Waitlist Statistics

Being waitlisted isn’t as crushing a result as being rejected, but it can feel like you’ve been exiled to admissions purgatory.

It’s important to know if your waitlisted status means you still have a serious shot at being admitted to your first-choice university or if it’s the equivalent of a Powerball ticket. For example, at Amherst, Tufts, and Yale somewhere between zero and 20 students are likely to be plucked from the waitlist. On the other hand, Stanford, Colby College, and Northwestern all took more than 60 students off of their waitlists. The following table indicates waitlist statistics at some of America’s most selective colleges and universities for the 2021-22 academic year.

*Data collected from Common Data Set (CDS) forms and institutional websites.

Table updated December 2022

Institution	Applicants placed on waitlist	Applicants accepting spot on waitlist	Student accepted from waitlist
Gustavus Adolphus College	0	0	0
Illinois Wesleyan University	0	0	0
Kalamazoo College	0	0	0
Saint Mary's College of California	0	0	0
Spelman College	519	0	0
The University of Texas at Austin	0	0	0
University of Arkansas	0	0	0
University of Maine	0	0	0
Washington State University	0	0	0
Georgia College & State University	2	2	0
University of Puget Sound	24	4	0
St. John's College	5	5	0
Whitman College	39	7	0
Franklin W Olin College of Engineering	49	38	0
Colorado College	739	174	0
Ohio State University-Main Campus	854	207	0
California Institute of Technology	268	213	0
Pitzer College	814	357	0
Harvey Mudd College	648	433	0
Macalester College	1218	535	0
Pepperdine University	975	563	0
Emerson College	1490	739	0
Amherst College	1285	788	0
Stevens Institute of Technology	1885	948	0
Worcester Polytechnic Institute	2413	978	0
Tufts University	2579	1264	0
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign	2455	1517	0
Hamilton College	2964	1782	0
Colgate University	3099	1820	0
Tulane University of Louisiana	5072	1871	0
Dartmouth College	2669	2120	0
Washington University in St Louis		3981	0
University of California-San Diego	25419	8835	0
New College of Florida	3	2	1
Lawrence University	32	3	1
St. John's College	41	41	1
Eckerd College	389	76	1
Scripps College	701	320	1
Rhodes College	1380	687	1
Williams College	2371	929	1
Kenyon College	1827	1027	1
Babson College	3015	1210	1
Boston University	14991	8944	1
Wheaton College (IL)	91	86	2
Lewis & Clark College	386	132	2
Mount Holyoke College	530	276	2
Bates College	2473	1245	2
Middlebury College	1742	1716	2
Rice University	3016	2118	2
Johns Hopkins University	3724	2611	2
Allegheny College	173	35	3
St Lawrence University	153	64	3
Hobart William Smith Colleges	176	155	3
Baylor University	968	253	3
United States Naval Academy	187	143	4
Dickinson College	603	199	4
Yale University	1030	774	4
Lake Forest College	23	23	5
College of the Holy Cross	1795	731	5
Bryant University	188	37	6
Bennington College	60	41	6
Wheaton College (MA)	92	89	6
Haverford College	1593	955	6
Ursinus College	27	24	7
Creighton University	86	34	7
Fordham University	8290	2648	7
Claremont McKenna College	897	589	9
University of Richmond	3891	886	9
United States Coast Guard Academy	13		9
University of Mary Washington	110	10	10
Soka University of America	93	48	10
Wesleyan University	3585	2031	10
The University of the South	537	144	11
Carleton College	1367	580	11
Connecticut College	1966	914	11
Trinity College	1827	1103	11
Washington and Lee University	2207	1150	11
Clemson University	9865	4964	11
Muhlenberg College	568	204	12
Purdue University-Main Campus	6048	3442	13
University of Miami	13095	4643	13
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology	119	43	14
University of Rhode Island	2248	708	14
University of Wisconsin-Madison	8128	4335	14
Virginia Commonwealth University	15	15	15
Union College	541	218	15
Denison University	1568	285	16
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus	2434	1116	16
Centre College	115	17	17
Bryn Mawr College	1026	640	17
SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry	130	29	19
University of North Carolina at Asheville	260	41	19
Earlham College	51	48	19
The University of Tennessee-Knoxville	128	53	19
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art	136	132	19
Colorado School of Mines	1538	543	20
The College of Wooster	646	109	21
Emory University	6539	3883	21
Cornell University	7746	5800	24
Southwestern University	118	27	25
Willamette University	159	56	25
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	632	501	25
