Waitlisted from Brown: What to Do

If Brown University just placed you on the waitlist, you are navigating the waitlist at the Ivy League institution most defined by a single academic philosophy and the school whose Open Curriculum creates a student experience that is fundamentally different from every other university in this tier. Brown received 42,765 applications for the Class of 2029 and admitted 2,418, an acceptance rate of approximately 5.65%. Of those, 907 were admitted through Early Decision in December and 1,511 through Regular Decision. The admitted students came from every U.S. state and 167 countries. Brown's yield rate for the Class of 2029 was 73%, a significant jump from the 65% yield for the Class of 2028, which directly impacts how much the waitlist moves in any given year.

Brown's waitlist data over the last decade shows one of the more active waitlists in the Ivy League, but with enormous year-to-year volatility. For the Class of 2028, Brown admitted 118 students from the waitlist, the second-highest figure in the Ivy League that year behind Cornell. For the Class of 2026, only 15 were admitted. For the Class of 2024, 194 were admitted (pandemic-influenced). On average, Brown has admitted approximately 100 students per year from the waitlist over the last decade, which places it well ahead of Yale, Dartmouth, Princeton, and Penn in terms of raw numbers. But the 73% yield for the Class of 2029, up sharply from 65% the year prior, suggests that the Class of 2029 waitlist may have moved significantly less than the Class of 2028. When yield spikes, the list contracts. When it dips, the list expands.

Accept Your Place on the Waitlist

Brown requires you to confirm your interest in remaining on the waitlist through the Brown Applicant Portal. If you do not accept your spot, you will not be considered for admission if space opens. The waitlist is unranked. Respond by the deadline Brown provides, but do not panic if it takes you a few days. You will not be penalized for not responding on the same day you receive the offer.

Commit to Another School Before May 1

Deposit at another school. Brown's waitlist activity begins after the May 1 national reply deadline and can continue through mid-summer. There are likely more than 1,000 students on the waitlist. Only a few dozen to 100+ will be admitted, depending on yield. Do not leave yourself without a seat in a first-year class.

Write a Letter of Continued Interest

Brown accepts letters of continued interest from waitlisted students. Upload your LOCI directly through the Brown Applicant Portal. Brown does not accept updates or LOCIs by email, so the portal is the only official channel for submitting additional materials. Write up to 650 words. Make it a love letter to Brown. 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 Brown community and why this specific university, with its specific academic philosophy and culture, is where you belong.

Brown's identity is built on several distinctive pillars, and your letter should engage with them directly.

The first and most defining is the Open Curriculum. Brown has no core requirements, no distribution requirements, and no mandatory courses of any kind. Students design their own academic paths entirely, choosing from more than 80 concentrations (Brown's term for majors) across the humanities, social sciences, sciences, and engineering. Every course can be taken for a grade or on a satisfactory/no credit basis, and students can take courses purely for intellectual exploration without risk to their GPA. The Open Curriculum is not the absence of a curriculum. It is a philosophical commitment to the idea that students learn best when they have the freedom and responsibility to direct their own education. Brown's supplemental essay asks applicants directly about their academic interests and how they would pursue them at Brown, and the admissions committee evaluates applicants in part based on how they engage with this question. Your LOCI should extend that engagement. The student who can articulate why the Open Curriculum is philosophically essential to how they learn, not just convenient or flexible, is the student Brown was built for. This is the fifth open-curriculum school in this series (alongside Amherst, Vassar, Hamilton, and Wesleyan), but Brown's version is the most radical: no distribution requirements at all, combined with the S/NC grading option for every course. If you are drawn to Brown because you want to combine fields that do not typically intersect, because you want to take intellectual risks without the constraint of requirements, and because you believe the responsibility of designing your own education is itself a form of learning, name the specific courses, departments, and interdisciplinary pathways that excite you.

The second is the Brown-RISD dual degree program. Brown's partnership with the Rhode Island School of Design, located adjacent to Brown's campus in Providence, allows a small number of students to pursue a five-year dual degree earning both a Brown A.B. and a RISD B.F.A. This is one of the most distinctive programs in American higher education, combining a world-class liberal arts education with a world-class art and design education. Even students not in the dual degree program can cross-register for courses at RISD. If you are an artist, designer, or creative thinker whose intellectual interests span both the liberal arts and the studio arts, the Brown-RISD connection is a genuinely unique LOCI anchor.

The third is the research infrastructure and the emphasis on undergraduate engagement. Brown is a top research university (AAU member) with particular strengths in public health, brain science (the Carney Institute for Brain Science), applied mathematics, literary arts, computer science, and engineering. The Undergraduate Teaching and Research Awards (UTRAs) provide funding for students to work with faculty on research during the academic year and summer. The culture of undergraduate research at Brown is not an add-on. It is integrated into the academic experience in ways that the Open Curriculum facilitates: without distribution requirements consuming course slots, students have more room to pursue research-intensive independent study. If specific labs, research centers, faculty, or interdisciplinary programs draw you to Brown, name them.

The fourth is Providence and the broader setting. Brown's campus sits on College Hill in Providence, Rhode Island, a city with a vibrant arts, food, and cultural scene that has become increasingly prominent in recent years. Providence is significantly smaller than New York, Boston, or Philadelphia, and the scale of the city means that Brown students are integrated into the community rather than swallowed by it. The city's creative economy, anchored in part by RISD and Brown's own creative arts programs, gives Providence a distinctive cultural identity. Boston is roughly an hour away by car or train. If Providence-specific opportunities or the relationship between the university and the city are part of your draw, connect them to your plans.

The fifth is the culture and community. Brown enrolls approximately 7,200 undergraduates and maintains a campus culture that is known for intellectual curiosity, social engagement, progressive values, and genuine warmth. The university competes in Ivy League Division I athletics across 34 varsity sports. Over 500 student organizations span every imaginable interest. Brown's culture is shaped by the Open Curriculum: because students choose to be in every class, the energy in the classroom is distinctive. There is no resentment over mandatory courses. Every student in every seminar is there because they want to be. If that culture of chosen engagement, of intellectual community built on freedom rather than obligation, is part of what draws you, articulate what it means to you.

Do not brag. Do not list your accomplishments in the body of the letter. Upload the letter through the portal promptly after accepting your waitlist spot. The primacy effect matters.

Have Your Guidance Counselor Make an Advocacy Call

After your letter is submitted, your guidance counselor should contact the admissions office to communicate that Brown 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

Brown's acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was approximately 5.65%. The academic profile of admitted students is among the strongest in the Ivy League. Continue performing at the level that made you competitive. Updated transcripts can be submitted through the portal.

If you'd like help maximizing your chances of getting off the waitlist and into your current top-choice colleges, schedule a free consultation with an admissions expert today.