<p>Sorry to differ with what Christopherson has said, but the statistics don't lie. If you were deferred last year, you had about a 10% chance of getting in RD. I think, in fact, this was lower than the total RD admit rate. My son was also admitted RD after ED deferral...and since he was a legacy a letter was sent by the 'alumni admissions office' to me (he never knew about it, I chose not to tell him) to say this would be the case. I never checked afterwards on the numbers, but I suspect they were straight. </p>
<p>So, while you should not 'give up', also do not assume that having applied ED gives you a leg up. Penn definitely wants kids who want them, so logic would have it that the ED application would be in your favor on some sort of a level. I am just not sure how that translates into all the numbers...</p>
<p>All this said, there were 21% more ED applicants this year than last. I would say all bets are off, therefore. </p>
<p>So what can you do? Here are my suggestions (unscientific as they were effective in only one case)...</p>
<h1>1. If you want to pursue Penn, then have your guidance counselor or regional rep or the person who interviewed you try to find out what/if anything put you into the deferred pile. This is the only thing you need to do now. If you learn something you can change, do so; if you can't, you can't...</h1>
<h1>2. Make sure all your other applications are very well done, reflect the best of you and your desire to go to all those other great schools on your list!</h1>
<h1>3. Write a letter to Penn (not this week, give it a rest) telling them you are still interested, and why. Include in that information something about any new acheivements, etc. Don't resend a full resume.</h1>
<h1>4. Ace your finals if you haven't already taken them. Send the excellent first semester grades to Penn, and your 3rd quarter grades when they come out if they are excellent too.</h1>
<h1>5. My son sent another recommendation. He had a senior year teacher who could not have written as personal a recommendation in October as he did in January...</h1>
<h1>6. My son also sent one of the essays he wrote for another school. It said something different about him that he had not been able to incorporate in his original Penn application.</h1>
<p>I am really not sure how much else you can do. We were surprised this worked for my son. I don't think he had totally given up on Penn on the one hand, on the other hand he knew he kind of had to in order to get the other applications in good shape (none were done when the ED decision came out). A year earlier his older brother had been rejected at his ED school. Both of them did great in the RD round, and both are happy where they are, but would have been happy at many places in fact. Remember how confident you felt before all this started, and try to make sure that you reflect that in every thing you write hereon out. All will be fine. Good luck.</p>