So, a couple of days ago I got deferred from UNC Chapel Hill, my top choice school. I realized from the jump that the odds were not in my favor as I live in New York and the institution only admits 13% of OOS students. However, me and my father foolishly made many plans based off me getting into that school, so now I am in a rut.
I’m just not quite sure to move on with life, or wait around for a final decision. I was hoping to be already decided on the college I was going to by beginning of April and secure my space in the college to maximize my chances at decent housing, but now I’m not quite sure what to do. I’ve gotten accepted to some other colleges and still waiting on others, but I’m scared to set my mind to another college just to have Chapel Hill turn around and accept me (although my chances there are less than promising as they’ll only accept 400ish out of the 2,500 deferred).
I guess it is traditional to share some stats on here:
SAT: 1780 – 580 CR, 570 MATH, 630 GR (lord knows how they saw that and chose not to reject me compared to other scores I’ve seen)
ACT: Didn’t take
GPA:3.8 UNW
AP Socres-- Bio:4 AP Lang:4
Senior Year courseload: 3 AP (Calc AB, Gov&Pol, Lit), SUPA (college credit through Syracuse University) Presentational Speaking and SUPA Economics – the rest are basically electives.
E.C.- I do a fair amount considering a lot of service opportunities are not made known to us at my school, but that’s no excuse. I’ve also held down a steady job for about a year that was a result of a promotion from volunteer status. No leadership positions.Tennis in junior year.
Recs: Pretty solid. My guidance counselor and I are pretty close this year, so hopefully he was on it.
Essays: Lord knows they must have saved me from complete rejection. Common app essay about my mother who passed in 2008, the micro-moment of connection prompt for my supplement.
Ethinicity: African American
Gender: Female
Accepted to: SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Cortland, Iona College (backup)
Waiting on: Boston University, Penn State
Deferred: Well… Chapel lol
Denied: none yet
So if anyone is experiencing this themselves, has experienced it, has a child experiencing it, or even just believes they may have helpful input, I’d sincerely appreciate it.
Congratulations on your acceptances. You have some great choices. You are in good shape despite the deferral, unlike a lot of my son’s peers who only applied to one early school and were deferred or denied. They are truly down in the dumps and many of them did not have other apps ready to go, so they spend a miserable holiday season getting other apps out. It’s understandable how you are feeling.
Can’t help your feelings, At least I can’t, nor can most of us, so do go along with your common sense and move on, and if UNC comes through at the end, it’s a bonus to you. In many ways, I think the kids I know who were denied were in better emotional shape and able to move on better than those deferred who are still spending too much energy and thought still hoping for an accept at that first choice school despite the vastly diminished chances. Harder to move on. So good luck looking at your other choices and on word from your other schools.
I don’t understand why you think that can’t happen. According to the UNC website “Early Action: Apply by October 15 to get your decision by the end of January. Regular Decision: Apply by January 12 to get your decision by the end of March.”
The end of March is before the beginning of April.
Perhaps you have confused “deferral” with “waitlist”. If you are deferred you are bumped from the early pool into the pool that finds out by the regular decision date. If you are put on the waitlist then you won’t know until some time during the summer, perhaps even just before classes start in the Fall.
Really by “decided on the college I’m going to” I mean have gotten into UNC, visited another time to confirm my feelings about the campus (because it’ll be really hard to find time where my dad and I are both off of work and school to get down there as it is), discuss it further with my dad financial wise, and then put the down payment lol. So getting deferred kinda messed that up because now I definitely won’t be able to revisit by that time. Not that it’s a huge deal that it gets pushed back, I just felt really good about having a plan to all of this, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.
But yeah, I was deferred, they used the term in the letter and it mentioned a decision arriving in late March.
@cptofthehouse Thank you so much, haha. My friends thought I was crazy for applying to more than 4 schools honestly. I definitely feel emotionally uncomfortable with the uncertainty, but I suppose it’s best to move on for now. Just bummed because it was definitely the warmest and sunniest of all the choices lol. Thank you so much though
It does sound like you have good alternatives! Can I make a suggestion? UNC
Asheville. I am been hearing great reviews/endorsements of that school…great kids…and best of all, you have until Feb. 15 to apply. https://admissions.unca.edu/apply-now And you can drive over to Chapel Hill for dinner.
You are still waiting on three schools – BU, Penn State and UNC. If you have interest in attending any one of they, wait until all of your decisions come out. You already have some nice choices so congratulations.
I think you still have a shot. You should “move on” in the sense of considering other possibilities of course, but remain open to ALL your options, including UNC. Good luck, I’ll be rooting for the BEST thing to happen to you, whether that be UNC or somewhere else!
Do you have strong midyear grades? That could help. At the very least, find out who your regional rep is and write him or her a letter of burning desire…nothing over the top, but some specifics about what it is about UN C that appeals to and what you can bring to the campus environment. Finish with, if I am admitted I will accept/attend. Make sure someone proofs your letter…make sure your student I’d for tracking is on it…then send it off. You risk nothing by doing this. If you have a guidance counselor who can call the regional counselor and pitch you, utilize him or her. And, consider transfer options if it does not work out (and you end up not loving wherever you land). There is also always grad school. Over 30 years ago (yeah, I’m old ;)) I got rejected from my dream school, went to a SUNY (where I was able to graduate debt free…the dream school was a private that would have required loans). I went to my dream school for grad school (met my husband through a friend at grad school, and made many of my closest and most important friendships at my undergrad…my maid of honor, and several other close friends who, to this day, are my support system). In summary, go for it…give it your best shot. I’m rooting for you.
