Latest College Prep News & Tips

Recently, many students started to hear back from the schools that they applied to with either Early Decision or Early Action. For those of you who received good news, congratulations! Having an acceptance in the bag early is a huge relief.

But what about those of you with less exciting news? What are you supposed to do if you were deferred? What does that mean, and what steps should you take next?

If you were deferred from your first choice school, don’t be disheartened. There are many different factors that can play into this. A deferment means that they are still considering you in the regular applicant pool. Maybe they have a specific percentage of their incoming class that they want to take from early decisions, and you didn’t quite make that cut. Keep your chin up and move forward because you still have a good shot at getting into your school of choice.

There are a few things that you can do to help your chances now that your application has been put into the regular decision pool. One important thing to indicate is that you are still very interested in attending that school. Schools like students who are interested in them, and who will likely accept their offers. This might be a good time to reach out to the admissions office, and thank them for considering you – make sure to indicate that you are still excited about the prospect of attending their school.

If anything of import has happened to you that didn’t make its way onto your early application, this might be a good time to send those materials in to the admissions office. Perhaps you received an award in November after the due date for the application – let the school know about that! Perhaps you have an additional person in mind who could write you a letter of recommendation from a perspective that your other letters couldn’t provide. If you haven’t done an interview, see if that’s an option that you could take advantage of. Some schools run off-campus alumni interview days – check out your school’s website or touch base with the admissions office to see if anything is happening in your area. Remember that demonstrated interest is an often-overlooked part of the application process.

As always, keep in mind that you want to be pleasantly persistent. You want the admissions officers to remember you in a good light – so no need to update them on your every move. Being polite and thankful (even when you’re disappointed with the results) can go a long way.

One final note – if you applied Early Action or Early decision and were rejected rather than deferred, that means that the school was probably an unrealistic reach for you. Overall, schools tend to defer applicants that have any chance of getting in. After all, there’s no real cost to them to push your application into the main pool. That means that if you received a rejection, you should take a realistic look at the rest of the schools on your list. Make sure that they are a good mix of safety schools, solid schools, and reach schools. Think about adding one or two schools on to the list that are definitely safeties. No one wants to be in a position of having no acceptances come April. And remember – transferring after a semester or two can often be a good option for students who struggled with their grades in high school but are seriously motivated to perform better at college.