So You Have Been Deferred…
What to do when you have been deferred from your ED or EA college?
First, let’s talk about deferrals. Some colleges like Harvard and MIT defer the majority of students who apply. Harvard deferred 78% of the students who applied, and MIT deferred 68%. They will take very few of those students in the regular round. MIT said around 2%. Other colleges like Brown, Yale, and Northwestern defer a much smaller percentage of students. Brown will release their decisions tonight, and they have only deferred 19% of students. So while deciding what you want to do, keep in mind the number of students who have been deferred versus the number of students who will ultimately be offered admission.
Next, if you found out in December, take a couple of weeks to think about whether this is still a college you would like to attend. (Please note if you were deferred by Clemson, they would like materials by January 2nd.) If you find out in late January or February, please email them back asap, as you will not have much time before they consider you in the regular admissions round. If you have already found out and you take a couple of weeks, this will give you time to get over the disappointment of not getting accepted outright, and it also gives you a few weeks to think about why this college is still right for you. Maybe since you applied a couple of months ago, you have been accepted somewhere else you prefer? If you are NOT still interested in attending the college you have been deferred at, then send a letter to your admissions rep and ask them to please withdraw your application. If you are still interested, then it is best to follow instructions on what the college has asked you to do to show this. Usually, they would like you to add some information to their school portal like first semester grades and any new test scores. I like all of my students to also send their admissions rep a letter of continued interest (LOCI). The best thing is to email this letter to your admissions rep and also upload it to your admissions portal. There are some colleges, like the University of Georgia, that specifically ask you NOT to send them a LOCI, so please pay attention first to what a college asks for. Most colleges, though, will like you to write a LOCI.
So what should be in this letter:
1) I like you to start with that you have taken some time to think about being deferred from X college and that you are more convinced than ever that X college is still your number-one choice or, in the case of EA, a top choice.
a) go to a college’s mission statement, if you have not done this in the original application, for why you and X college are a great fit.
2) Make sure to have your high school send your first semester grades. If you don’t have the official GPA transcript yet, that’s ok. Tell them what you think your semester grades will be in a few weeks and that your high school will send them when they are official. Make sure to tell them this is your guesstimate of what your grades will be.
3) Provide admissions with any new information, and if you really do not have any, highlight some recent academic work, especially if it pertains to what you want to study at X college. This is very important. You should try to include new academic information and also any new information about your extracurriculars. In the words of my colleague Evan Forrester, this is the “heart of the email.”
4) If you are not doing anything new, maybe now is the time to start, and then you have something to talk about.
5) In the final paragraph, ask if you can do anything to further support your candidacy for admissions.
6) Thank the admissions rep for taking the time to read your email at such a busy time of the year.
7) Last and very important, reiterate how much you would like to attend X college. If it is your first choice, make sure to repeat that emphatically with a “, and if I am accepted, I will attend!”
Now what are some additional things you can do to bolster your chance of admission:
1) If a college will allow it, send in an academic paper from first semester.
2) If the college will allow it, send an additional recommendation. Maybe you have a teacher who can highlight a new side of who you are. For example, a few years ago, we had a top student who was applying to study Economics. He also happened to be one of the best writers I have ever worked with. He realized through the college process just how much he enjoyed his writing and said as much to his ED college, where he has been deferred. He got a new recommendation from his English teacher and added that to his admissions portal. Not saying it was the additional recc, but he was accepted in the regular round.
3) If you can visit the college you have been deferred at, even if you have visited before, VISIT! We realize during COVID, this might not be possible or even without COVID feasible, but it is a very effective way of showing how interested you are. Make sure to let your regional admissions rep know you are visiting and ask if you can see them to introduce yourself in person quickly. If you can not do an in-person visit, try and do some more virtual visits, make sure to follow them on social media, and make sure to click through often to their website. Getting deferred from EA, especially, is often all about yield (who will actually accept a college’s offer of acceptance). Getting accepted in the regular round is also often about yield, so showing as much demonstrated interest as you can is VERY IMPORTANT.
The last thing is to get excited about some of your other colleges. Remember, love the ones who love you!