and proceed toward the May 1 Decision Day.
While this disappointment is understandable and unavoidable, understanding how waitlists actually work and how colleges strategically leverage them can bring clarity to an otherwise uncertain outcome. The more informed a student is about what a waitlist notification means—and, just as importantly, what it doesn’t mean—the better prepared they will be for whatever outcome they ultimately receive.
What does it mean to be waitlisted?
First and foremost, being waitlisted is not an indication that a student’s application was not good enough, nor that their collegiate dreams are over. Rather, a waitlist notification means the admissions committee found the applicant qualified for admission, but did not have space in the initial incoming class. In other words, the student was a competitive applicant, but not the right fit for the class the admissions committee was initially seeking to build.
After releasing decisions, colleges turn their focus to their yield rate (also known as the matriculation rate), which is the percentage of admitted students who accept their offers of admission. The yield rate can offer some indication of the amount of movement that a given school’s waitlist typically sees. Generally, the higher the yield rate, the less likely a student is to get off the waitlist, as this indicates that the majority of students offered a spot choose to enroll. For instance, UChicago had a yield rate of 88.3% for the Class of 2028, meaning only 12% of students chose not to enroll, whereas UNC-Chapel Hill had a yield rate of 45.5% in the last cycle, meaning roughly half of admitted students chose not to enroll. At the same time, students should note that the number of students admitted from the waitlist is highly dependent upon the number of students matriculating into each program or major.
Waitlists at the majority of prestigious schools are not ranked, which means that students are not placed on a list and accepted in order as other admits decline admission; instead, admissions committees go back to the waitlist to admit students according to the particular needs of each program and their enrollment targets. Admissions offices typically do not fully re-review a student’s original application in the way they did during the initial round. Instead, the student’s file is placed back into a pool of similarly qualified applicants. If space becomes available, the committee revisits a subset of waitlisted students with a very specific goal: to fill gaps in the class.
Given all of this, students can expect to see waitlist movement around May 1, the national college decision deadline. In the days and weeks that follow, admissions offices assess how close they are to their target class size. If they fall short, they begin admitting students from the waitlist.
What should you do after you’re waitlisted?
There are some critical steps that students should take after being waitlisted. First, they should write a brief note to the admissions committee accepting their place on the waitlist, thanking them for the time they took to read the student’s materials, and—most importantly—reaffirming that the school remains a top choice. When a student emphasizes their authentic passion for the school, it signals to admissions officers that they would likely accept an offer of admission and therefore positively contribute to the yield rate. This note should be concise and timely, sent in the weeks immediately following the waitlist notification.
Additionally, a strong advocate can improve a student’s odds of getting off the waitlist. Students should speak with their high school counselor to see whether their high school can advocate for them. In some cases, school counselors can reinforce a student’s intent to enroll if admitted—something colleges value as they manage their yield.
Even as students remain on the waitlist, they must secure a spot elsewhere. They should therefore submit a deposit to one of the colleges where they’ve been admitted by the stated deadline. If they are later admitted off the waitlist, they can withdraw their enrollment and forfeit their deposit. As MIT’s admissions office notes, “Students who accept this offer [from the school they were waitlisted at] will unenroll at the first college and enroll at the second… All of this is a standard part of the admissions process. We colleges recognize and accept this.”
Finally, by the end of June, the most productive next step students can take is to invest in the school they have submitted a deposit to. While late acceptances off of the waitlist are not unheard of, it is best to assume that they will not be moving off the waitlist—they should explore academic opportunities, connect with their future classmates, and begin preparing for the transition to college.
What are my odds of getting off the waitlist at an Ivy League or other top school?
Below is data about the number of students waitlisted and subsequently accepted off the waitlist at Ivy League and other top schools, listed in descending order of their waitlist acceptance rates:
University of California, Berkeley
- Number of Students Waitlisted: 10,894
- Number of Students Who Accepted Waitlist Spots: 7,853
- Number of Students Accepted off the Waitlist: 26
- Waitlist Acceptance Rate: 0.3%
Stanford University
- Number of Students Waitlisted: 483
- Number of Students Who Accepted Waitlist Spots: 414
- Number of Students Accepted off the Waitlist: 25
- Waitlist Acceptance Rate: 6%
UCLA
- Number of Students Waitlisted: 15,023
- Number of Students Who Accepted Waitlist Spots: 9,198\
- Number of Students Accepted off the Waitlist: 1,211
- Waitlist Acceptance Rate: 13%
MIT
- Number of Students Waitlisted: 590
- Number of Students Who Accepted Waitlist Spots: 509
- Number of Students Accepted off the Waitlist: 9
- Waitlist Acceptance Rate: 1.7%
Georgetown University
- Number of Students Waitlisted: 2,690
- Number of Students Who Accepted Waitlist Spots: 2,023
- Number of Students Accepted off the Waitlist: 163
- Waitlist Acceptance Rate: 8%
University of Michigan
- Number of Students Waitlisted: 24,804
- Number of Students Who Accepted Waitlist Spots: 18,793
- Number of Students Accepted off the Waitlist: 973
- Waitlist Acceptance Rate: 5%
University of Notre Dame
- Number of Students Waitlisted: 2,206
- Number of Students Who Accepted Waitlist Spots: 1,385
- Number of Students Accepted off the Waitlist: 42
- Waitlist Acceptance Rate: 3%
Cornell University
- Number of Students Waitlisted: 8,103
- Number of Students Who Accepted Waitlist Spots: 6,190
- Number of Students Accepted off the Waitlist: 388
- Waitlist Acceptance Rate: 6.2%
Emory University
- Number of Students Waitlisted: 6,098
- Number of Students Who Accepted Waitlist Spots: 3,355
- Number of Students Accepted off the Waitlist: 109
- Waitlist Acceptance Rate: 3.2%
UPenn
- Number of Students Waitlisted: 2,958
- Number of Students Who Accepted Waitlist Spots: 2,288
- Number of Students Accepted off the Waitlist: 66
- Waitlist Acceptance Rate: 2.9%
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Number of Students Waitlisted: 6,120
- Number of Students Who Accepted Waitlist Spots: 4,084
- Number of Students Accepted off the Waitlist: 295
- Waitlist Acceptance Rate: 7.2%
Rice University
- Number of Students Waitlisted: 3,920
- Number of Students Who Accepted Waitlist Spots: 2,794
- Number of Students Accepted off the Waitlist: 122
- Waitlist Acceptance Rate: 4.4%
Yale University
- Number of Students Waitlisted: 773
- Number of Students Who Accepted Waitlist Spots: 565
- Number of Students Accepted off the Waitlist: 23
- Waitlist Acceptance Rate: 4%
Princeton University
- Number of Students Waitlisted: 1,734
- Number of Students Who Accepted Waitlist Spots: 1,396
- Number of Students Accepted off the Waitlist: 40
- Waitlist Acceptance Rate: 2.9%
Dartmouth College
- Number of Students Waitlisted: 2,589
- Number of Students Who Accepted Waitlist Spots: 2,189
- Number of Students Accepted off the Waitlist: 29
- Waitlist Acceptance Rate: 1.3%
Brown University
- Number of Students Waitlisted: N/A
- Number of Students Who Accepted Waitlist Spots: N/A
- Number of Students Accepted off the Waitlist: 118
- Waitlist Acceptance Rate: N/A
Vanderbilt
- Number of Students Waitlisted: N/A
- Number of Students Who Accepted Waitlist Spots: N/A
- Number of Students Accepted off the Waitlist: 279
- Waitlist Acceptance Rate: N/A
Originally published on Forbes on March 26, 2026
