Are deferrals going to severely impact me this year?

Someone deferred admission to Yale 2 years ago, and this year, 2 more people deferred their admission. How badly can this affect me in terms of admission? Should I reconsider REAing (from a strategy point of view)?

They could. Look up what Yale and each of the schools on your list, how they are handling deferrals in terms of reducing classes and admissions. I’ve seen some schools’ takes on the subject; some have not said yet. Call the AO and specifically ask n

Some schools are playing it by ear, or close to their chests, and they can always change their minds. These decisions have been evolving and changing with the situations, so no one can tell you for sure.

This comes under the category of not worrying about things beyond your control. Your only job is to craft the best application you can. If you can do that by the early deadline, and you are certain Yale is your first choice and you are certain you can afford to attend if accepted, then go for it. Otherwise apply RD.

There are students who defer every year. Even pre-pandemic a handful of kids each round would take a gap year. The pandemic is far from over. The beginning of next school year might be as messy as the beginning of this school year. You can’t control that.

Yale is going to accept more students than they have room for anyway because no college has a 100% yield. If they have an unusual number of deferrals now returning to campus, it could just as easily mean no one from the waitlist gets in rather than fewer acceptance letters going out.

For a college that rejects 94% of applicants, clicking “submit” will severely impact you.

Don’t stress about what you cannot control.

@skieurope , great response! I could not agree more.

Was on a Zoom with Quinlan at the beginning of the week. He reiterated to interviewers that Yale will target to matriculate the same 1500-1600 students for the incoming class as in past years even though with deferrals, the class size will expand to over 1800. The University is already planning on adding resources to accommodate the larger entering class.

Is this possible? How would they accommodate 1.20 times as many people in campus housing?

Because the current class of 2024 is about 1270 as a result of deferrals so the total 4 year population will be close to normal.