Beyond Your Campus: COVID’s Impact on 4-Year Wait Lists

Data from the Annual Survey of Colleges highlights the changes in the use of admissions waiting lists since the start of the pandemic. In the first year, there was a significant increase in the number of institutions utilizing a waiting list given the high levels of uncertainty. In the years following, while fewer institutions have been utilizing waiting lists, there have been increases in the average number of students on waiting lists, at both public and private institutions.

In 2019, the last admissions cycle before the covid-19 pandemic:

• 1 out of 7 private nonprofits and 1 out of 9 public four-year institutions reported going to their waiting lists to build their first-time, first-year cohorts.
• Private nonprofits offered almost 1,400 students a place on their waiting lists compared to 2,450 for public institutions.

In 2020, the first admissions cycle impacted by the covid-19 pandemic:

• 11% more four-year institutions offered a waiting list.
• The average number of students offered a place on a private nonprofit waiting list decreased by 3%, but the size of public waiting lists increased by 43%.

In fall 2021 and 2022:

• The number of private nonprofit and public institutions offering waiting lists rebounded in 2022 after sharp declines in 2021.
• However, the average number of students offered a place on waiting lists increased at much lower rates in 2022 than in 2021 for both sectors.

Private Nonprofit Institutions: COVID’s impact on Four-Year Waiting Lists 

Public Institutions: COVID’s impact on Four-Year Waiting Lists