Deferred Acceptance: It Happened To Me

Applying to College
1

I just wanted to share a quick personal story:

I got rejected from my top two schools: Tufts and Northeastern. When I was accepted to Amherst, I was shocked and overjoyed. With a 14% acceptance rate, I hadn’t had much hope of getting in. Once I received financial aid information, I knew Amherst was the right choice. I attended the accepted students weekend and accepted the offer soon after. I changed my laptop background to the Amherst logo and ordered Amherst gear in the mail.

As a gifted/talented student at my school, I’d always taken many advanced and AP classes and had done well in all of them. Before senior year, I had gotten mostly A’s, with a couple B’s here and there. Never anything below.

In October 2017, I was diagnosed with depression; it rapidly took over my life and grew stronger every day. I found it nearly impossible to be motivated at school or to even get out of bed in the morning. First semester ended with winter break- 3 B’s on my report card. Not my best. I trudged through the end of December and completed my college applications.

Second semester was a fresh start. I was determined to come back from break motivated to work hard and finish the year strongly. Unfortunately, you can’t just wish away depression, so I quickly fell back into old habits. I started a medication midway through the semester, which ended up only making me worse; I developed an eating disorder and continued to do poorly in school. Finally, my doctor recommended a prescription change.

By the time the new medication took effect, there was two weeks of school left. I received a notice from my counselor that I was failing 5 classes. In order to receive credit for the gifted program I was enrolled in, I had to receive a C or higher in each class. I begged each teacher for mercy, and worked incredibly hard to bring up my grades. Several counselors and teachers told me it couldn’t be done, but with Prozac on my side, I met my goal.

By the end of the year, I had 5 C’s, 1 A, and 50 unexcused absences. But I had made it. And there were times when I really didn’t think I was going to. And I was going to a great college. Life was good.

Then, a couple days ago, I received an email from Amherst. Despite me explaining the circumstances surrounding my second semester grades, the email read as follows:

“As a result of the five Cs on your spring transcript, it is with regret that we have decided you are not yet fully ready to join the Amherst community. While your spring performance indicates you are not ready to begin your college career at Amherst this fall, I am willing to consider deferring your admission for a year, to the Class of 2023, rather than outright rescinding your admission. By your account in the May email you sent to our office, you are determined to improve.”

Of course, I was absolutely devastated. I was so excited to get a fresh start 14 hours away from home this fall. This is exactly what I had feared when I sent in my final transcript.

I have accepted their offer and I am preparing to take a gap year. At least they were kind enough to not rescind my acceptance due to the circumstances.

I wanted to share my story because when I was struggling to get my grades up, I was incredibly anxious that Amherst might see my terrible grades and change their mind on my acceptance. Many people told me that kind of thing “never really happens” and that I shouldn’t worry about it. During this time, I remember anxiously searching forums like this for stories of it actually happening to people, but I never really found anything.

So this is my story, for the next kid that’s anxiously searching like I was. I don’t want to make anyone more anxious, I just want to remind people that this stuff actually does happen. Hopefully, if you explain your circumstances like I did, they will be kind enough to either just defer you a year, or even look past those grades all together.

2

Hey @katcombs! Thank you so much for sharing your story. Depression and eating disorders are no joke, and I am sorry that you had to experience that. I’m glad that you were able to have the opportunity to take a gap year. I think it could be good. I know from personal experience that when you are in the grind of classes and whatnot it can be really difficult to balance mental health and your other responsibilities. I think this could be a good opportunity for you to really develop some good coping mechanisms and have some more down time so that you will be fully ready for when you attend school in the Fall. I would highly recommend seeing a therapist or a counselor if you haven’t already and I wish you the best of luck! It is impressive that you have made it this far, and I believe that you can fight through this.

3

“I have accepted their offer and I am preparing to take a gap year. At least they were kind enough to not fully rescind my acceptance due to the circumstances.”

Sounds like you made a good choice. You can use the gap year to make sure you’re on solid ground emotionally. I know it was disappointing to have your plans changed at the last minute but this is more a speed bump than a derailment. You’re still on track, Thank you for sharing - good luck.

4

It sounds like Amherst understood your poor performance second semester of senior year. I think they want to make sure you are well enough to attend a rigorous school like Amherst. I would take the gap year to get well and spend the time on some interesting ECs and curriculums, maybe take a course or two at a local school to show Amherst you are ready to go college.
What’s important is to make sure you are well. It is not easy to recovery from depression, it may be a life time condition that you will have to learn to manage. Sorry about all this.

5

Op should not take a course or 2 at the local school, unless they are specifically given permission to do so by Amherst. Should OP not be allowed to come to Amherst next year, Op would be considered a transfer student applicant (not a first time freshman applicant) at many competitive schools.

6

^^^really? Even at a local CC? What about high school students taking college courses? Would they be considered transfer students? Maybe ask Amherst? Hard for me to believe a student couldn’t/shouldn’t take a course or two while taking a gap year.

