<p>My D got a deferral from her dream college A and would like to send an update. She also got some early writes from other colleges. In the update, should she mention that even though she got early writes from other colleges, College A is still her dream school? Does it sound too cheesy/arrogant/show-off by mentioning early-writes? Will it backfire?</p>
<p>Advices and comments are appreciated.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t add the early writes but certainly let them know that school is still the #1 choice.</p>
<p>^^ Thank you for your reply. Can you elaborate a bit on why the early writes should not be mentioned?</p>
<p>Hi - my son was deferred last year from ED to RD. He did stay in touch in what I thought was a nice way. He received an honor that he passed along to his adcom in the winter and he had his coach write a letter to the coach of the college with a cc: to the adcom about a month after that. Then a few weeks before decisions, he wrote his adcom and let her know that even though he’d been deferred, he wanted her to know that their school was still his top choice and if he was accepted, he would be attending. I’m not sure what if any of that worked, but he was admitted RD and is very, very happy freshman this year. Dreams can come true! 
I agree that I wouldn’t mention the other offers - I don’t think there’s a need to do that. </p>
<p>^^ Thanks a lot for the story.</p>
<p>My daughter was deferred EA from her dream school. She wrote a very simple update to her regional advisor, thanking her for continuing to keep her in consideration. She closed with a statement that if admitted, she would attend. Three sentences total. </p>
<p>She was admitted a week later, prior to RD closing. </p>
<p>As for why not to mention the other admissions ( my daughter had 5 others)- the schools don’t care about the other institutional standards. They care about theirs. </p>
<p>So it is not so much about bragging or arrogance, but it isn’t information they desire to make a decision on your child. They care about the information they have about her, and what their admission committee is looking for in their upcoming class. </p>
<p>Hope that helps. </p>
<p>^^ That makes sense. Thanks a lot.</p>
<p>“If admitted, I will attend” makes a difference to many schools.</p>
<p>^^ But at this moment, without financial aid package, it is very difficult to make that promise.</p>
<p>Colleges also do not like to feel like you are trying to “strong arm” them with talking about other admissions offers. They are well aware that students get admitted to other colleges, and they don’t actually care. Their focus is on making up their class. But it is sort of bad form to talk about other acceptances, and won’t gain your D anything.</p>
<p>Agree if it is truly her first choice, she should say so. If she has any additional accomplishments since her initial application, she should also discuss those and ask them to please consider this additional information in their admissions decision. </p>
<p>^^ Good advice.</p>
<p>She can say College A continues to be first choice. </p>
<p>My kid’s school used to send another packet if a student is deferred. The packet would include a GC update about the student, one or two additional LORs, a new personal statement, mid year transcript. </p>
<p>^^ You have very good support from your kid’s school. My D’s counselor has 400+ students and it is rather difficult to do these things you listed. We are trying our best to present my D to college A for the regular decision after deferral. We have sent in a new essay with a short message saying college A is still her top choice. Mid year report was sent by the high school to all her CommonApp schools. </p>
<p>Does she have any new EC accomplishments since her initial application? That will go a lot further than an extra essay if she has something like that to tell them about. </p>
<p>An extra essay and additional LOR’s seem like an odd idea to me. Presumably if colleges wanted to look at extra essays, and additional LOR’s they’d ask for them. I think there’s a reason why they limit the words in the essays and limit the number of LOR’s they say you can submit. Not sure it would make a good impression to push more of these materials at them and exceed their stated limits.</p>
<p>@mathyone, as I am new to this process, I think you have a point. However, I would think college admission officers would see the initiative the deferred student showed by updating them with new information. As long as the information is new and not a rehash of existing ones, I think it should be fine. It is just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>My kids’ school, Cornell, said on its website that it is not necessary but deferred students are encouraged to send in additional information. D1’s GC put the packet together for her because it has been a standard practice at her high school for many years. I told my friend, whose daughter went to a public school, about what D1’s GC was doing. She couldn’t get their GC to do much so she helped her daughter put the packet together. </p>
<p>I think if the info truly beefs up the applications (additional EC accomplishments, improved test scores, 1st semester grades that look great), they will help the application. The rest not so much… I think they expect students to provide essays and LORs the first time around that show themselves in the best light possible. It probably won’t hurt, but I suspect only substantive additions to the application are going to make a difference. </p>
<p>Also… not sure what school it is, but some schools defer A LOT of students (thinking U of Chicago last year, and very, very few of them got in RD). I hope your D is prepared that this may be the outcome for this school and is taking a realistic look at her other options.</p>
<p>^^^ I know my son hoped he would be accepted RD but didn’t hold his breath. I do think a bunch of kids were deferred from his college last year so he knew the possibility was pretty slim. He was being considered for a sports team, hence the additional LOR from his coach which was addressed to the coach of the ED school with a copy to the adcom. And he did send in an award he received as it was something to add to his application. The school he applied does place importance on interest so he figured it couldn’t hurt. I do think there’s a fine line between staying in touch and adding to the application vs. pestering. Whatever - we were amazed and thrilled that he was accepted. We laugh that he worked extra hard for his admission. OP - good luck to you both.</p>