<p>Today, in "The Choice," New York Times writer Jacques Steinberg asks two admission honchos (from Duke U. and Occidental College) to weigh in on Deferral Do's and Don'ts at their schools.</p>
<p>Personally, I think all this ED, EA stuff is for the birds. There are a lot of very inequitable things that occur in that process on both sides of the fence. My solution would be to go to a national application deadline of January 1, with notification by Feb 15 by the schools and you are either admitted or put on the waiting list. Then after the May 1 accept/decline offer date, the schools can let you know what number you are on the wait list. </p>
<p>With the proliferation of the common application, kids are now applying to 15 or more schools frequently and they really only have the intention of accepting one to three of their top choices, depending on who takes them. So they are receiving 10 or more acceptance offers and dumping 9 of them. What happens is a nightmare for parents, students and admissions officers alike. Now colleges are reporting record applications knowing that they will be “admitting” tens of thousands of kids who will turn around and “reject” them. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, kids who really want to go somewhere get “bounced” by kids who have no intention of accepting an offer of admission at that school.</p>
<p>Ghostbuster, I do think you have some valid points. My son was not only deferred ED last year at a school but then went on to be waitlisted in the regular decision round. He only applied to 3 schools and was also deferred EA by another school and then waitlisted by that school as well. He ended up getting off both waitlists but it was a rough few months. Reading the article was interesting because I thought in both deferral cases he probably just missed being admitted. I think there may very well have been someone advocating for him but it just didn’t get him beyond a waitlist. They wouldn’t admit him but didn’t want to let him loose either! He was an Eagle Scout, all state in sports,etc.-had over 100 points above one schools’ average SAT in one case and over 200 points above the average in the other. AP scholar with distinction. However, had a lower SAT than they wanted. He made Dean’s list this first semester with a very hard courseload so I do hope the school will be happy they finally ended up admitting him! I agree that with some kids currently applying to SO many schools, it makes it tougher for the kids that have clear choices.</p>
<p>Guttentag from Duke, said in regards to submitting a letter after an ED applicant is deferred:
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<p>Why wouldn’t the ED applicant want to send in a letter saying they’ll enroll after being deferred? And why wouldn’t you take it as a “definitive statement” when the individual actually applied ED (a binding decision)? If the applicant applied ED, they obviously wanted to go to Duke! So a letter saying they’ll enroll if admitted seems pretty definitive to me, when they knew Duke was their top choice all along!</p>
<p>My son is an example that it IS possible to get accepted after deferrals and waitlists. Don’t give up if a deferral or waitlist happens to you and a school is still your top choice, but as the article implies make sure you have other options you can be happy with just in case it does not work out. As the article suggests, take a look at the percentages of deferrals that become acceptances so you can see if you have a realistic shot or whether it might be time to move on. Having said that, my son ended up at a school that had not accepted anyone off the waitlist for the last 2 or 3 years but did last year so things can change with some schools.The do’s and don’t sections in the article had some good suggestions . Good luck to anyone out there who has been deferred!</p>
<p>Perfect article. I just wrote my letter to send to Dartmouth, and I was worried it was tooo informal, going on to make a few slight jokes. However, I think it will reflect who I am, and that is all I can really do. :)</p>
<p>Being a cynic in this process, I think that admitting a deferred applicant improves their yield. </p>
<p>I am of the opinion that the admissions committee was looking for certain specific qualities in their ED pool (URMs, for instance). That is, if you were an “unhooked” applicant, your chances of acceptance was quite slim. Maybe you have a better shot in their RD pool. Let’s hope!</p>
<p>Getting deferred was one of the most frustrating experiences of the whole college application process. The worst part was deciding whether to remain loyal to a few of my top choices, or just leave them behind for other strong schools that actually seemed to want me.</p>
<p>The attached article suggests sending a recommendation for a class in which a student has shown remarkable potential since the application process began. I’ve become a stand-out in AP Spanish, and my teacher is very fond of me - is this something I should try to send Yale (and/or my other RD schools)?</p>
<p>hey guys I have a question for you. I was recently deferred from my number one school, and I wrote my admissions counselor a letter in late January. I recently won two prestigious awards and am nominated for another. The Duke admissions officer said to only write once, and since i already did, what do you guys suggest I do?</p>
<p><<the duke=“” admissions=“” officer=“” said=“” to=“” only=“” write=“” once,=“” and=“” since=“” i=“” already=“” did,=“” what=“” do=“” you=“” guys=“” suggest=“” do?=“”>> Write another one to inform them of your new prestigous awards.</the></p>
<p>In terms of the AP Spanish question, couldn’t hurt. In terms of the awards question,if these are truly prestigious awards, I would not hesitate to update them one more time. Just keep it at that and don’t keep updating them with every little thing. If it is truly your first choice, I don’t think you want to be left with a “what if”- if I had only told them about these awards, I may have gotten in. If you update them one more time with this new info but are still not successful, at least you will have known you had done everything you could.</p>
<p>Exactly. That’s why I tend to support ED, even though it may have some adverse effects on lower-income, URM applicants. ED rewards those students who know what school they want to. This way, a student who really wants, say, Cornell won’t get bounced by someone who really wants Harvard but includes Cornell in the 15 schools to which they apply.</p>
<p>ED rewards full pay. Get over the ‘unfairness’, folks.
If a student cannot get in despite the implicit promise of full pay, it is time to realign expectations. The unusual case of a failed ED attempt succeeding during RD is interesting, but these rare exceptions do not matter much in the overall scheme of how this stuff works.</p>
<p>The richest schools (the Ivies, elite LACs, etc.) are need-blind and guarantee 100% of need. Most applicants admitted ED are not paying full tuition. Granted, most are not getting a full ride either, but the idea that all ED applicants at need-blind institutions are full-pay is simply not true. ED disproportionately benefits the upper-middle-class private (and very good public) school suburbanites who are very knowledgeable about the process, and can commit to paying even if their financial aid is less than expected. But by no means are they all rich kids who don’t apply for financial aid.</p>
<p>I had applied to University of Michigan - Ann Arbor through the Early Response program for Mechanical Engineering for fall 2010 and i have been deferred. I haven’t sent them any mails yet, but Michigan truly is the place I want to go to in the United States. I am an International and My stats are good according to my curriculum (Which IMHO is hard). I have a 1980 SAT score and I have held many leadership positions in my school and have written good essay’s. </p>
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<p>^^ this was my deferral letter. </p>
<p>What should I be doing in order to gain admissions (even though there is practically nothing) ? </p>
<p>P.S.- I can NOT retake my SAT’s since I have my final examinations going on.</p>
<p>Why don’t we do as the Brits do? The USAC system (I think that’s what it’s called) only lets you apply to 5 schools max. And if applying to Oxford or Cambridge, you can only apply to one. That shows which one you’re truly interested in.</p>
<p>Of course, this system does have its problems (ie not getting into any of your 5 schools), but I think the chances of getting into the school you want is much higher because the number of applications is much less.</p>