<p>There are some great tips in these articles/threads. Hope this helps. Don't forget, for those of you who are in winter sports, you still might have some athletic awards to update the admissions office with. Also, Intel announcements are in January- so for those of you who are lucky enough to become semi-finalists or finalists, that would be huge.</p>
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Deferred</a> Early Decision Applicant Asks for Advice - Ask The Dean
Question: I applied to an Ivy League school for early decision. My application was postponed until regular decision. Is there anything I can do to make the admissions committee look at me differently the second time around?</p>
<p>Sorry to hear you were deferred by your first-choice college. That's the bad news. The good news, of course, is that you're still in the running. Some applicants are put out of their misery with denial letters not deferrals at Early Decision time.
You are wise to be asking what to do next. The most successful deferred candidates are indeed those who don't simply sit back and wait for a thicker letter in April. For starters, think about your guidance counselor. Is he (or she) someone who might be a strong and articulate advocate for you? If so, ask your counselor to call (or even e-mail) this Ivy League college and try to find out if there's anything you can do to improve your chances in the spring. What he will be really asking, of course, is "Why didn't this great kid get in?" While it's not likely admission officials will give a specific answer, it's possible. If, for instance, your counselor learns that the college had concerns about your writing, you could then submit an unsolicited essay or other additional writing samples
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College</a> Admissions - One Mother's Saga
Getting to YES!
Receiving a letter that informs your child that he or she has been deferred or placed on the waiting list at a college feels very much like a hard punch in the stomach. This is especially true when your child has applied to a clear first choice in the highly competitive Early Decision (ED) round and has received this disappointing news in December -- in an ironic move by the colleges, generally right around the holidays. Your child now has to pick him/herself up off the floor and immediately send off another round of applications to colleges, all the while knowing that your family is in purgatory until (ironically, again) the spring holiday season.
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Alum</a> Letter for ED-Deferred Applicant? - Ask The Dean
Question: If deferred from an Early Decision school, do you think it would be helpful to my case to get an letter of recommendation from an alum? How important are alumni letters of recommendation? Will a college consider them annoying or extremely beneficial in the application process?</p>
<p>More often than not, alumni letters are fairly meaningless, but sometimes they can be worth pursuing. When?
1. If the alumnus or alumna involved is a huge deal at your target college (e.g., big-time donor, trustee, extremely active in alumni affairs, a VIP in the world at large), then his or her support might help your candidacy.
2. If this alum knows you very well and explains exactly how, noting that you would be the perfect addition to his or her alma mater. Less weight is given to letters that begin, "Leo's father and I went to summer camp together, and the one time I met this young man, when he was 9, I was very impressed by him."
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College</a> Admissions: Deferral and Waitlists
By Dave Berry
Deferrals are the purgatory of Early Decision and Early Action (ED/EA) college admissions. You're not in, but you're not out. You're just hanging there, waiting for the April decision-shoe to fall. It's exquisite anguish. Many applicants would much rather be rejected outright so that they can just get on with things, without the unfinished business of "admit" or "deny" hanging over them.
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** Deferred? Don't Despair!**
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/431901-deferred-dont-despair.html%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/431901-deferred-dont-despair.html</a></p>