Deferred But Have Better Chances?

Hi all,

My question Is do students deferred from a special program like M&T or LSM have a better if not guaranteed chance at there single choice option? My reasoning for this Is that from what I have read on the forum, to be accepted into one of these specialized programs you must be more qualified than say someone who just got into SEAS or CAS. Deferred means an applicant has potential but the admissions committee wants to judge this applicant against the regular decision pool. If such a candidate stands a chance, indicated through a deferral, at a selective program surely they would have a great chance at their single degree option right?

Does anyone know people who have been deferred from such a program only to get in to their single degree backup? If so does it happen often?

Any help would be much appreciated!

You have no advantage. The acceptance rate will be the same for you as it is for someone who is just applying for regular decision.

Just to clarify I meant people deferred from special programs having a higher chance than RD applicants not students deferred from CAS/Wharton/SEAS having a better chance than RD applicants

The way the process works is that your regional admissions counselor looks at your application with regards to your special program first. He then deems you either fit or unfit for admission to your program of choice (Huntsman, M&T, LSM, etc.) Note that there is NO DEFERRAL POSSIBLE from a dual degree program. If you are not considered good enough for your dual degree program, you will get put into the single school pile with all the other single school applicants (Wharton, for example). After the admissions counselor is finished looking at all the dual degree apps, he looks at the single school apps. So he’ll look through the Wharton applications and find your file again, and either accept, defer, or reject you, just as he would do for a regular applicant. At this point he doesn’t even consider you a dual degree applicant, you are only a Wharton applicant. Therefore, if you get deferred, you are just like the rest of the candidates who have gotten deferred and you have no advantage over the rest of the RD pool.

Source:
Accepted Huntsman student who asked a similar question to his regional admissions counselor.

In general, your chances for admission as a deferral are slightly higher than for a regular applicant. Penn has a deferral acceptance rate of 11, and a regular acceptance rate of something more like 7

@shivie101‌ “Note that there is NO DEFERRAL POSSIBLE from a dual degree program” – You are WRONG shivie.

Quote from Penn deferral FAQs:

“2. If I applied to a Coordinated Dual-Degree, Accelerated, or Specialized Program, will my application be considered again for both the Coordinated Dual-Degree, Accelerated, or Specialized Program and the single-degree school I selected?
Yes. Your application will be considered in Regular Decision for both the Coordinated Dual- Degree, Accelerated, or Specialized program and your single-degree option.”

I have heard of people on this forum getting deferred from a dual degree program only to be accepted in the fall.

I stand corrected. My apologies for the incorrect information and thank you @lkjh0987 for making the necessary improvements.