If you were recently waitlisted to the Columbia University Class of 2029, you’re likely wondering if you’ve got a legitimate shot of receiving an offer of admission over these next weeks. In the back of your mind, you might be considering your waitlist decision akin to a rejection. But is it? You’ve got questions. We at Ivy Coach have got answers.

Columbia Waitlist Acceptance Rates and Statistics

Unlike every other highly selective university in America, Columbia went years not publishing its Common Data Sets, which we find unacceptable. 

As Ivy Coach’s loyal readers know all too well, in 2022, Columbia got caught with its hand in the cookie jar misreporting data to US News & World Report, shadiness uncovered by a Columbia mathematics professor that led to the school’s unprecedented tumble in the 2023 US News ranking from a tie for #2 to #18 and the school’s announced withdrawal from the 2024 ranking.

So while we publish the waitlist data for almost every highly selective university, Columbia’s waitlist admissions statistics are unavailable (Harvard doesn’t release waitlist figures but at least regularly publishes its Common Data Sets). Indeed, even though Columbia released Common Data Sets for the Classes of 2026 and 2027 — likely in response to its misreporting scandal — the school neglected to include its waitlist figures in their Common Data Sets, as though the Ivy League school either couldn’t go to the trouble of featuring three numbers or preferred to be cagey.

Either way, it’s not ok. But, hey, it’s not like everything is ok at Columbia University right now. Just days ago, the federal government threatened to withhold $400m in funding since the school has not been able to control rampant antisemitism on its campus (the school subsequently caved but it remains to be seen if Columbia’s seemingly apathetic administration can rescue the university from the most disgraceful moment in its centuries-long history).

Columbia University Class Year	Number of Students Waitlisted to Columbia	Number of Students Who Chose to Join Columbia Waitlist	Number of Students Accepted Off Columbia Waitlist	Columbia Waitlist Acceptance Rate
Columbia Class of 2029	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
Columbia Class of 2028	Not Published	Not Published	Not Published	Not Published
Columbia Class of 2027	Not Published	Not Published	Not Published	Not Published
Columbia Class of 2026	Not Published	Not Published	Not Published	Not Published

Your Chances of Admission to Columbia University After Being Waitlisted

While Columbia reprehensibly fails to disclose its waitlist data through the years through its release to the Common Data Set, students who first approach Ivy Coach after being waitlisted by Columbia regularly earn admission to the Morningside Heights-based institution. So, yes, Columbia regularly admits students off its waitlist. If Columbia has waitlisted you, it’s no time to cut bait. Instead, you’re at the one-yard line, and it’s time to make one more giant, savvy push.

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

Over the last 10 years, approximately 41% of students who first approach Ivy Coach after being placed on the Columbia waitlist have earned admission.

These students have earned admission by following Ivy Coach’s two-step process, which goes as follows:

• Complete Ivy Coach’s PostMortem application review. We need to comb through how you positioned your candidacy so we know what you did right, what you did wrong, and what you should and shouldn’t lean into when approaching your response to the waitlist decision.
• Submit a compelling Letter of Continued Interest to Columbia. An ordinary letter, filled with brags and updates on everything you’ve achieved in the few months since you first applied, won’t suffice. Ivy Coach’s are wonderfully weird. They’re filled with no brags and no updates. They’re instead persuasive love letters to Columbia that position students in the best possible light.

Getting Started with Ivy Coach on Columbia Waitlist

If you’re interested in optimizing your case for admission after being placed on the dreaded waitlist to the Class of 2029, fill out Ivy Coach’s consultation form, indicate that you’ve been placed on the Columbia waitlist, and we’ll be in touch to delineate our services for waitlisted candidates. It’s a service that is led by Ivy Coach’s very own Jen Duran, a former Columbia University admissions officer.