We typically see the most movement on the waitlist at the end of March and the end of April, when important deadlines pass and those who are enrolled who have not completed necessary steps are withdrawn.
Our ability to move on the waitlist is different each year, and what happened in previous years is not good indication of what may happen this year. Therefore, we cannot speculate, as we do not want this to be misinterpreted as a promise or guarantee that circumstances from previous years will happen again this year.
The meaning of waitlist numbers also changes over time. For example, being in a low position in February may be favorable since there are still several months before the program for spaces to become available. In April and May, it becomes more unlikely that spaces will become available since major deadlines have passed and there are fewer withdrawals.
Lastly, spaces become available in different quantities and frequencies, so movement in one day should not become an expectation that it will happen again. For example, if you moved forward 10 places in one day, while that is generally good, circumstances may not allow that to happen again. There may be several sequential days of small movement, followed by several days of no movement. It is unpredictable and so we recommend not setting an expectation or “getting hopes up” by trying to identify patterns in the movement.