I ED’d CALS and was deferred on 12/11/17. Frankly I’m surprised I wasn’t rejected, and I’m starting to wonder just how many deferrals were granted – if, like other schools, delayed decision is really just a delayed “no” given to a majority of non-accepted applicants. Still, posts about deferral from past years give me hope, and I’m going to work my hardest to appeal to the school. (Even if it means matriculating spring or fall 2019.)
With my stats you’ll see why I felt surprised, though I know CALS has high acceptance rates than other schools:
GPA: UW 4.0, W 4.6.
ACT: 31
I am a white female.
Courses: my school allows me to take one AP class each year: AP Lang (3), AP Environmental Sci (4), AP Calc AB this year.
No SAT II.
EC:
About 300 hours of volunteer work at an animal sanctuary.
Internship as junior park ranger.
Leader of music club.
Teaching assistant for school.
Member of coalition for youth civic engagement
Common app essay not very personal, but pretty demonstrative of my character. I wrote about how simulation theory has affected my life perspective.
My Why Cornell essay wasn’t great, I hope to really show my interest in the supplemental letter I’ll write in January.
Also, if you’re reading this and were also deferred, please reply to the thread! 
If the majority of ED applicants are in my situation, I’ll know that taking my second chance seriously would be futile. (For example, I know Georgetown defers all non-accepted applicants, but saw a stat that 20% of Cornell ED’s were deferred, which is more promising.) Please reply lol. I registered on this site for this.
Thanks so much…