All hope is not lost if you or your child were waitlisted to the Amherst College Class of 2029. You’ve come to the right place to review the actions you can (and should!) take right now to optimize the odds that you make it off of the waitlist and onto this pristine liberal arts campus!

Amherst College Waitlist Acceptance Rate and Statistics

Combining over two decades of waitlist data drawn from Amherst’s Common Data Set, the chart below should begin to give you a picture of the fate that awaits waitlisted applicants to the Class of 2029:

Amherst College Class Year	Number of Students Waitlisted to Amherst	Number of Students Who Chose to Join the Amherst Waitlist	Number of Students Accepted Off the Amherst Waitlist	Amherst Waitlist Acceptance Rate
Class of 2029	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
Class of 2028	1,105	623	8	1.28%
Class of 2027	924	599	47	7.85%
Class of 2026	1,419	902	36	3.99%
Class of 2025	1,285	788	0	0.00%
Class of 2024	1,640	1,081	7	0.65%
Class of 2023	1,447	762	48	6.30%
Class of 2022	1,462	836	0	0.00%
Class of 2021	1,144	590	60	10.17%
Class of 2020	1,269	582	3	0.52%
Class of 2019	1,398	643	33	5.13%
Class of 2018	1,341	600	61	10.17%
Class of 2017	1,529	659	49	7.44%
Class of 2016	1,430	597	80	13.40%
Class of 2015	1,219	564	29	5.14%
Class of 2014	1,098	471	3	0.64%
Class of 2013	1,217	562	0	0.00%
Class of 2012	1,832	806	37	4.59%
Class of 2011	1,462	574	0	0.00%
Class of 2010	1,261	565	2	0.35%
Class of 2009	1,162	506	0	0.00%
Class of 2008	1,023	414	78	18.84%
Class of 2007	940	411	72	17.52%

Your Chances of Amherst Admission After Being Waitlisted

Despite your best efforts, you’re probably unsure what to make of the waitlist acceptance rate data listed above. After all, it’s full of some pretty wide variation — from 0% some years (like for the Class of 2025) to nearly 20% during others. What the Class of 2029 will be like is largely the luck of the draw, as waitlist acceptance is entirely determined by yield rate.

Yield rate is a college admissions term for the ratio of admitted students who end up enrolling. Amherst College is deeply concerned with maintaining a high yield to boost its rankings in such publications as the U.S. News & World Report (the school regularly ranks #2 behind Williams College for “Best Liberal Arts Colleges.” Some years, Amherst’s admissions officers overestimate the number of admitted students who actually want to wind up there. It’s only during these years that Amherst admissions officers dip into the waitlist.

There’s no telling whether this current admissions cycle will prove to be one in which Amherst overshoots its yield rate, but you need not concern yourself with that. All you should be worrying about right now is how to put your best foot forward to optimize the odds that you or your child will make it off the waitlist. Here’s how you can do just that:

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

Our students who come to us after being waitlisted and go on to earn admission off the Amherst waitlist all complete Ivy Coach’s two-step process for waitlisted candidates, which includes:

1. A PostMortem application review in which we review every component of a student’s Common Application and Amherst supplement. We first need to examine how students presented themselves to Amherst since how they present themselves after being waitlisted can’t be inconsistent with that narrative. It must be much more compelling, strengthened by a powerful singular hook.
2. Submit a wow Letter of Continued Interest. Most students are inclined to brag and update a school that has waitlisted them on all they’ve achieved in the few months since they applied. It’s an unlikely strategy to beat the waitlist. Ivy Coach’s students submit wonderfully weird letters based on our secret sauce recipes — which are delicious.

Getting Started with Ivy Coach on the Amherst Waitlist

If you’re interested in giving yourself the best shot of earning admission to Amherst from the waitlist, fill out Ivy Coach’s complimentary consultation form and indicate that you’ve been placed on Amherst’s waitlist. We’ll then be in touch to go through our waitlist services.