Tufts is highly-selective, and the acceptance rate for the class of 2029 was . They do hedge their bets, though, by maintaining a tradition of a long waitlist just in case there are unfilled gaps in the first-year class.

Tufts has actively used their waitlist in recent years. For the fall of 2024, 2,800 students were offered a spot on the waitlist and 991 chose to join the list. Of that group, a very high percentage were eventually accepted compared to comparably selective institutions: or 354 students. Of course, that is adjusted for who joined the list. If we account for all waitlisted students, the acceptance rate off the waitlist that year was 12.6%. This is still a stronger outcome for waitlisted students than most highly-selective schools.

If we look further back, we can see that there are some trends with the Tufts waitlist, but the outcomes aren’t always as optimistic. For the fall of 2023, 2,565 applicants were offered a place on the waitlist — a comparable number to the following year — and accepted the offer. Only 200 were accepted, which is 15% of the adjusted list but only 7.8% of the full pool of waitlisted students.

Just for the fun of it, and because we find numbers soothing, let’s look one more year back: admissions for fall 2022. Again, the number of students offered a spot on the waitlist remained about the same: . The number who elected to join the waitlist also stayed relatively steady: 1,328. The number of students eventually accepted also stayed steady at 183. This tells us that the most recently reported year, for fall 2024, was more of an outlier than the norm. When we really nerd out and go further back, there are is a recent year when Tufts accepted zero (yes, 0) students off of the waitlist and another only 8.

When we look at all of these numbers together, we can see that Tufts uses their waitlist but not nearly as actively as the most recently published Common Data Set suggests. This means that you can still get into Tufts after a waitlist decision, but it isn’t simple. Unfortunately, Tufts doesn’t help you out much, either.

Tufts does not broadcast much guidance as to how to deal with a waitlist decision, but we have learned what works through experience. Below, we break it down to help you (hopefully) achieve an acceptance.  

We help strong students beat being on the waitlist. Contact us to learn more.

Being offered a place on the Tufts waitlist isn’t a throw-away or a “soft no.” students are offered a waiting list spot than are admitted (which isn’t the case for every school), and it is possible to get into Tufts from the waitlist. That outcome isn’t achieved, though, by simply waiting to see what happens. You need to play an active role in your future, starting with these four steps.

Step One: Join the Tufts Waitlist

Being offered a spot on the waiting list isn’t the same as actually being on the waitlist. It’s like being offered a train ticket, but you need to board to take the ride. Now, it’s time to get on the train. Follow the instructions in the decision you received from Tufts to join the waitlist, then move on to step two.

Step Two: Pick a College

Once you are on the Tufts waitlist, you need to get a solid back-up plan. Tufts uses their waitlist, but the odds of getting in are low — and you don’t know if it’s going to be a 15% year or a year when no one gets in at all. So, you need to treat the end of your college admissions process like Tufts is out of the picture, at least for Step Two.

This means confirming your intention to attend your top choice school from the options you were accepted by, even if you aren’t all that excited about any of them. This can sting, as it certainly wasn’t the plan, but it’s also 100% required.

Step Three: Update Tufts

Tufts doesn’t have an FAQ for waitlisted students or even a recent admissions blog post about what students who receive a waitlist decision should do. However, we also know that Tufts appreciates direct communication. So, we’re going to use that as our guide here.

The best thing that you can do for your chances with Tufts right now is to write a Letter of Continued Interest, or a LOCI. And the best thing you can do in this letter is to be direct. These are the five sections, then, that your 1-page LOCI should have: 

Opening: The opening of the LOCI should be structured like a letter, “Dear Tufts Admissions,” and name your regional admissions rep if you have ever communicated with them previously as they will probably be the one to assess this letter first. Next, you need three sentences: one introducing yourself and your status as a waitlisted student, the second confirming that Tufts remains your first-choice school, and the last setting the intention for this letter: to update, to reinforce, and possibly to explain.

Update: It is really important that you spotlight 2-4 things that have happened in your life — academic and extracurricular — since submitting your application to Tufts. These updates should be relevant to your prospective area of study or the extracurriculars you emphasized in your application, but there is one overarching theme that we guide our students toward regardless of interests: community. The number one thing we see missing in the applications of waitlisted Tufts applicants is how they lean on and, in turn, support those around them. So, it is completely critical that you rectify this in the LOCI by putting community at the center of your update.

Explain: Tufts has a that outlines some of the unfortunately common icks they see in applications that aren’t immediately a reason for saying no but may well push an otherwise strong applicant to the waitlist. Tufts is quick to forgive a grammatical error or two, but if you named the wrong college in your “Why Tufts?” essay or recycled writing from your personal statement those are really massive faux pas. If you let your grades drop at the start of senior year, also known as senioritis, that’s also a major problem that needs to be addressed in this letter and in the updated and improved transcript you ask your school to send. Don’t make an excuse, and you don’t need to find something to write about here if there isn’t anything that stands out to you to address, but we can also help you assess whether there are issues that Tufts will want an explanation for. 

Reinforce: Whether or not you had something (or somethings) to address, the reinforce paragraph is super important and applicable to all. Tufts wants to feel your enthusiasm not just for the university, but for the specific program you hope to pursue. Write 3-4 sentences specifically speaking to what it is in the Tufts program that you love, such as a professor, a research program, or another unique educational opportunity.

Close: Remember that this letter needs to be only one-page in size 12 font with standard margins, so the conclusion typically needs to be quite compact. Like in the opening, write three sentences here. Start with thanking Tufts for your time and consideration. Next, restate that you will enroll if accepted. Remember, this isn’t a legally binding statement, but it is immensely important to say. Finally, write a fun sentence looking forward to hopefully being on campus and celebrating a certain tradition, gathering in a particular place, or otherwise being part of the Tufts community.

Step Four: Wait it Out

The last step is the most boring and, honestly, frustrating: waiting it out. You need to submit your LOCI by mid-April, and then you have weeks to wait until Tufts will even look at your application or read your LOCI. And, of course, whether they assess your application again at all depends on the actions of others. If every seat is filled by accepted students, which has happened in previous years, they will not even turn to the waitlist. However, if there is space, we want to make sure that you are the applicant they seek to find a spot for.

Applying to college is stressful, and a waitlist decision is understandably upsetting. It isn’t the end of the world, though, and there are things that you can do to increase your chances of acceptance. We can help.

We make handling a waitlist decision easy. Email us to learn more.