Swarthmore College is a small liberal arts school with only about 425 students per class. The school is both culturally intimate and academically intense. Nestled in a massive arboretum, also known as a really fancy garden and forest full of specimen plants and trees, Swarthmore is only 25 minutes by train from Philadelphia. The college is extremely selective, and especially popular among students who want to study engineering, computer science, or to go pre-med, but who want a liberal arts foundation with a significant focus on literature, philosophy, and sociology.
Getting into Swarthmore is extremely difficult. In the 2021-2022 application cycle, 14,707 applicants vied for those 400ish spots. 1019 students were eventually admitted, for a 6.9% acceptance rate. Of course, Swarthmore admits more students than they know will select to attend. It’s a less-than-simple math equation, trying to guess what the yield rate will be — and any students accepted off of the waitlist are a result of that yield guess being off. In 2022, the guess wasn’t off the mark, though. While we don’t know how many students were waiting on the waitlist, we do know that not a single student was accepted off the waitlist that year.
However, Swarthmore has actively used the waitlist in the past. In 2023, they admitted 969 regular decision applicants from a pool of 14,287. This excludes both early and waitlist acceptances, and we know for sure that they admitted at least a few students off the waitlist last year. Some years, they’ve accepted up to a few dozen waitlisted students, and they have even published blog posts by students admitted off of the waitlist describing their experience and what they did to make their continued interest in Swarthmore known.
Swarthmore doesn’t offer much ‘official’ guidance on what to do if you are offered a spot on the waitlist, so these student narratives are crucial. In this post, we’ll break down a step-by-step guide for what to do next for Swarthmore informed by what has actually worked for students in the past.
If you’ve received a waitlist decision from Swarthmore and you’re feeling unsure of what to do next, send us an email. We help outstanding students find a home at their perfect fit college.
Get on the Waitlist
First, you need to let Swarthmore know that you want the spot on the waitlist. Something that we know for certain about Swarthmore is that they care a ton about demonstrated interest. They want to know that you know that they care that you care. Sound like a tongue twister? Give it another read. Basically, they want to hear from you quickly and with enthusiasm!
Once you’ve claimed your spot on the waitlist, you need to keep your head in the game while still planning for the worst. Waitlists are tricky, and your likelihood of acceptance off of a waitlist is generally less than the regular decision acceptance rate. This means that you can’t bet on it, even if you do everything in your power to eventually receive an offer of admission. So, you need a back-up plan.
Line up a Backup
Once you’re on the Swarthmore waitlist, you need to accept a spot at a school you were accepted to, and that you would be happy to attend. Yes, this does mean that you will lose the deposit if you eventually get into Swarthmore and choose to go there instead. This is the literal price of playing the waitlist game, and so it isn’t for everyone. But not accepting a school and simply betting on Swarthmore isn’t an option (truly, don’t do it) — so if you’re going to wait out the waitlist you need a backup ready in the wings.
Once you’ve accepted a college, you need to get into gear for ‘Operation Convince-Swarthmore-to-Accept’
Reinforce Your Interest…and More
Getting into Swarthmore isn’t only about you. In fact, it’s actually mostly not about you. Spots have to open up for them to reconsider your application, and that may not even happen. But if spots do open up, you want to be at the very tippy top of their wish list for students to let in off of the waitlist.
The first step for getting off of the Swarthmore waitlist was getting on the waitlist in the first place, but the next step is writing a Letter of Continued Interest, or LOCI.
The Letter of Continued Interest for waitlisted students is something we’ve become experts on after years of helping students turn waitlist decisions into notices of acceptance. They can be hard to write well without outside help or an experienced guide, but below we’ve charted out the best path. The big picture is that this letter should be short, only include relevant information and updates, and should be profoundly polite and respectful. You’ll either submit it through the applicant portal or by sending it directly to the admissions representative tasked with your region. Now, let’s break down what will actually be in the letter.
Formal Greeting: First, you need to open in a way that is polite and respectful. Something simple like “Dear Swarthmore Admissions,” or “Dear Mr./Ms.” is perfect.
Reinforce Interest: Next, you need to remind Swarthmore that they are your first choice and that you will attend if accepted. This is a great place to expand on what you focused on in your Swarthmore application, and to introduce one or two more reasons why you feel Swarthmore is your perfect fit. Don’t write a novel, though. This section should be no more than 200 words.
Short Update: After you’ve reinforced your interest in Swarthmore, you need to give them something new to appreciate about you — ideally 3-6 new things to appreciate about you. Swarthmore wants to see that you’re curious and enthusiastic, and they want to see you proactively seeking out opportunities. They want to see civic engagement, and they want to be able to envision how you’ll contribute to campus life and the Swarthmore community. So, give them a little bit of each. Provide a few updates from your academics and activities, especially new awards, honors, recognitions, leadership positions, or milestones, that spotlight your intellectual curiosity and care for your community. This section should be no more than 400 words.
Professional Closing: After the short update, you need to write a final sentence or two underlining again that you will enroll if accepted. Then close out with a “Sincerely,” or “Respectfully,”.
Once you’ve submitted your LOCI, you also need to send your most up-to-date grades — which your college counselor will need to help with as the transcript must come from your school.
All of these things thus far are fairly standard for what to do when you’re waitlisted by a college, and then there are some other things you can do for Swarthmore that are less run-of-the-mill but that have proven successful in the past.
Students have previously found a spot off of the waitlist after having an additional letter of recommendation sent by a recommender to the admissions officer assigned to your region, and this is especially useful if you can get a letter from someone associated with Swarthmore in some way. Having a current or former employee, graduate, or even a current student, vouch for your application can be massively impactful.
Waitlisted students have also found success submitting additional writing samples, additional teacher recommendations, and even calling and asking to speak with the admissions officer assigned to your region after sending whatever updates you’re going to send. Calling doesn’t always mean you’ll actually get to speak to anyone, so you need to be hyper-polite and respectful and not call repeatedly. If you do get to speak with someone, though, be sure to let them know that you will enroll if accepted. Swarthmore only wants to accept students off of the waitlist who are absolutely certain that they will attend, so reinforce that Swarthmore remains your first choice over and over again.
Be Patient
There’s a lot to do for Swarthmore, but there’s going to be even more waiting. You can’t be complacent, though. Swarthmore is known to check in with students periodically, asking them to confirm their spot on the waitlist. If they email you, respond quickly. And if they invite you to a Zoom meeting, reply super-fast because they have been known to offer spots to waitlisted students over a Zoom call.
You’re going to have to wait, likely well into summer, to hear back from Swarthmore. Sometimes, students don’t hear until the middle of June, even. So, you need to keep your cool, but plan as if you won’t get in.
Getting into any college off of the waitlist is full of uncertainty. It can be frustrating, and we get that. It’s a tough spot to be in, but if you play it right you can turn a disappointing admissions decision into a spot in the first-year class.
If you’re hoping to find a spot at Swarthmore off of the waitlist, send us an email. We are experts at turning a waitlist decision into an acceptance.