D26 was waitlisted as well as at Bowdoin and wondering our chances.
It is hard to say, in some years only a handful were admitted off the waitlist and the Record article notes that they eventually admitted 25 from the wait list last year. It depends on the yield and even during the summer “melt” some admitted students end up going to other schools or pursuing other options which leaves a few more spots open. The Amherst admissions director was quoted in the recent Atlantic article saying that when Amherst applicants also get accepted to Yale, they generally go to Yale instead, so there is a lot of movement where any overlaps end up getting in at schools like Yale or Harvard’s wait list. I Assume its similar at Bowdoin, but because Bowdoin may have a lower yield, that would suggest more waitlisted students are ultimately accepted.
In the spirit of teaching you and others to find this data, we can use the common data sets (CDS)!
Williams 2025-26 CDS (class of 2029), Q C2 shows they admitted 25 students off the waitlist for class of 2030. That’s the admit number (no idea how many open spots they had to fill, or how many people said yes.) Waitlist yield really depends on how late they make the offers, which can be as late as one week before classes start (which could be after classes start elsewhere.)
Bowdoin’s CDS shows they accepted 5 students off the waitlist. If I had to guess, they had 1, maybe 2 spots to fill. But waitlist activity can and does vary from year to year, you can look at previous years’ CDSs if interested in establishing a trend line. Bottom line: have your kid get excited about the school they are going to deposit at by May 1.
We don’t have to guess about yield either, we can use the CDS for this too.
Williams Class of 2029:
- Overall yield was 43.7% (584 enrolled/1336 admitted from Q C1).
- Williams admitted 256 students (964 apps) in ED (Q C21)
- RD yield, assuming 100% ED yield, was 30.3%. Math: 328 RD students enrolled (584 total - 256 ED)/ 1080 RD admitted (1336-256).
Bowdoin Class of 2029:
- Overall yield was 53.8% (515 enrolled/957 admitted, C1)
- Bowdoin admitted 296 in ED (C21)
- RD yield, again assuming 100% of 296 ED admits enrolled, is 33.1% (219 RD enrolled/661 admitted)
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Also, just saw this ranking of the schools with top finance salaries and Williams is listed:
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Here is a recent article from Ivy Coach on the Williams waitlist acceptance rate:
What Is Williams College’s Waitlist Acceptance Rate? | Class of 2030
Just saw this articles from Forbes about how liberals arts colleges like Bowdoin and Williams saw a surge in applications suggesting that there in increasing interest in top tier LACs notwithstanding the general decline in the student population.
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Great to see this, here is the article, it mentions that Williams is often considered the “West Point of Wall Street” in terms of the percentage of grads heading into finance which is higher than Wesleyan, Amherst, Yale or Harvard. Future admits interested in finance should take a close look at the Econ offerings and professors. Econ department is very effective at supporting econ majors pathways to Econ phds or financing/consulting jobs.
Class of 2025 employment remains strong despite tight job market – The Williams Record
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Also, did anyone go to previews? I heard the weather was not great and Amherst had theirs a week before when the sun was shining, hopefully future Ephs will not be deterred!
S24 said it was packed on campus
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Weather was atrocious. My friend’s kid still committed, and my ED kid is still all in!
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Interesting how weather can impact the yield rate, there was an Amherst study on this that was referenced in the WSJ. Hopefully the new museum and athletic complex will be an attraction. Spring Street also has its appeal.
Just saw this list of the top schools with application surges with Williams noted for one of the largest percentage app increases this year:
Here is the Ivy Coach summary of the 2030 Admissions Cycle for Williams:
Williams College Class of 2030 Admissions Statistics | Ivy Coach
D26 just got off the waitlist and is now committed to Williams. Very unexpected but exciting.
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Congratulations! Great to see some movement off the wait list. Hope the summer is a nice break before Ephventures. So much to look forward to!
Just saw this, Williams campus ranked in top 20: