<p>Welp, I was deferred ED and I am not too disappointed; i'm mainly using this as fuel for motivation. With that said, Duke is still my first choice, and it would be a dream come true to attend, but as the deferral letter stated, it is a longshot for deferees (is that even a word?) to recieve RD acceptance. I have read the previous discussion on this subject, but I would like someone who was a deferred acceptance to let me (and everyone else deferred reading this) in on what you did to eventually get accepted. </p>
<p>What did the deferral letter say verbatim just out of curiosity</p>
<p>"…given our experience of the past several years, we anticipate that in April we will be able to admit only between 5 and 10 percent of the Early Decision applicants whose decisions were deferred." That was word for word out of the letter, and in the FAQ it stated that “Because we normally admit only a small number of
students whose applications were deferred to Regular Decision, you should definitely apply to other
schools.” bruhh</p>
<p>Try to improve your candidacy in meaningful ways, and communicate this to AC–improve ACT/SAT, academic performance at school, impactful EC. Obviously, do not badger, but one more update on “what has changed” or improved and again indicating that Duke is your first choice. The main thing is not to give up on something you want.</p>
<p>I’m a current Duke student who was deferred when I applied ED. I’ll tell you what I did after I got deferred and then offer a few suggestions. 1) I sent an update letter in February. Parts of my letter were cheesy (I was a little over-the-top in the way I reiterated my interest in attending Duke), but I did talk about a new extracurricular and the improvement in my grades from first quarter of senior year to first semester (quarter grades don’t count at my HS but they were still sent with my ED app). I even included a screenshot of my academic advisor’s comment on my report card, which applauded my academic performance during the semester and mentioned my EA acceptances to two top-30 schools. 2) I sent another letter not too long after the update letter. It was pretty bold and highlighted aspects of my personality that I felt would make a meaningful impact on Duke’s campus. 3) I received a significant academic honor in March and passed along this information.</p>
<p>All three of these communications were made directly with the regional admissions officer for my state. My advice for any communications you make with your regional admissions officer would be to reiterate your interest in attending Duke while providing new and meaningful information about what makes you a strong candidate. It might seem redundant to reiterate your interest in going to Duke given that you were an ED applicant, but I do think that doing so helped tip the balance in my favor. My communications were bold and passionate, showing that I was unwilling to give up on my dream school after getting deferred ED…and I do think that made a difference. However, saying that Duke is still your top choice isn’t enough. To stand out among the hundreds of other deferred applicants, you need to bring something to the table that you didn’t when you first applied. I hope this helps; feel free to PM me with any questions you may have. </p>
<p>@BlueDevil15: Excellent post, great information, and I am sincerely glad you were admitted! </p>
<p>Thanks @BlueDevil15! You rock, and I will definitely have questions for you come February 
Too bad my school does its awards ceremony in May, I could really use another award haha (I do think its kind of sad that I, and many others, think of awards in this light though). Anyways, thanks again, I cannot overstate how helpful your post was. \m/ </p>