High school Seniors offered a position on university waitlists, often first wonder, “Why wasn’t I chosen?”, typically followed by, “What are my chances of being admitted from the waitlist?”
For Fall 2023, Georgetown University admissions officers actually offered information for students to make a more informed decision about choosing to or not to opt into the waitlist.
Yet, not including the historical anomaly of Fall 2020, students are admitted from the waitlist on average:
- To Georgetown College at 4.85%
- To the School of Nursing & Health Studies at 10.5%
- To the Walsh School of Foreign Service at 2.85%
- To the McDonough School of Business at 1.71%
Georgetown waitlisted candidates can also observe the inconsistency in waitlist offers from one year to the next. Thus, students should be realistic regarding their chances of being selected from the waitlist.
Furthermore, students offered a waitlist position don’t know the total numbers of people who opted to remain on the waitlist in any given year versus how many students were offered a waitlist space, and the exact number of waitlisted candidates were actually offered admissions in any given year. Thus, candidates are choosing to remain on the waitlist based on conjecture given the diminished chances for actually being admitted.
Lastly, waitlist candidates at any college, should always choose a college from where they have been admitted, given the unpredictability of waitlist offers from year to year.
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