Regular Decision results are in, and alongside the yeses and nos a few letters said waitlist. Here’s how to read it and what to do in the next three weeks.
What a waitlist is
The college admitted more students than it expects to enroll, and will come back to the waitlist only if too few of them deposit by May 1. At some schools that happens every year and dozens or hundreds are admitted in May and June. At others the waitlist is a soft no that spares feelings. The college’s Common Data Set — a public document on most admissions websites — shows how many were offered a waitlist spot, how many accepted it, and how many were admitted last year. Look it up. It tells you which kind of waitlist this is.
Step one: accept the spot, if you want it
Waitlist offers require an opt-in, usually a form in the portal. If the student would attend, opt in promptly. If they wouldn’t — if a school they were admitted to is a better fit or a better price — decline and free the spot for someone else.
Step two: one update
Like a deferral, a waitlisted student can send one letter of continued interest. Three paragraphs: still want to attend (and would enroll if admitted, if that’s true); what’s new since the application — spring grades, an award, a project finished; one specific reason this college. Sent once, by the method the college specifies. Some colleges explicitly say not to send anything; believe them.
Step three: deposit somewhere else by May 1
This is the part families resist, and it’s not optional. Waitlist decisions come after May 1, sometimes well into June. The student needs a confirmed place at a college they were actually admitted to. Choose it with the same spreadsheet as any other decision — net cost, four-year estimate, program fit, graduation rate — and pay the deposit.
If the waitlist comes through later and the student wants it, they forfeit the first deposit, which is usually a few hundred dollars. That’s the cost of keeping the option. It’s a fair price.
What not to do
Don’t have parents call. Don’t send a weekly email. Don’t mail baked goods, a video, or a bound portfolio — these are stories admissions officers tell each other, not strategies. Don’t put off the other deposit “just in case.”
The honest expectation
At most selective colleges, the waitlist admits a small number, and financial aid for waitlist admits can be thinner because the budget was allocated in March. A student who gets off a waitlist should look at the aid offer with the same care as any other, and it’s entirely reasonable to stay with the May 1 choice if the numbers don’t work.
A waitlist is a maybe with a deadline nobody tells you. Treat it as a bonus, not a plan.
By Jeff Thompson, Phortex Campus · April 14, 2026 · ← All posts