I got waitlisted from Georgetown. What should I do now?

Georgetown is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit university in the United States, and its location in Washington, D.C. shapes every dimension of the academic experience. Georgetown received approximately 26,800 applications for the Class of 2029 and admitted 3,200, an acceptance rate of 12%. The Early Action rate was 11% and the Regular Decision rate was 12.31%. Unlike most elite schools, Georgetown intentionally maintains roughly equal acceptance rates between its early and regular rounds. The university's yield rate has approached 79% for the Class of 2028, higher than every Ivy League school except Harvard, which directly constrains how much the waitlist moves.

Georgetown publishes detailed waitlist data through the Common Data Set, and the numbers over 24 years show a school that regularly uses its waitlist in widely varying amounts. For the Class of 2028, 163 students were admitted from 2,023 confirmed waitlist spots, an 8.06% waitlist acceptance rate. For the Class of 2027, 93 were admitted from 1,611 (5.8%). For the Class of 2026, 40 were admitted from 1,804 (2.2%). The 24-year average is approximately 98 students admitted per year, with a decade-average acceptance rate of approximately 6.1%. The range spans from as few as 16 (Class of 2022) to 275 (Class of 2024, pandemic-influenced). Georgetown has turned to its waitlist in nearly every published year, but the depth varies dramatically based on yield.

Confirm your interest in remaining on the waitlist through the applicant portal or as directed in your waitlist letter. If you do not confirm, you will not be considered when spots open.

Commit to another school before May 1. Georgetown's Admissions Committee typically meets during the first two weeks of May to consider waitlist candidates, with decisions communicated shortly thereafter. Activity can continue into the summer. Do not leave yourself without a seat in a first-year class.

Write a letter of continued interest and submit it by email to your regional admissions counselor or through the online applicant portal. Keep it to approximately 300 to 500 words. Make it a love letter to Georgetown. Not a brag sheet. Not a resume update. Not a list of other schools that admitted you. A letter that makes the reader understand exactly who you will be in the Georgetown community and why this specific university, with its specific mission and setting, is where you belong.
Georgetown's identity is built on several distinctive pillars, and your letter should engage with them directly. The first and most defining is the Jesuit identity and the principle of cura personalis, the care of the whole person. Georgetown is a Jesuit institution, and the Jesuit intellectual tradition emphasizes education of the whole person, care for others, reflection, service, and the pursuit of justice. Cura personalis is not a slogan. It is the organizing philosophy of the advising system, residential life, and academic curriculum. The theology requirement, two courses for all undergraduates, reflects the university's commitment to engaging with questions of meaning, ethics, and faith regardless of a student's own religious background. If you are drawn to Georgetown because of the Jesuit mission, because you want an education that integrates intellectual rigor with moral reflection and a commitment to service, articulate what that means to you specifically. The student who can engage with the Jesuit tradition as a living intellectual framework rather than a historical footnote is the student Georgetown was built for.

The second is Washington, D.C. Georgetown's campus sits in the Georgetown neighborhood of the capital, and the relationship between the university and the city is the most distinctive feature of any school in this series outside of Columbia's relationship with New York. Washington is not an amenity. It is the academic and professional environment. The federal government, the World Bank, the IMF, embassies, think tanks, lobbying firms, media organizations, nonprofits, and international organizations are all within a short commute. Georgetown students intern at the White House, on Capitol Hill, at the State Department, at the Supreme Court, at Brookings, and at hundreds of other organizations that exist because they are in Washington. If D.C.-specific career, research, policy, or cultural opportunities are part of what draws you, connect them to your specific plans with the same specificity you would bring to any other LOCI anchor.

The third is the four-school undergraduate structure. Georgetown admits students to one of four undergraduate schools: Georgetown College (the liberal arts college and the largest), the Walsh School of Foreign Service (one of the most prestigious international affairs programs in the world), the McDonough School of Business, and the School of Nursing and Health Studies. Your LOCI must be anchored in the specific school you applied to. If you applied to SFS, engage with the international affairs curriculum and the global opportunities that Washington uniquely enables. If you applied to Georgetown College, engage with the liberal arts tradition and the core curriculum, including the theology requirement and the philosophy sequence. If you applied to McDonough, engage with the business curriculum and the professional pipelines. If you applied to Nursing, engage with the clinical and public health dimensions of the program. Waitlist movement may be partly driven by yield shortfalls within specific schools, so demonstrating deep fit within your school is the most important strategic move you can make.

The fourth is the academic culture of dialogue across difference. Georgetown's student body is more politically and ideologically diverse than most elite universities, and the Jesuit commitment to open inquiry means the campus culture values debate and engagement with perspectives different from one's own. The Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service brings political practitioners to campus. The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs supports research on the intersection of religion and global affairs. If you are drawn to Georgetown because you want a campus where intellectual debate is genuinely pluralistic and where the culture of discourse reflects the city's political ecosystem, say so.
The fifth is the service commitment. Georgetown's motto is "Utraque Unum" (Both into One), and the Jesuit emphasis on being men and women for others translates into a campus-wide culture of service. The Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching, and Service connects students with community engagement throughout D.C. and beyond. If service is part of your identity and part of why you want to be at Georgetown, connect it to the Jesuit mission and to the opportunities Washington provides.

Do not brag. Do not list your accomplishments in the body of the letter. Submit the letter promptly after accepting your waitlist spot. The primacy effect matters. Georgetown also does not want additional letters of recommendation from waitlisted students. Your LOCI is the appropriate communication.

After your letter is submitted, your guidance counselor should contact the admissions office to communicate that Georgetown is your top choice and that you will enroll if admitted. A brief, credible call reinforces the signal that your interest is genuine. Keep your grades up. Georgetown's acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was 12%, and strong senior-year performance strengthens your candidacy.