<p>If you are a current college student who now attends a school that deferred you in the Early Action or Early Decision round, what--if anything--did you do to improve your admission chances while you waited for your Regular Decision verdict?</p>
<p>Did you write a letter that included information about new accomplishments? Did you send extra recommendations? Maybe try something cute or gimmicky? Call on clout from VIP alums? Etc.?</p>
<p>My friend got deferred from Columbia when she applied early. However, she got in eventually and she’s now a sophomore there :)</p>
<p>janey2478–Did your friend ever mention what she did after being deferred by Columbia … e.g., update letters, phone calls, etc.?</p>
<p>My D was deferred EA at Georgetown and Boston College. When she qualified for the national forensics tournament she sent a letter to Georgetown but not BC (it was not her first choice). She was later rejected from Gtown, and accepted at BC. She had also sent a note to some of her RD schools, and only one of them responded in any way, thanking her for the information. She declined BC’s offer of admission. I do think when they deferred her the school lost a little of her interest. In her case the extra information sent did not affect the EA outcome.</p>
<p>Well, this is about RD but I’ll post anyway ;)</p>
<p>A few years back, a girl at my school was rejected from NYU, her top choice. Not to be stopped so easily, she called the admissions office and told them exactly why she should have been admitted - and lo and behold, they changed their decision! Thanks to that phone call, she is happily attending her #1 today.</p>
<p>My friend did send another rec letter from the principal</p>
<p>Thanks, janey2478–and everyone else who responded so far.</p>
<p>Did anybody do anything gimmicky? (Write a poem? Send a DVD or clever photos? Bake a cake in the shape of the school mascot? 
)</p>
<p>If so, what was the outcome? (Admitted? Denied?) Any specific response to the deferral-reversal ploy from admission offices?</p>
<p>daughter was deferred from UMich OOS 2008 with very high stats…at the last day of EA…</p>
<p>superintendent, principal and head of guidance sent follow up recs, D had straight A’s, A- on her midyear report…</p>
<p>was not her first choice though; just that her high school thought it was INSANE that she was deferred…</p>
<p>She was admitted to her first choice in February, withdrew Umich application…</p>
<p>UMich sent her a waitlist letter in April…</p>
<p>Moral of the story: If you are deferred at a HUGE public, move on…they obviously don’t pay attention to alot of the stuff they get in the mail (including a withdrawal…)</p>
<p>My friend’s daughter was deferred ED at Duke (double legacy) a few years ago. She continued to politely update the admissions office about a grand community service project that she headed. She did nothing gimicky, she just sent a couple of well written letters letting the admissions office know of her success. She got admitted with the RDers.</p>
<p>UGA and Tech defer a truckload each year that they accept under regular admissions. They tend to lose some of the best of these kids to Auburn who puts more emphasis on test scores vs. GPA than do UGA and Tech. Not that Auburn takes welcomes lousy GPAs - but they tend to like the 3.5 folks with good test scores where the Georgia schools want to see a 3.7.</p>
<p>Some of you may have seen the story about a young lady who was waitlisted at W&M. Undeterred, she went to W&M and stood outside their admissions office wearing a sandwich board that read something like: “WAITLISTED: Please ask me why I’d be a great student at W&M.” As the story goes, she did that for a day or two before heading back home. She got in.</p>
<p>I was deferred at UPenn and I’m going to send a final letter tomorrow, an extra rec, but I also have a short 1 min movie clip about me including a small clip of a dance that I did…is it worth it to try sending that in? Maybe I can just include a link or something in my letter?</p>
<p>rodney,
I don’t think you can draw a conclusion that sending stuff after a deferral to a large public like Michigan doesn’t work just because it didn’t affect the outcome for your child. As an example, my nephew was deferred at Michigan and sent stuff and was then accepted (though chose to attend elsewhere…but his sister is at Mich…they are OOS). </p>
<p>Sending stuff is important to do after a wait list or deferral. Does it mean you WILL get in if you do this? No. But it can only HELP. Doing nothing is not a good plan.</p>
<p>I got accepted into the school that flat out rejected me last year.</p>
<p>^Please explain in further detail. I’m curious.</p>
<p>Ya UIllinois has been really wierd with admissions this past year. I know of a few people that got admitted to UIUC after getting rejected LOL. God knows what’s been going on with Admissions over there lately…</p>
<p>This year things seem more smooth though…</p>
<p>Well, as you may or may not have heard, there was an admissions scandal regarding the U of I president last year. Many qualified applicants were getting rejected. </p>
<p>I am by no means tying my rejection last year to this scandal because I was very unprepared in my application process. I applied for sophomore standing because I had less than 30 graded credits and they had to review my high school transcript and ACT score which were both pathetic. </p>
<p>After getting rejected the first time, I was determined to get in the second time around. As you can see from my earlier posts, I really started preparing since the summer. I did a lot of research on so many different aspects of the application process. With perseverance and dedication, I was able to accomplish my goal which was to finally get accepted into the school that 3 years ago, I thought I had a snowball’s chance in hell. </p>
<p>I was a horrible student out of high school and my grades definitely reflected that. However, going through the whole community college experience and actually setting goals and accomplishing them really built my character. I’m grateful I got rejected the first time around because I would have definitely taken it for granted. It was a wake up call that I actually need to work hard to accomplish my goals. I’m another success story from having an absolutely atrocious high school transcript to going to community college, rebounding, and maturing greatly.</p>
<p>Honestly, if someone were to tell me that I was going to U of I three years ago, I would have called them crazy. That just goes to show you what hard work and dedication can do for someone. People are too pessimistic these days but it shouldn’t be like that. It’s the old adage that if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish great things. I wish I had this mindset that I have now back in high school.</p>
<p>A girl from our school was deferred from Wharton ED last year. She sent a letter basically reiterating the fact that Penn was still her top choice and that she’d definitely attend if admitted. There was no new information, just that. She was accepted RD and is now attending.</p>
<p>Also, many admissions counselors recommend sending something in to schools that defer you (as opposed to just idly waiting for RD decisions). It really couldn’t hurt to remind them that they’re still your top choice.</p>
<p>D was deferred EA for University of Oregon Clark Honors College. Was accepted RD and received one of 5 WUE scholarships offered. Did not send any other extras.</p>
<p>soozievt: i guess you might have misunderstood why I posted; it wasn’t because my daughter wasn’t accepted after she was deferred; it was just that according to her GC, it appeared in 2008 that the rep from our state was basically OTL (out to lunch), not only based on the decisions, but also on the fact that withdrawals were ignored…</p>
<p>appeared to have miraculously turned around in 2009 and 2010…all of a sudden (?) they are paying attention to the correspondence from our school (again according to the GC)</p>