Hi this is my first post on CC. I just want to know if it is natural to be deferred by a school you thought was “safe” for you.
I have friends who have 200 or so marks less on their SAT but they have been deferred by the same college.
I have a pretty strong resume with International Level Cups and national medals and even my school counselor has no reason for such a response. Please help me understand this.
It’s not uncommon. If you have stats that are well above the so-called “safety” school’s typical student, they will often defer you or even reject you simply because in their mind, they know you won’t go to their college as a first choice so they would rather not bother to extend an invitation of acceptance.
maybe you didn’t show enough interest if they track that?
It sounds like you are an international student. Do you have high need?
D2 was deferred ED and everybody- GC and local rep included- was stunned. She went for a ‘match’ school (wanted to be ‘one and done’) so she was very solid stats-wise, and she had showed serious interest (3 visits, including sitting in on a class and an overnight). The local rep did say that they have significant bump in applicants from our (already over-represented) area. D2 worried that her decision to take a ‘regular’ science class instead of an AP was the problem (the science class was one that was famous in the school for being a super class with an exceptional teacher and she had been waiting to take, but the ED college specifically said that they look at the rigor of senior year schedule).
But, although nobody was interested in the Mom’s view, I think it was her ‘why’ essay: selling yourself doesn’t come naturally to lots of people, and it didn’t to that 17yo. It was ok, but not compelling and her fear of looking desperate or over-eager translated into a rather muted ‘why’. Within hours of getting the deferral she had written a letter to the adcom (and the regional rep) outlining why she thought that they should re-consider. It was massively better than her original letter. Then (painfully) she did 7 more applications in which she had to write 8 more ‘why’ essays. She got a prize in January and wrote to her ED school to tell them, and updated her ‘why’ further. In the end it worked out- she got the place, but I think the deferral was a combination of overconfidence and learning how to deliver a message- to sell herself.
Maybe you should rethink your college list. Were your grades and test scores above the 75th percentile of the score ranges for the school?
How selective is the school?
Usually for safe schools, activities and awards matter much less than grades and test scores.
Since it seems that you are an international applicant, if you needed a lot of financial aid, they could have deferred you because of that.
Yes I am an international student but havent applied for any need based scholarships.
My grade was a 98.5%. And the school is supposed to have a decent acceptance rate.
Looks like Ill have to revisit my essays to check if something went wrong.
Do State schools in the US prefer to give admissions to in-state candidates? Could this have been a reason for the deferral?
Well, yes! B/c the taxpayers in-state contribute to the support of the university. It’s way tuition is higher for OOS than in-state students. The high profile state universities have caps on how many out of state students they are allowed to take (UNC-Chapel HIll, for example is only allowed 18% of students to be OOS- and that includes recruited athletes). Your GC should know that. What were your stats, and what was the university?
- Umich
You need to go to the UMich threads on CC and you will see that D2 is hardly the only superstar student who was deferred by UMich. You can also check the thread from last year and you will see more of the same. The good news is that MANY of the deferred students ultimately are accepted so you should not be thinking of the deferral as a NO. Many CC posters will tell you in those threads of how they were deferred only to be accepted a month or so later. Good luck.
Regardless, Michigan was never a safety for you as an out of state student.
Two years ago, my friends son was deferred. In state, 35 ACT, 3.9 GPA. He eventually got in UMich is not a match for your kid
UMich is not a safety school for anybody from out of state. SAT 2220 is within the mid 50 (2040-2280) but not really outstanding among applicants. The admission rate for in state students was around 49.5% last year, but ~20% for out of state and international. International students are hard to chance, but you should not expect a chance much higher than the out of state admission rate. UMich LSA is indeed a high match for you and should not be surprised by deferral at all. Note that having test score and GPA within the admission range does not mean you will be accepted. Indeed, less than 1/3 of them do.