Nursing School Waitlist and Alternate List Guide

Nursing School Waitlist and Alternate List Guide

A nursing school waitlist is a queue that moves when admitted students decline or drop out. At Emory's nurse anesthesia program it can move up to the first day of orientation. At Emory and Villanova an unconverted spot does not roll over: Emory requires waitlisted applicants who are not selected to reapply, and Villanova offers a streamlined reapplication.

Our view: being reachable and ready to pay a deposit matters more than any letter. Seats open because someone else says no, and the offer can come with a short clock: Edgewood's CRNA deposit is due within seven days. A letter of continued interest is worth sending only when you have real news or a real commitment, and the "first choice" line goes to one program.

Every program page quoted below was checked on November 7, 2026.

What the list means at each kind of program

Duke's old ABSN admissions address now opens the Master of Nursing page, and the MGH Institute of Health Professions is now Mass General Brigham University of Health Professions, as its own page says.

Three kinds of list sit in that table:

1. A numbered list. Villanova tells you your position. You know exactly how many people must decline before you.
2. A formula list. Indiana ranks applicants: "Students are ranked in order of this prerequisite GPA (Admission Score)." Your place comes from a number. A letter cannot change a GPA.
3. A committee list. Emory, Detroit Mercy, both Duke programs and Mass General Brigham describe a list without publishing an order. UNMC's list is per campus and adds a second option, a campus with seats left.

How long it moves

Only Indiana names what opens a seat, and only Emory names an end date. Indiana says waitlisted students "may be offered a seat if space becomes available, such as when admitted students decline their offer or do not meet final enrollment requirements." Emory says decisions come "up to the first day of orientation."

Each CRNA program's decision window and waitlist wording is in the CRNA interview format and timeline by program table.

No page in the table publishes how many people come off its list in a typical year. A waitlist "success rate" quoted for any of these programs is not coming from the program's own page.

What the pages do say is what happens if the list never reaches you:

• Emory: "A wait listed student who is not selected for the cohort for which they interviewed will be required to reapply. Being on the wait list does not guarantee admission for the subsequent year. Applicants will be limited to two interviews."
• Villanova: "Applicants who are not admitted from the waitlist may reapply for a future cohort through a streamlined application process. Placement on the waitlist does not guarantee admission to a subsequent cohort."

At Emory, a waitlist that does not convert uses one of your two interviews. Count that before you decide how hard to prepare for next year.

Should you send a letter of continued interest?

None of the 8 program pages in the table asks for a letter of continued interest or bans one. So the decision is yours, and the rule we recommend is simple.

Our recommendation: send one short letter of continued interest if you have at least one of these:

• News the program does not have: a CCRN pass, a new ICU role, a final prerequisite grade. Grades go through NursingCAS first, as the nursing school update guide explains.
• A commitment you mean: you would enroll if offered a seat. Say "first choice" only to one program.

Do not send one at Indiana-style formula lists; the ranking is your prerequisite GPA. Do not send one when you have neither news nor a commitment: a letter that only repeats your interest adds nothing the waitlist decision did not already record.

The countercase: at a committee list where the program has invited updates or says nothing, and your news is significant (a CCRN pass at a program where it was encouraged), one letter is worth sending even with no commitment. Keep it to the news.

Writing a "letter of intent" instead? In nursing that phrase can mean three different documents; see the letter of intent for nursing school guide before you write.

A constructed LOCI (ABSN and CRNA versions)

Constructed examples, written by us, not real applicants' letters. Names, programs and dates are invented.

Constructed example: ABSN letter of continued interest

Subject: Continued interest, accelerated BSN waitlist, Ana Ruiz

Dear Admissions Committee,

Thank you for placing me on the waitlist for the January cohort. I am writing with one update and one commitment.

Since I applied, I completed Microbiology with lab with an A, and the grade is now in my NursingCAS Academic Update. I have also finished a 120-hour nursing assistant course and started working weekend shifts on a medical-surgical unit.

