Deferred? Don't Despair!

<p>OM - I feel for you as I find myself asking the same question. I know the deferred feeling is like a rejection but I think everything happens for a reason. It is just not fun to see our kids hurt. I just don't know what they are looking for when equal schools accept them and offer large awards and the school of choice defers them. Tell your son to keep his head held high!</p>

<p>Deferred from Brown ED. was pretty surpised, not gonna lie (and my guidance counselor was shocked), since I have pretty good grades (top 5% or 6% of class, decent SATs (2040, and I'm not retaking), a solid interview, awesome ECs, and legacy from both of my parents. i didn't read them, but i'm guessing that my recommendations weren't very good. hope i can get in regular despite my chances going down about 30%.</p>

<p>The process is the problem...not YOU a person with high stats and feelings. Move on. If they deferred and kept you in the basket for RD, then fine...that is just ONE of many schools who may accept you and in April you can revisit the issue. Or be like us, and have an epiphany and accept the offer from a match school that is superb.....its all about being happy and thriving in college...not walking around and congratulating yourself on being admitted to a prestigious school. If you did get in, then congratulations and good luck! If you didn't , then refocus your POSITIVE energy on some match schools and see what happens. </p>

<p>We went through this same grueling process last year. Kids who got in that surprised us. Kids that got dumped or deferred who shocked us. Its the process, not you. </p>

<p>Turn the page and move on. Yes, its painful for a few days, but it will all work out...and have a HAPPY ending. Trust me on this. And one benefit to us was our D could go far away to college and make NEW friends...and not be stuck with all that high school drama....which is what happened to her friends who went close to home and go to "prestigious university". More high school drama! Blagh!</p>

<p>Swansong, if you're talking to me, i think you have a misunderstanding. yes, Brown is a prestigious university, but so what? i want to go to Brown because of what it offers and the experience that i will get from going there. binghamton, geneseo, and penn state aren't as prestigious, but i'm still applying to those schools with the same enthusiasm that i am applying with to Brown because i feel like the experience at any one of these schools will be indispensible. </p>

<p>if i solely wanted to go to a college for its name, i would be applying to harvard, yale, princeton, penn, dartmouth, cornell, and columbia in addition to brown (the only other Ivy that I'm applying to is Cornell.)</p>

<p>yes, i am upset that i was deferred, as it is my top choice school. however, i understand that i will have a great experience at any of the schools i'm applying to, prestigious or not. that's why i'm applying to them.</p>

<p>Swansong: Nothing wrong with Penn State and Binghamton; both fine universities!</p>

<p>are there any stats on how many people get accepted in stanford after being deferred?</p>

<p>Hi ! I posted this question on another thread.</p>

<p>My d got deferred. If she sends in additional information and a letter expressing interest, should it be sent by the RD deadline (1/1) or can it be sent in Feb/March ? There have not been many new developments since the ED deadline of 11/1.</p>

<p>Hi there, I have been deferred by UPenn and I was wondering whether I could send in a piece of news article about me along with my other supplementary information.</p>

<p>The article is in Chinese, reporting my volunteering at a seniors' home in China during the summer. Do you think this will be helpful, or just irritating?</p>

<p>So I was deferred from Brown and over the past few days I REALLY improved the essay I submitted. Someone else said they we could send them updated essays, but how do I go about doing this? Should I e-mail it to them as an attachment?</p>

<p>Thanks for the help, and good luck to all those who were deferred!</p>

<p>The common advice has been to send it to the attention of your regional admissions rep. Good luck...</p>

<p>thank you!</p>

<p>I just got deferred from one of my colleges today. :/
Does every college allow you to send supplementary materials before the RD? Or should I check with the college first?</p>

<p>wOOt another Brown deferee!!!</p>

<p>I wish people wouldn't be so optimistic. IMHO, if you're deferred, that means you weren't as good as the accepted students and you don't have too much hope in the RD round. I hate it when people console others by saying that there's a slight chance. Call me pessimistic, but that's how reality works: does not cater to the weak-minded.</p>

<p>aisgzdavinci, some colleges DO accept a fair number of deferred applicants. MIT, for example, accepts about the same percentage of deferred applicants RD as they did EA applicants originally.</p>

<p>Question, do all unaccepted applicants get deferred? Or is it that some people are deferred while others are rejected?</p>

<p>^^^ Some are deferred; some are outright rejected (meaning no option for reconsideration in the same admission cycle).</p>

<p>I think the best advice in this whole thread is this:</p>

<p>"Follow appropriate steps - then move on! </p>

<p>Look over the suggestions given by OP. Make sure that whatever additional materials you send are truly valuable. I would hesitate to send minor corrections or changes. I think a simple cover letter expressing your disappointment and continued interest, along with any additional accomplishments or activities of senior year should suffice.</p>

<p>Give yourself a set amount of time in which to do this (maybe one week) and then MOVE ON. Assume that nothing will change in April and focus on your other schools. Don't keep checking the threads about your school - find new schools to discuss."</p>

<p>Most top schools only accept a very small percentage of the deferrred candidates in the RD process (MIT being an exception). As an example, Dartmouth last year accepted only 10% of the deferred in RD.</p>

<p>Better to pivot quickly and move on. Don't get bogged down, wasting time or emotion, on something that is largely out of your control and from which a postive outcome is improbable.</p>

<p>can I send in sat subject test scores that were not considered in the early action application process?</p>

<p>about deferral/rejection: as someone deferred from a prestigious LAC, and after talking to several admissions officers, i know that at this particular school twice as many ED applicants were rejected than deferred, and that the deferral rate and acceptance rate were almost identical. while these are only rough estimates made by different people, it still shows that if you are deferred, you can be seriously considered in the RD pool. it depends on the school: LACs will love when you follow the steps listed in this thread and keept that in mind while re-evaluating your application, while ivies and other large schools may not pay as much attention.
send a letter to the school listing recent accomplishments and saying why you want to go there and that it is still your first choice school. you could do this in an e-mail, but i've found it's easier for admissions committees to have a hard copy on paper than something online.</p>

<p>aszdavinci, you have a point - the students accepted early decision are often stronger students that those who are deferred - but this is obvious. </p>

<p>however, my theory is that schools only ED accept the phenomenal students who could get in anywhere. for example, if "extremely qualified" X student is applying ED to XYZ University, and would be applying to Harvard, Yale, Princeton - caliber universities Regular decision, the "not as good" XYZ university would probably take X student so he isn't lost to Harvard/Yale/Princeton regular decision. Schools use the binding system to weed out the phenomenal applicants who could probably get into any school in the country, and accept them to come to their school. </p>

<p>The rest of the applicants, who are very well qualified, but maybe not AS qualified as the ED admits, are then deferred. There is still a good chance that these deferred applicants will be accepted, under the condition that they stay strong academically, continue to participate in ECs, and continue to exhibit interest in the University. At the higher level universities where there is a large volume of regular decision applicants, a "hook" may be necessary - a special quality that makes one application stand out - e.g., legacy, perseverance despite disability or unfortunate circumstance. Since at Ivy League schools, the overwhelming majority of applicants are academically qualified, something needs to stand out to make an ordinary application unique.</p>

<p>All that being said, being deferred really isn't the end of the world. it is what happens to the majority of applicants applying ED. i know a lot of people who were deferred from Ivy League schools than admitted under the regular admission program. there's really no need to be pessimistic.</p>