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

Cornell is the largest and most structurally complex school in the Ivy League and the institution with the most active waitlist of any top-ten university in the country. Cornell received 72,523 applications for the Class of 2029, a record, and admitted 6,077, an acceptance rate of 8.38%. The Early Decision acceptance rate was 18.78% and the Regular Decision rate was 6.70%. Cornell's yield rate for the Class of 2028 was approximately 64%. The university enrolls roughly 3,500 first-year students annually, the largest entering class in the Ivy League.

Cornell's waitlist is, by a substantial margin, the most active in the Ivy League. The admissions office states that over the past four years, an average of approximately 5,900 applicants have confirmed a place on Cornell's waitlist each year, and that during this time they have admitted as many as 362 students and as few as 24. For the Class of 2028, Cornell admitted 388 students from 6,190 confirmed waitlist spots, a 6.27% waitlist acceptance rate. For the Class of 2027, 362 were admitted from 6,166 confirmed, a rate of 5.9%. The low point in recent years was the Class of 2025 at 0.4%, when yield spiked during the pandemic. But in most years, Cornell admits hundreds of students from the waitlist, far more than any other Ivy. Brown averaged approximately 100 per year, and every other Ivy is well below that. Cornell's waitlist is not decorative. It is a core enrollment management tool at a scale that reflects the university's size.

Confirm your place on the waitlist through your Applicant Portal promptly. If you do not confirm, you will not be considered when spots open. The waitlist is unranked.

Commit to another school before May 1. Cornell's waitlist decisions typically begin in mid-May and can continue into June or July. With roughly 5,900 students confirmed on the waitlist, do not leave yourself without a seat in a first-year class.
Write a letter of continued interest and upload it through the Applicant Portal. Cornell explicitly welcomes updated materials from waitlisted students, and the admissions office provides specific guidance: your LOCI should focus on the specific college or school you applied to and why it continues to be a compelling program through which to pursue your academic interests. This can include information about relevant summer plans, Cornell programs of interest, and any substantial updates since you submitted your application. Write up to 650 words. Make it a love letter to the specific Cornell college you applied to. Not a brag sheet. Not a resume update. Not a list of other schools that admitted you.

This is the most strategically important point in the entire process: Cornell's admissions office explicitly instructs waitlisted students to focus their LOCI on the specific college or school they applied to. Cornell admits students to one of eight undergraduate colleges and schools, and your candidacy is evaluated within the context of that college. Waitlist movement depends in part on where yield shortfalls occur across those colleges. A student waitlisted at the Hotel School competes within the Hotel School waitlist pool. A student waitlisted at Engineering competes within Engineering's pool. Your LOCI must be anchored in your specific college and demonstrate deep knowledge of and genuine enthusiasm for the programs within it.
Cornell's eight undergraduate colleges are the College of Arts and Sciences (the largest liberal arts college at any Ivy League university, with more than 40 majors and 60 minors), the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business (housing the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management and the School of Hotel Administration, arguably the most famous hospitality program in the world), the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (a statutory college with programs in biology, environmental science, food science, plant sciences, animal science, and development sociology), the College of Human Ecology (a statutory college with programs in design and environmental analysis, human development, policy analysis and management, and nutritional sciences), the Cornell David A. Duffield College of Engineering (with 14 engineering majors and a culture of interdisciplinary research), the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (the only undergraduate school of its kind in the country, with programs in labor economics, organizational behavior, human resources, labor law, and conflict resolution), the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy (Cornell's newest undergraduate college, offering a major in public policy), and the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (with programs in architecture, fine arts, and urban and regional studies). Each has its own admissions committee, academic requirements, and culture.

Have your school submit updated grades by sending an official grade report to support@admissions.cornell.edu. This is a specific instruction from the Cornell admissions office. Make sure your counselor sends your most recent transcript promptly.
Do not send additional letters of recommendation. Cornell states directly that additional letters of recommendation are discouraged. One LOCI and updated grades are the right submissions.

After your letter is submitted, your guidance counselor should contact the admissions office to communicate that Cornell is your top choice and that you will enroll if admitted. Cornell has deep relationships with high school counselors nationwide, and counselor advocacy is a recognized part of the admissions process. A brief, credible call reinforces the signal that your interest is genuine.

Keep your grades up. Cornell's acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was 8.38% and the RD rate was 6.70%. Updated grades are specifically requested by the admissions office, and a dip in performance can hurt your standing on the waitlist. Continue performing at the level that made you competitive here.