If you are on the receiving end of a waitlist offer by Stanford, you aren’t alone. We know that isn’t exactly reassuring, but with a first-year acceptance rate of only 4% nothing about Stanford is reassuring. But that doesn’t mean that you should give up all hope of moving into a dorm at Stanford in a few months. Before we get into what comes next, let’s look at the numbers.
For the fall of 2023, Stanford accepted 2099 student from a pool of 53,733 applicants. Or 3.9%. Stanford doesn’t offer a spot on the waitlist to as many students as comparable top colleges, who often have waitlists with more than 1,000 students. For 2023, Stanford offered a waitlist spot to 607 students and 506 accepted it. From that group, 76, or 15% were eventually admitted. This is a very high acceptance rate off the waitlist compared to other top colleges, especially members of the Ivy League. But was this a weird year, or is it the norm?
A year earlier, the waitlist was a little smaller with 457 students waiting for a spot — but only 8 were admitted, or 1.7%. This sort of pops the bubble of the 15%, but let’s look a bit further back just to confirm.
For the fall of 2021, 61 students were offered a spot off the waitlist from a pool of 535. And 11.4% isn’t too shabby if you’re wondering if being on a waitlist is even worth it. Across three years, the acceptance rate off the waitlist is an average of 9.4%. We like those odds, especially when compared against the overall acceptance rate of 4%.
So, what’s the takeaway for students like you who have received a waitlist decision? When it comes to Stanford, the chances of getting in off the waitlist are real. It isn’t a given every year, and there are some years where they don’t turn to the waitlist as heavily, but they also don’t inflate their waitlist with over 1000 students when they may only accept a few dozen. This means that being on the Stanford waitlist does have real potential for admission, and it’s absolutely worth approaching it strategically — and hopefully.
In this post, we’ll break down what you need to do to increase your chances of getting into Stanford while making the best choices for your future even if Stanford doesn’t work out.
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If you have been waitlisted by Stanford, there are four steps you need to take to up the likelihood of the university offering you a spot while lining things up to make sure you have a great future. Now, let’s break it down.
Step 1: Accept Spot on the Waitlist
When you were offered a spot on the Stanford waitlist, they also gave you access to the Stanford Waitlist Response Form. If you do not fill out this form, you will not be put on the Stanford waitlist. This form also provides spaces for an update — so don’t do it in a rush. The waitlist is not ranked, so you aren’t given bonus points for filling the form out quickly. Instead, you need to be super thoughtful. To do that, look at step 3.
Step 2: Commit to a School
Committing to a school other than Stanford when Stanford is your dream and is technically still a possibility can be frustrating, disappointing, or even feel like ‘giving in.’ All of that is valid and we get it — but none of it is a good reason to not commit to a school. You absolutely need to say yes to a college you got into. This is not negotiable.
If you didn’t get in anywhere that you are excited about, that probably means that your list was poorly constructed. That’s something that could be addressed should you choose to transfer, but you absolutely do not want to ‘simply’ wait a year and reapply next year. We put simply in air quotes because reapplying next year is far from simple, and students who choose to do this are more often weaker applicants the second go-round than they were as high school seniors because they haven’t had time to accomplish much between graduation and application deadlines.
But that’s a bit of a tangent. The point is that you need to commit, and you need to put down a deposit to confirm your spot. You will lose this deposit if you get into Stanford and decide to accept the spot, but that’s part of the waitlist game.
Step 3: Update Stanford
Let’s start with what to do if you ‘messed up.’ If you only saw this post after doing the Stanford Waitlist Form, and you didn’t follow the directions below, it’s going to be ok. Stanford also lets you submit updates through the Update Application Form in the portal. Simply follow these same directions and then submit through the Update Application Form.
Our first choice, though, and the best course of action (if you still can) is submitting your update through the Waitlist Response Form.
But what to put in? Let’s rule some things out. They do not want more materials on you. They don’t want more recommendations, nor more ‘proof’ of how strong you are as an applicant. There are a few (very few) exceptions here, always, and if you think you have an exception you should reach out to us for one-on-one advising.
Most waitlisted students aren’t exceptions and shouldn’t send Stanford a bunch of new stuff, but it’s still important to strengthen your application through a thoughtful and well-constructed update.
To do this, you need to write a short letter to Stanford updating them on changes to your application and reinforcing your interest in the college. Technically, they know that you are statistically very likely to attend if accepted off of the waitlist. Despite this, it’s important to state the obvious.
Start your letter with a proper formal opening, like “Dear Stanford Admissions,” and follow with a single sentence reaffirming your interest. This should include your name, where you are in school now, your prospective major or area of study, and that you will attend Stanford if accepted.
Next, you need to write up to four short updates that focus on things that were not on your initial application — because they hadn’t happened yet. This should include awards, recognitions, research, internships, and similar. These should all be related to your academic profile, and further clarify who you are. This whole section should be less than 200 words.
End the update with a sentence thanking them for their time, and close with something like “Sincerely,” and your full name.
This is short and simple, and that’s by design. It should be easy for admissions officials to review your update, and it should never feel like a slog.
Step 4: Move On
The last step is also the hardest. You need to move on. Seriously. It’s easy to spend a lot of time stressing about Stanford, but once you’ve submitted your update the ball is in their court. There is nothing you can do except live your life, and hopefully have fun doing it. Enjoy the end of your senior year. Plan for an exciting future at the college you are committed to.
Getting into Stanford off the waitlist isn’t likely, but it is absolutely possible — and at a much higher rate than most other comparably selective colleges. If you’re serious about pulling it off, let us know.
Waitlist decisions are hard, but this isn’t the end of the world. Contact us to learn more.