Princeton University Waitlist Acceptance Rate

Did Princeton University waitlist you? Many people think being waitlisted by a highly selective university is akin to being rejected. But they’re wrong. Depending on the year, if waitlisted students play their cards right, they can earn admission to the Ivy League institution.

So how deep does Princeton usually reach down its waitlist — if at all — and how can a student optimize their case for admission out of waitlist limbo? Let’s dive in!

Princeton Waitlist Acceptance Rates and Statistics

For the 15 years of available data on Princeton’s waitlist that we’ve aggregated from public records, Princeton has turned to its waitlist two-thirds of the time.

Over the ten years in which Princeton has admitted students off its waitlist, which extends from the Class of 2026 through the Class of 2006, the school has admitted a high of 16.37% of waitlisted candidates (the Class of 2015 when 164 waitlisted candidates got in) and a low of 0.15% of waitlisted candidates (the Class of 2024 when one waitlisted candidate got in).

Including the years in which Princeton did not turn to its waitlist over the last 20 years (not counting years in which data is not publicly available), the Ivy League institution admitted an average of 40.79 students out of limbo.

More recently, over the last five admissions cycles, Princeton has been admitting an average of 55.6 students out of waitlist limbo — higher than the school’s average over two decades. The Class of 2026 in which 150 students (or 15% of waitlisted candidates) and the Class of 2022 in which 101 students (or 12.23% of waitlisted candidates) earned admission off the waitlist marked particularly strong waitlist showings in recent years.

Your Chances of Admission After Being Waitlisted at Princeton

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

Over the last 30 years, around 40% of students who first come to Ivy Coach after being placed on the Princeton waitlist earn admission. It’s a figure we’re incredibly proud of as it compares to a 5.16% overall waitlist admission rate over the aforementioned period in which Princeton has made the statistics easily accessible public record.

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

1. Complete Ivy Coach’s PostMortem application review. First, we have to see what a student did right and what they did wrong. The narrative we help students present after being waitlisted can’t contradict what the student showcased on their application. It must be consistent with the student’s story conveyed in the application — just told in a much more powerful and endearing way.
2.  Submit a powerful Letter of Continued Interest. Most students correctly know that they should submit a letter after being placed on a college’s waitlist, and most know they should do so promptly after learning of their decision. Yet most students send the wrong kind of letter — a letter abounding in updates and brags. Ivy Coach’s letters contain no updates or brags. It’s a critical reason our wonderfully weird love letters so often work. We inspire admissions officers to want to root for our students.

Getting Started with Ivy Coach to Get Off the Princeton Waitlist

If you’re interested in Ivy Coach’s assistance with optimizing your case for admission off the Princeton waitlist, fill out our free consultation form, indicate that Princeton has waitlisted you, and we’ll write you back to outline our Princeton waitlist service.