The College of William & Mary, aside from being one of the oldest higher education institutions in North America, is a highly selective liberal arts college with a fair amount of admission competition. If you’ve stumbled across this blog, this probably isn’t news to you, as you or your child were presumably waitlisted for admission to William & Mary’s Class of 2030. What should you do now that your admissions fate has been suspended in limbo? Ivy Coach is here to provide you with the guidance that will actually help you optimize your odds of William & Mary admission and steer you clear of the many misconceptions and wrong moves that line your path to get there!

William & Mary’s Waitlist Acceptance Rates and Statistics

Below is William & Mary’s waitlist data for the Class of 2029 through the Class of 2019, compiled from publicly available Common Data Sets.

William & Mary Class Year	Number of Students Waitlisted to William & Mary	Number of Students Who Chose to Join William & Mary Waitlist	Number of Students Accepted Off William & Mary Waitlist	William & Mary Waitlist Acceptance Rate
William & Mary Class of 2030	Not Yet Available	Not Yet Available	Not Yet Available	Not Yet Available
William & Mary Class of 2029	4,085	1901	103	5.42%
William & Mary Class of 2028	4,232	2,063	207	10.03%
William & Mary Class of 2027	3,833	1,918	136	7.09%
William & Mary Class of 2026	4,004	2,042	4	0.20%
William & Mary Class of 2025	4,720	2,417	38	1.57%
William & Mary Class of 2024	3,080	1,714	145	8.46%
William & Mary Class of 2023	3,937	1,989	186	9.35%
William & Mary Class of 2022	4,133	2,172	94	4.33%
William & Mary Class of 2021	4,392	2,355	69	2.93%
William & Mary Class of 2020	4,115	2,037	154	7.56%
William & Mary Class of 2019	3,552	1,676	187	11.16%

Your Chances of Admission to the College of William & Mary After Being Waitlisted

The waitlist acceptance rate at W&M has swung around a fair amount in recent years, maxing out at a high of 11.16% for admission to the Class of 2019, and hitting a record-low of .2% (which translated to a mere 4 students of 2,042 being taken off the waitlist) for the Class of 2026. It seems like some years, Williams & Mary admission officers have tons of room for waitlisted applicants, and others, they have hardly any. What explains this variation?

The answer lies with the yield rate, which describes the proportion of admitted students who choose to enroll each year. If fewer students matriculate each year, there is naturally more room in the incoming class for waitlisted applicants, who are thought of as a solid Plan B in case interest in attending William & Mary isn’t as high as admission officers had initially projected. 

While there is no way to control or predict yield rate this year, if you follow the steps listed out below, you can ensure William & Mary will think of you first if they find themselves in the position to admit waitlisted applicants.

Your Chances of Admission to the College of William & Mary After Being Waitlisted with Ivy Coach’s Help

Follow the steps laid out below to optimize your odds of getting off the William & Mary waitlist:

1. Complete Ivy Coach’s PostMortem application review. We will equip you with the tools you need to turn this setback into a reason to celebrate.
2. Submit a compelling Letter of Continued Interest. But not the kind you might be thinking of. Ivy Coach’s letters contain no brags, no updates, and nothing that could possibly render our students unlikeable. So what do they contain, you ask? That’s a secret family recipe we only share with our students!

What Not To Do If You or Your Child Was Waitlisted by the College of William & Mary

1. Waiting to submit your Letter of Continued Interest. Time is of the essence. William & Mary admission officers want you to act quickly to demonstrate your interest in attending their school. This means springing into action within days of being waitlisted.
2. Filling your letter with bragging, boasting, and updates. This is the approach that your competitors will take, and fortunately for you, they will quickly realize their folly when they are ultimately rejected.
3. Contacting the William & Mary admissions office. Whether it’s via email, phone, snail mail, or smoke signal, your pleas will fall on deaf ears.
4. Sending follow-up letters after submitting your Letter of Continued Interest. This will only serve to drown out your initial letter. We at Ivy Coach take a one and done approach.
5. Conducting ridiculous waitlist campaigns. Heaven forbid you show up in person to the W&M admission office bearing gifts, personal petitions, or grievances. Doing so will sink your ship and earn you a big, fat rejection letter!

Getting Started with Ivy Coach on William & Mary Waitlist

If you’re interested in optimizing your case for admission off William & Mary’s waitlist to the Class of 2030 with the help of our team of former elite college admission officers, fill out Ivy Coach’s complimentary consultation form and indicate that the College of William & Mary has waitlisted you. We’ll then be in touch with an outline of our services.