There is a dark red background with a diamond shaped texture overlapping the background. There’s a smaller white block that says “I’m Waitlisted…Now What?”

I’m Waitlisted…Now What? How to Improve Your Chances of Waitlist Acceptance

A post by Beth Anne Spacht, Associate Director of Admission
March 10, 2026

First let’s be clear: a waitlist decision is not a “never.” It’s simply a “not now.” It means there’s something compelling we identified in your application that put you somewhere between a full offer of acceptance and a call that you’re perhaps best suited to another school of your choice.


So why have a waitlist at all? I’m admissible, why not decide up front?


For us, it’s kind of like playing a game of blackjack. Our charge is to build a winning, enrolled class that threads the needle between the number of offers we extend (typically upwards of 3000) and the number of spaces available in the class (typically between 830-900), without going over. 


Under is okay, because we know we can admit talented students from the waitlist. The exact percentage we seek to enroll, however, is variable from year-to-year. If the number of students who accept us back from their initial offer of admission was higher than we anticipated, it might be a light year (or a no-go year) for the waitlist. We don’t want to over-enroll and run out of space to house students. More often, we expect that most students accepted or waitlisted by Richmond are incredibly qualified and have several excellent options to choose from; in that case, it might be a heavier year for the waitlist, as we have more seats in the class to fill. 


It's also human behavior is to put off this big life decision until very close to the national reply date of May 1. That’s why if you contact us prior to this date to express your ongoing interest in Richmond, our response is usually something along the lines of “it’s really too soon for us to say if there’s space.” 
That’s the context. Back to why you’re here. What can I do to increase my odds of acceptance?

  • Soul search. Decide if Richmond is a school where you can really see yourself. Is it worth waiting for versus your other options, even if you don’t get called up? Only choose to remain in consideration if the answer is “yes.”
  • Let us know you’re still interested. We don’t use demonstrated interest in our pre-May 1 applicant review, and we do not rank our waitlist. However, it’s helpful (and candidly, faster) to build to our numeric goal with those who have expressed authentic interest in becoming Spiders and will give us a quick “yes” if they’re being offered a spot from the waitlist. Expressing interest does not mean emailing us daily, calling us weekly, or trying to visit campus (unless you need to visit to decide if it’s a place you want to remain on the waitlist). It does mean waiting for the gut reaction/sting to settle after finding out your decision and before opting into our waitlist in your portal. And if we get closer to, or even past, May 1 and you’re still thinking Spider thoughts, send us a quick email to say so. 
  • Keep up your grades up. The waitlist can stretch into the summer months, and it’s likely you may have even graduated if a call comes – we will be requesting final transcripts from all enrolled students, and an offer is still contingent upon continued progress from what we saw in that initial application. If you have updates to share (grad awards, end-of-year accolades, etc.), feel free to email them to us, but only if they were not part of your initial application and reveal something new that we didn’t know before.
  • Enroll elsewhere. The waitlist isn’t a sure bet. So, secure a spot at the university home of your choice from among your existing options. Start getting excited for that choice, and if a time comes where you really feel on solid footing with that school, you can always let us know and remove your name from the waitlist. We’ll return the favor; if there’s a point in the summer we know our class is filled, we’ll email to let you know. 
  • Exercise patience. The waitlist is a funny tool. We’re not the only one using it, so the ground can shift on us almost overnight as well. We might think our class is filled and then one of our common competitor schools goes to their waitlist, and suddenly students initially enrolled leave our class. This pattern can go on for weeks, if not months. We are constantly monitoring progress, too.
  • Check the Waitlist FAQs in Your Spider Portal. Hopefully this post gave you a little extra context, but we’ve tried to think through every question you may have and capture them in the FAQs in your portal. Give it a read before you reach out!