What does it mean to be waitlisted as a transfer applicant?

Applicants are offered our waitlist when, after several thorough reviews of their application, we aren’t able to offer them a place in the incoming class. The University of Michigan is consistently ranked as one of the top universities in the world, and admission is extremely competitive.

With a limited number of spaces, we are unable to admit all qualified applicants. However, some spaces become available after the enrollment deposit deadline. By agreeing to be placed on our waitlist, applicants may be offered admission when and if that happens.

What should I do next?

First, you need to decide whether you wish to accept the waitlist option or not. Please respond online through Enrollment Connect by May 1 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Once on Enrollment Connect, select "Reply to Waitlist Offer" under the Action Items menu. Then complete the form, indicating your response to our waitlist offer.

Waitlisted transfer students should move forward with plans to continue their post-secondary education elsewhere, as space to consider students from the waitlist will likely be limited.

We will not accept any additional documents (e.g., grades, awards, letters of continued interest) from you unless specifically requested, as they will not impact your final admissions decision.

When will I know if I've been admitted?

In a typical year, waitlisted transfer applicants are notified of their final admissions decision by the end of June.

How do you decide which waitlisted applicants you'll admit?

The waitlist is not rank ordered. If space becomes available to admit students from the waitlist, we will consider our initial evaluations of your application as we select candidates for admission. Since we invited you to be on our waitlist, we strongly believe that, if space were available, you could succeed at the University of Michigan.

Once we get a clear picture of how many admitted students have not met the enrollment deposit deadline, we'll know how many waitlisted applicants to whom we'll offer admission.