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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