7

@oldfort Per the terms of my deferment, I have to take a year off from all academics. However, I will be pursuing an internship and studying on my own to pass the ACE personal trainer exam (fitness is a big passion of mine)!

8

Well, OP can confirm with Amherst. but there’s no blanket saying a class or two makes you a transfer. The line is usually when one enrolls in another college’s degree granting program. Different than registering for a class or two.

This has come up so much lately and it confuses kids.

A class is a great idea, to show you’re doing ok…when you’re ready.
Best to you.

9

We cross posted but I see this https://www.amherst.edu/news/archives/student_achievements/node/223519

10

The good news is that Amherst wants you – but it seems that they want to give you every opportunity to be strong and healthy enough to take advantage of the opportunities you will have there. Focus on healing and getting strong. Find something to do that you feel will be interesting and valuable. You have been admitted so you don’t have find gap year activities to impress anyone but yourself.

If you want to take a class or two I would check with Amherst admissions and possibly also the registrar first to be sure that it is OK and that you will get credit for the class.

Thanks for sharing your story and best of luck as you move forward.

11

Sounds like a great plan! Enjoy your gap year to the fullest!

12

Thanks for sharing your story, @kacombs. It sounds like Amherst recognizes that your grades were a result of illness and are giving you the year to recover. (Rather than a chance to “redeem yourself”.) Treat the year the way you would a year in which you were recovering from a bad accident – get strong and healthy and figure out what you need to stay that way. Meds for depression can be tricky to get right. Self-care is important! Most of all, be kind to yourself.

13

@kacombs you are an amazing person!! I hope your family and friends are supportive. You know this community is with you. I hope you continue treatment and feel better.

14

^^^What!!! You are advising a student to hire a lawyer because you think Amherst is trying to protect itself? What obligations do you think they to students who are ill, may it be mental or physical? What mistake do you think Amherst made? By telling the student to take year off when he/she is sick? Would it have been better for Amherst to say “show up or lose your spot?”

15

Klbmom (thanks for taking lawyer advice out of post). Hiring a lawyer is both bad practical and legal advice. All offers of addmission are contingent upon the maintenance of an academic standard and the completion of a HS curriculum. You agree to it when you send in your acceptance of admissions response.

More importantly the OP hardly needs incremental stress while creating an adversarial relationship with her desired school. If litigation were to ensue how likely do you think OP would be of gaining addmission at a comparable school with 5 Cs on a transcript. Your advice is dangerous and reckless.

OP enjoy your gap year, find joy again with the confidence that your college of choice awaits you.

16

I clicked on the like button for an above post based on the edited version. I never saw or read anything about getting an attorney–which is terrible advice in this case.

Also, misleading thread title as OP was never rescinded, just given a deferment.

17

They may have done you a favor: this way you get a year to make sure everything’s copacetic, solid, etc. Imagine if you had started at A this fall and relapsed due to an adverse social situation, a bad exam, etc. Enjoy your year and head to Amherst fully recharged and ready for school.

18

Thank you for sharing your story. I’m happy to hear that your chosen school cares enough to allow you to take a year to seek treatment and regroup before kicking off your college experience.

Out of curiosity, was there any way to avoid the 50 absences having been labeled as unexcused? Wouldn’t a doctor’s note(s) take care of it if a parent phone call isn’t enough? Yes, 50 absences is huge, but they were medical ones, not truancy. Amherst might have specifically mentioned the Cs’s, but it seems to me that the unexcused absences may have been the “elephant in the room”. I’m glad it worked out for you, regardless.

19

Good luck on the ACE exam. Excellent idea to focus on your physical and mental health. My only piece of commentary is that most students ask if one bad grade. Say a c in a class will lead to a rescission . I do not usually think that will be the case. Your story is excellent cautionary tale and one I am sure will be of redemption as well.

20

Re taking classes in a gap or deferral year:

Unless you know for dead certain that the random CC classes you are taking won’t jeopardize freshman applicant status and unless they are specifically required by a deferring institution, don’t take credit-bearing classes. At minimum, credit-bearing classes will generate a transcript that you have to get an official copy of umpteen times in your future life. I have studied at seven institutions so far, and took both undergrad and grad classes at one of them. This means eight transcripts every single blessed time I need them, and there have been a surprising number of instances in which I’ve needed all of them. I’ve been known to weep with joy when the request has been that only the “most pertinent” transcript be provided. OK, your records won’t be on microfiche that have to be physically dug out of storage at a former college or university like some of mine are, but please, just don’t do this to yourself.

If you want to learn something new, take a non-credit class at the YMCA or community center or through your local historical society or a MOOC online or, as the OP has reported, a non-credit online certification of some sort. Better yet, make sure that non-credit class (like the OP’s planned class) will give you skills that have the potential to help you find a good part-time job once you do get to college.