Your program is my first choice. If a seat opens, I will accept it and pay the enrollment deposit the same week. I can be reached at the phone number and email on my application, and I check both daily.

Thank you for considering me.

Sincerely, Ana Ruiz

Constructed example: CRNA letter of continued interest

Subject: Continued interest, nurse anesthesia waitlist, Santiago Laine

Dear Dr. Madsen and the Admissions Committee,

Thank you for the interview in October and for placing me on the waitlist. I want to share one update. I passed the CCRN exam on November 18, and I have taken charge nurse shifts in our cardiothoracic ICU since September, including two open-heart recoveries a week.

If I am offered a seat, I will accept it, submit the seat deposit within your deadline, and arrange my notice at work in time for orientation.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely, Santiago Laine, RN, CCRN

The CRNA letter does not say "first choice." Santiago is holding another program's offer, so the honest commitment is "I will accept," not a ranking. Both letters stay well under 200 words, give the program a fact it did not have, and say how fast the applicant can answer.

Plan B while you wait

Waitlists and deposits run on different clocks. All five deposits below are non-refundable, and Edgewood's is due within seven days:

So: if you hold an offer elsewhere, pay that deposit by its deadline. It is the price of holding a seat while your waitlist spot stays open. Decide now which waitlist you would leave a paid seat for. The multiple nursing school acceptances and deposits guide covers how to decline a seat cleanly if a better offer comes.

If the list closes without an offer, plan the next application now. Emory says "The interview committee may offer suggestions for future preparation to qualified candidates." Ask for that feedback once, using the CRNA rejection feedback email, then see reapplying to nursing school after rejection. CRNA reapplicants should read how to reuse a CRNA personal statement before rewriting.

Questions about nursing school waitlists

What does "alternate" mean on a nursing school decision?

At Detroit Mercy's nurse anesthesia program, "accepted as alternates" is one of three outcomes, next to accepted and denied. It works as a waitlist: you are admitted only if a seat opens.

How long does it take to get off a nursing school waitlist?

The programs we checked do not publish typical timing. Emory says waitlist decisions can come "up to the first day of orientation."

Does my waitlist spot carry over to next year?

Not at Emory or Villanova. Emory requires you to reapply; Villanova offers a "streamlined application process", and its page says placement on the waitlist "does not guarantee admission to a subsequent cohort."

Should I tell two programs they are my first choice?

No. Tell one program, or tell none and say you would accept an offer.

Review the writing you send next

If the list does not reach you, the next document is your reapplication. Get a free Quick Review of your ABSN essays against GradPilot's ABSN application essays rubric; it checks whether each answer fits its question and whether the answers work together without contradiction or repeated evidence. CRNA reapplicants can use the CRNA personal statement rubric, which reads how you interpret feedback, error and challenge when a question asks for it.

More guides on deposits, reapplications and letters are on the nursing essays hub, including the ABSN requirements and essays table and the CRNA requirements table.

Sources

Retrieved November 7, 2026, except where noted. No page states a cycle year for the lines quoted, except Villanova (Summer 2028 cohort).

• Villanova University Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, Nurse Anesthesia Track admission: numbered waitlist, reapplication, deposit.
• Emory Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, CRNA program: waitlist to first day of orientation, reapply, two-interview limit, feedback.
• University of Detroit Mercy, Nurse Anesthesia applicants: accepted as alternates.
• Duke University School of Nursing, Nurse Anesthesia admission and Master of Nursing admissions: waitlist notification and deposits.
• Indiana University School of Nursing, Accelerated BSN FAQ: ranking and waitlist movement.
• University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing, How to apply: campus waitlists and deposit.
• Mass General Brigham University of Health Professions, Direct-Entry MS in Nursing: waitlist maintained.
• Edgewood University, DNP Nurse Anesthesia: deposit within seven days.