<p>Can someone who was deferred and later accepted to Wharton please comment on what you did to improve your application as far as letters retaking tests, etc. Thanks, I’m sure a lot of people would appreciate that info.</p>
<p>...my husband was deferred and then accepted. At that time he didn't do anything but wait it out. But that was in the last century.</p>
<pre><code>All kidding aside, ask the admission person that is charge of your area/portfolio. They are the most direct source. Ask your counselor, if they are any good.
Good luck!
</code></pre>
<p>there were A LOT from cc that were deferred and accepted by wharton last year... it was pretty amazing. Search for the thread the made- almost all of them posted their stats at one point or another</p>
<p>Do you know the name of the thread or something?</p>
<p>Really there's very little you can do at this point. Send the "still interested" letter and that's about it. Your chances of getting in are in the 10% range, so don't be buying any Wharton sweatshirts yet.</p>
<p>heh i wonder if the deferee acceptance rate to SEAS is higher... ><;</p>
<p>Penn doesn't release individual statistics for each school, so it would be pretty hard to figure out the real acceptance rates, the rates for those accepted after being deferred, yield rates, and number of students taken off the waitlist. All of that would be pretty useful information, but I doubt they are going to release this to the public.</p>
<p>You can't say deferred people have a 10% chance because it makes no sense, just like ED applicants don't all have a 29% chance just because that's the acceptance rate. They defer about 35% of applicants, and obviously someone who is near the top of those deferred applicants would have close to a 100% chance and someone near the bottom would have a 10% chance. Even deferred people have an idea where they stand.</p>
<p>No I'd say that even if you were near the top you wouldn't have a near 100% chance . Once you are in the RD pool, they are now looking at you in comparison to a much larger group. If they get an unexpectedly large # of strong applicants with similar profile (region, school, race, etc.) , you could be the best deferred candidate and still end up a loser in the RD round in comparison to those other people. The way you might get in is if the opposite is true, and given that RD apps are up this year, I wouldn't count on that. That is probably how the people who do get in deferred get in - you're a (for example) female URM SEAS applicant from a public school in N. Dakota and no one better than you with that same profile shows up in the regular pool, so you get the spot.</p>
<p>And at the bottom your chances have to be much less than 10% because the whole deferred pool has an average roughly 10% chance, so if some people have the 90%+ chance you say that they do, then those at the bottom of the deferred pile, the ones who just barely escaped being rejected outright (and a lot of them - 9 for every one that is a sure bet) must have a close to zero chance, again especially if the RD pool is strong overall. A large percentage of deferreds are I think people who have essentially no chance of getting in (whatever they didn't like about you the first time -say lack of EC's or they didn't like your essays, they still won't like when they look again) but they feel bad about outright rejecting someone who has 2300+ SAT scores and a 3.9 avg so they defer you as a consolation prize.</p>
<p>But your point that each applicant has a different chance is true- they look at each applicant individually. You're either in or your out - no one is 10% in. But it's still useful to know what your odds are on a statistical basis. If 9 out of 10 get in, then you can have a lot more confidence that you'll be one of the "ins" than if 9 out of 10 are rejected. </p>
<p>I don't mean to bum people out but you really have to be clear eyed about what your chances are. If you take the approach that "I'm one of the people who must have just barely missed the cutoff so I'm getting in for sure this time", you're potentially setting yourself up for another disappointment. Mentally I think it's much better to assume that you aren't getting in and then if you do get it it will be like winning the lottery and if you don't it will be just what you expected.</p>
<p>i agree somewhat with what percy has to say, that you definately have to fit the profile as a deferred candidate that penn wants in order to be accepted. and while percy is being extremely logical, i think he did miss one point that might give deferred candidates some hope. </p>
