Brown University Waitlist Acceptance Rate

The below is Brown University’s waitlist data for the Class of 2026 through 2008, covering 19 years of waitlist statistics for the Providence, Rhode Island-based institution. This data stems from Brown’s Office of Institutional Research (through its reporting to The Common Data Set).

Brown Waitlist Acceptance Rates and Statistics

Your Chances of Admission to Brown After Being Waitlisted

Over the last 19 admissions cycles (from 2022 through 2003), Brown’s average waitlist acceptance rate has been 12.95%.

Brown Conceals Waitlist Data

However, this number is an average of only seven years of Brown’s waitlist statistics (the Brown Classes of 2018-2014) because Brown ceased reporting the requisite data to calculate its annual waitlist admission rate after the Class of 2014.

Oddly, for the Brown Classes of 2018-2024 and the Class of 2026, Brown reported to The Common Data Set the number of students who earned admission off the waitlist but failed to include the number of students offered the opportunity to join the waitlist and the number of students who opted-in to the waitlist.

Ivy Coach Calls on Brown to Cease Concealing Waitlist Data

From atop our soapbox in elite college admissions, we at Ivy Coach hereby call on Brown to be more forthcoming in the years to come. There’s no reason Brown can’t report all of this data, and the fact that Brown’s Office of Institutional Research reports some data some years and no data other years smells fishy.

Brown’s Yield Will Determine Its Waitlist Activity

So if you’re trying to forecast just how far Brown’s admissions committee will reach down the waitlist for the Class of 2027 (if at all), bake a pie instead because, dare we say, you don’t have a crystal ball (although we at Ivy Coach sure do!). 

In the end, Brown’s use of its waitlist will come down to its yield (or the percentage of admitted students who choose to enroll). The higher Brown’s yield for the Class of 2027, the lower the likelihood the school admits 100+ students out of limbo. Last year, for the Class of 2026, Brown’s yield stood at nearly 70%.

Your Chances of Admission to Brown After Being Waitlisted with Ivy Coach’s Help

But while applicants and their parents can’t control Brown’s yield for the Class of 2027, they can control how they approach the waitlist.

Over the last 30 years, around 42% of students who first come to Ivy Coach after being placed on the Brown waitlist earn admission. It’s a figure that compares to an average waitlist admission rate of 12.95% for the years Brown has reported the requisite data.

So why does Ivy Coach enjoy such success with Brown’s waitlist? It all comes down to Ivy Coach’s delicious secret sauce of optimizing a student’s chances for admission after being placed in limbo. It’s a two-step process that goes is as follows:

1. Complete Ivy Coach’s PostMortem application review. We need to see how you presented your case for admission — mistakes and all. After all, the narrative we help you craft can’t be out of left field. It needs to be a more powerful version of the applicant you presented in your essays.
2.  Submit a compelling Letter of Continued Interest. This letter should contain no brags or updates. Most waitlisted students know they should submit a letter yet the majority of these students submit the wrong kind of letter. We brainstorm and revise letters that offer students the best shot possible of admission. These letters dare admissions officers not to offer them admission out of waitlist limbo.

Getting Started with Ivy Coach on Brown’s Waitlist

If you’re interested in optimizing your case for admission off Brown University’s waitlist, complete Ivy Coach’s free consultation form and indicate that Brown has waitlisted you. We’ll then contact you. And, yes, we understand that time is of the essence and that your letter needs to go to Brown immediately.