The Waitlist Explained

From an applicant’s perspective, it can be easy to interpret a waitlist decision as being deemed not quite “good enough” for an admit. This is a straightforward approach which nonetheless fails to capture the nuance of the situation. While it is true that the application did not quite make it to the desired decision pile, this really isn’t about being “good enough” or not. It’s more a matter of how a university defines its institutional needs and how it aims to fulfill them.

Why do colleges have a waiting list? The short answer is that they want a pool of strong students they can admit (and enroll) if they need to fill their class once the May 1^st response deadline has passed. In fact, many colleges plan to use their waiting list every year. The act of enrolling a class is based on an inexact yet highly quantitative process. Ultimately, it comes down to predicting how teenagers will behave, which is a risky proposition almost by definition.

Let’s say a college is planning to enroll 1,000 students in the freshman class. They have to admit more than 1,000 students because they know that not every admitted student will choose to enroll at their school. A select few colleges enjoy a very high yield, meaning that a high percentage of the students they admit decide to enroll. Harvard, for example, has seen a yield of about 83% in recent years; this is one reason why they can be so selective. Nationwide, however, the average yield is about 30%. While a Harvard might need to admit 1,200 students to enroll 1,000, a typical college would need to admit 3,333 students to enroll 1,000.

What if the historical yield model doesn’t hold true, though? What if a college which typically sees a 30% yield inexplicably experiences a 36% yield one year? If they admitted 3,333 students, they would find themselves with 200 extra students who need housing, academic advising, and a range of other services. While some colleges are happy to enroll as many students as they can, selective colleges often operate within an enrollment cap. They want to keep their classes to a certain size, and they want to avoid cramming three freshmen into a dorm room designed for two, for example. Having 200 extra students might be good for the operating budget, it could create a headache for the Residential Life office. The best way to avoid this situation is to admit conservatively. Instead of admitting 3,333 students, perhaps they admit only 3,000. Their typical yield would result in 900 students while an unexpectedly high yield might leave them with a more manageable 1,080.

This responsibly conservative college would utilize the waitlist to grow their class of 900 to 1,000. However, this process looks different than most people imagine. The college does not simply admit the “best” 100 students on their waitlist. They first look at the 900 students in their class and determine who isn’t in that group. The college will ask themselves if they have enough German and geology majors, if they have good geographic representation, if the orchestra got the two violists for whom they were hoping, if they have their target gender balance, etc. The waitlist, therefore, not only helps them fill the class; it also gives them the ability to “shape” the class in the way they want. This also explains why colleges waitlist far more students than seems necessary to the outside observer. Colleges will not know what their needs in May will be until May arrives, so they need to be prepared for any contingency.

What does all of this mean to the waitlisted student floating in limbo? It means that the student needs to hope that the college not only comes up short in their enrollment but that the college is looking for someone just like them. You could be the “strongest” student on the waiting list, but if you are an applicant to the business school which is already overenrolled, then the college probably isn’t looking to admit you despite your academic profile.

The waitlisted student should focus on what they can control, which is the communication they have with the school. Every school takes demonstrated interest into account when deciding whom to admit from the waiting list. The entire point of the waiting list is to fill the class, a task more easily and quickly done by offering admission to those who seem most likely to enroll.

To that end, the waitlisted student should clearly communicate their level of interest. If the school is their top choice, they should state that in an email. If they are certain to enroll if admitted, they should state that unambiguously. Your counselor will help you craft a strong statement of continued interest as a part of your waitlist strategy. The goal is to stand out in whatever tranche of the waitlist pool you are in so that if the college is looking for someone like you, you rise to the top of that pile. Stand out by being specific about why you and the school are a good fit. Paint a vivid picture in words which depicts the kind of student and presence you will be on their campus. The goal is to convince without making an argument; your counselor will help you strike the right tone.

Finally, be mentally ready to enroll somewhere else. Give that school which didn’t waitlist you every opportunity to be the best school for you. Remain engaged and excited throughout all of the early steps of enrollment (housing, attending local welcome events, etc.). Allow an admit from the waitlist to be an unexpected celebration rather than a life preserver which rescues you from the fate of attending your second-choice school. Trust your past self to have done a thoughtful college search which resulted in options which are good fits for you. What you do and who you become in college are more important than the college you attend.