North Carolina State University at Raleigh	7289	2340	25
Butler University	409	87	26
University at Buffalo	1948	74	27
Pomona College	840	570	27
Grinnell College	2759	1286	28
Brown University			28
Furman University	623		28
Georgetown University	3277	2453	29
St. Mary's College of Maryland	222	63	30
Trinity University	1341	519	31
Brandeis University	1665	768	31
Lafayette College	1836	763	32
University of Central Florida	4986	3411	33
Sarah Lawrence College	1227	526	34
University of Denver	584	164	35
Carnegie Mellon University	8792	5319	35
Rollins College	1123	169	37
College of William and Mary	4720	2417	38
Fairfield University	4323	1256	39
University of Dayton	126	40	40
The College of New Jersey	1666	655	44
High Point University	316	316	47
Stonehill College	1133	264	51
Ithaca College	301	168	52
Wellesley College	2252	926	52
Skidmore College	2145	1044	52
University of Portland	1328	566	54
Villanova University	4337	2083	56
Loyola University Maryland	484	231	59
Stanford University	652	535	61
Colby College	4554	1954	61
University of Iowa	252	252	62
Bucknell University	3743	1736	64
Elon University	2230	594	66
Seattle University	150	67	67
Smith College	1155	684	67
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	17805	13063	68
Occidental College	1569	747	69
Northwestern University			69
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	2302	1342	72
Texas Christian University	1745	733	78
University of Delaware	1861	212	81
American University	3589	1082	81
University of Virginia-Main Campus	8690	4924	86
College of Charleston	1306	457	87
University of Rochester	2475	1489	93
Duquesne University	211	146	96
Vassar College	1526	634	96
Hofstra University	139	105	98
Oberlin College	1491	1368	100
Barnard College	2612	1904	104
University of Notre Dame	3100	1939	107
Marquette University	567	567	108
University of Pennsylvania	3933	2753	121
CUNY Hunter College	4939		123
St Olaf College	927	415	125
University of San Francisco	1741	1062	126
Clark University	1334	478	131
United States Merchant Marine Academy	204	204	132
James Madison University	983	595	132
Santa Clara University	4849	2951	138
Princeton University	1265	1000	150
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona	3996	1851	152
SUNY at Albany	865	442	161
George Washington University	6187	2798	163
University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus	2040	2040	165
Bentley University	1587	454	166
Loyola Marymount University	5114		172
DePaul University	4348	1547	176
Vanderbilt University			181
University of California-Irvine	8765	1288	189
Marist College	3523	930	198
University of Vermont	6190	3030	198
University of Connecticut	2808	1117	203
University of North Carolina Wilmington	765	343	211
Rochester Institute of Technology	930	758	211
University of California-Los Angeles	15242	9897	214
George Mason University	855	337	230
Ramapo College of New Jersey	1084	484	235
Southern Methodist University	1787	821	236
University of South Carolina-Columbia	8023	399	243
University of Georgia	1893	1025	277
Binghamton University	7835	2875	277
Gonzaga University	859	384	287
Stetson University	323	306	292
University of Oregon	868	348	305
Quinnipiac University	1240	335	321
San Diego State University	6917	3206	326
University of California-Berkeley	11725	6871	359
Case Western Reserve University	11494	4992	364
University of San Diego	3711	1467	378
Duke University			381
Syracuse University	8898	3331	450
Chapman University	2154	836	499
Temple University	6377	636	558
Providence College	2700	867	577
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	8957	6564	647
Appalachian State University	1749	781	737
CUNY Brooklyn College	768	750	750
University of Washington-Seattle Campus	10239	4565	775
University of Maryland-Baltimore County	1114	1114	809
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	6214	4235	853
St John's University-New York	1413		921
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	9829		978
University of Massachusetts-Amherst	4056	2361	1055
Stony Brook University	5741	2900	1166
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus	2481	1519	1451
Lehigh University	4361	1875	1684
Seton Hall University	6123		1841
University of California-Santa Barbara	14076	9762	2093
University of Colorado Boulder	7531	2789	2608
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	14952	9176	3292
University of California-Davis	13092	4960	3919
University of California-Riverside	12162	5997	4786
University of California-Santa Cruz	19170	12541	6633

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