<p>i WASNT a candidate that was deferred with a 2300+ SAT and a 3.9 GPA. rather, i had a 2170 with around a 3.6 GPA. im not even in the top 10% of my class (even though my school doesnt release class rank to colleges, i know this for a fact because i didnt get invited for a certain statewide scholarship). thus, i think sometimes that with deferred applicants, the admissions committee might look for something that really makes them believe "ok, this guy REALLY wants to go to penn, and WILL attend if admitted." and such is obvious via the quality of the applicants essays, whether or not the deferred applicants wrote a deferral letter expressing continued interest (and i dont think everyone does...dulce comes to mind), and other such things. i think after they affirm that, they do look at stats, and i think midyear reports play a big role in what the college looks at, as far as how competitive the applicant is in relation to the rest of the RD pool, as they had no indication of senior year grades when they made the decision to defer the candidate. after doing that, i think penn will undoubtedly look at yeild percentage for each state. i for example, am an applicant from northern new jersey. i KNOW that this year there are going to be a lot of extremely strong applications to penn that also applied to such places as yale, harvard, princeton, etc... and they factor the school of the deferred applicant into this. so for me, i think i can say that even though there is a larger applicant pool this year, penn will want to keep yeild rates high and thus will be more likely to take a deferee who they know will attend if given admission as opposed to someone who they know they might lose to another more reputable college (even though engineering apps went up 17% this year, i think many of those applicants would definately take a higher ranked engineering school over penn if given the chance, especially when scholarships come to mind). this is probably more true for SEAS and CAS and nursing than wharton, but nonetheless, i think deferred candidates have a reason to believe in their chances :)</p>
<p>I'm confused with your theory though, impboy. More apps doesn't mean more people wouldn't matriculate. It's actually the opposte. More people interested enough to apply = Penn accepting more RD and less deferred. They don't need to depend on us that much, and I think the yield rate doesn't matter as much to them as accepting the most qualified people does. I think we deferees have it even harder this year.</p>
<p>And I wholeheartedly agree with Percy Skivens. I live in the affluent suburbs of Philly - the most competitive geographic location, since everyone applies to Penn. I have a 2220 SAT I, 3.9 gpa, more than 4 head leadership roles, hundreds of hours of volunteering, spectacular essays (I'm one of the three unofficial "best writers" of the school), glowing recommendations... yet I was deferred from Wharton because there are always BETTER. People who have created businesses and built orphanages in Uganda. I personally know people who have are nationally ranked violinists, philanthropists, everything. It's ridiculous how crappy I look in comparison. =(</p>
<p>i was making my statement off the fact that many schools that moved to common app pretty much saw a shocking increase in apps the first year they did it. and i dont buy into the fact that "well, penn had a really hard supplement". sure, it had a harder supplement, but penns questions for the essays were pretty damn generic if i may say so myself. i could see people easily tweaking other common app essays and other college essays to fit penn's. so i really dont think there are going to be as many dedicated matriculates this year, thats why im hopeful for the ED deferred :)</p>
<p>im not saying you are wrong though, im just posting my hopefully true optimistic thoughts. i definitely see the validity in your statements too percy/venus, so please dont think im just being some overly hopeful dumbass :)</p>
<p>Impboy - its true that Penn (though Wharton less so) loses the majority of two way admits with the other Ivies (except Cornell). But, I don't think Penn plays the Tufts game where if you are TOO good they won't take you RD because they know that you are applying as a "safe" school and will mess up their yield once you get in someplace better. Despite the statistics, Penn thinks of itself as a 1st tier school and doesn't think that anyone is "too good" to want to go to Penn. Given today's crap shoot environment, even 2400s are not guarantied HYPS admits and if Penn takes those they have a fair shot at not being in a 2 way at all. </p>
<p>I think your logic is a little tortured - if they had wanted you because of your strong likelihood of attending, they would have taken you ED. I don't know what the stats are like in terms of whether deferred EDs (with or without "still interested" letters which at this point are a dime a dzen) end up attending more than other RD applicants but I think you are grasping at straws. I know you're not totally in LaLa land but your optimistic take still sounds strained and not a "down the middle" appraisal of what is really going on with that big pile of deferred apps.</p>
<p>haha percy, i definitely am pulling at straws, ill give you that. but given the condition my state of mind is in, its just something that keeps me happy (and sane? :) ). </p>
<p>i know in the back of my mind that if they really wanted me, i would have been grabbed ED. but i also then question myself as to why deferred applicants are accepted. i find it nearly impossible to come to the conclusion that the interest they show in the school and their probably higher chance of attending upon acceptance plays little to no role in the decision made on them. again though, i really do appreciate and acknowledge all the opinions you've given. they've been insightful and well thought out -- often providing new views on admissions i havn't previously seen. </p>
<p>i guess the final answer will be known in a few weeks. we'll just have to wait and see :) god please help us get in :)</p>