I applied Early Decision to Muhlenberg College and they sent me a letter that said they “deferred” my decision until my mid year grades come in. Does this happen to a lot of applicants or can I kiss my hopes goodbye?
Deferred happens and it’s all fine. It can mean that the college just wants to know more about you and see more of your grades before making a final decision. Just be sure to send in your mid year grades!
Never “kiss your hopes goodbye.” However:
I’m not going to pretend that your chances definitely were higher by applying ED. If you got deferred when you had the not-insubstantial advantage (especially for less selective LACs like Muhlenberg) of being ED, then your chances in the regular pool will most definitely not be better. By how much? Not a huge margin. If you’re already straddling the line, however, between acceptance and rejection (as you were by being deferred), then your chances could be slightly diminished.
That said, yeah, don’t kiss your hopes goodbye. The very nature of being deferred simply means that they decided to give you another chance to impress them. I agree with @astrophysicistx insofar as you should make sure your grades stay strong, or–even better–have a nice uptick.
Good luck, bud.
Okay, thank you very much!!