<p>what is the difference between being deferred and waitlisted?</p>
<p>My understanding comes from DD's deferrment/waitlist experience. She applied to School A as SCEA. They did not accept her SCEA nor did they reject her but rather she was on the deferrred list. She then went into the RD pool of applicants, and was placed on the waiting list-as she was not accepted in the RD pool, nor did they reject her. She later gave them notice that she optd for another school that accepted her, and asked to be released from the waiting list.</p>
<p>what does SCEA abbr. mean?</p>
<p>Single Choice Early Action</p>
<p>To me, both words mean that you are borderline in some way.</p>
<p>You can be deferred only if you apply early action, early decision, or early in the "rolling" cycle.</p>
<p>Deferred means that the school doesn't want to make a decision on you until it has a chance to see ALL the applicants. So it places you in the regular decision pool.</p>
<p>Once you are in the regular decision pool (or if you applied that way to begin with), you can be accepted or declined. BUT if the school kind of likes you but doesn't want to admit you outright, you are waitlisted.</p>
<p>Another interpretation of waitlisted is "soft reject." That means that the school really wanted to decline you but doesn't want to hurt your feelings or risk the wrath of your guidance counselor.</p>
<p>After my daughter was waitlisted by a college that I really liked for her, I chose to interpret it that the school had respect for her credentials but just didn't have a seat for her.</p>
<p>Deferred means you applied Early Decision, the school wasn't ready to accept you or deny you so they put you into the Regular Decision Pool. When the regular decisions are made, you may be accepted, rejected or waitlisted.</p>
<p>Waitlist means that they have made all their accept/deny decisions. They have to guess how many of the accepted students will chose to attend there. So some students are neither accepted nor denied, but placed on a waitlist. If fewer accepted students chose to attend than the college expected, they will go to their waitlist and begin offering those students admission.</p>
<p>Waitlists are hard to predict. Some schools draw students from them every year, others use them some years but not others. It all depends how many accepted students decide to go there. If you don't want to remain on the waitlist, just tell the college "thanks but no thanks." If you are on the waitlist and they offer you admission, you have a choice whether to accept or turn them down.</p>
<p>Most colleges will not put you on the waitlist if they are not confident that you can handle the workload.</p>