Five-years ago, about this time of year, my daughter was anxiously awaiting her SCEA application. When the decision finally came down, she was deferred by her first choice school (Yale). This was exceedingly difficult for our family, as my daughter’s guidance counselor had assured us that my daughter would be a shoe-in for Yale. Unfortunately, Yale Admissions didn’t think so.
And, double-unfortunately, my daughter was so confident she would be accepted to Yale that she had not submitted ANY other RD applications. Consequently, the two week period between mid-December and New Year’s became a nightmare for our family, as my daughter pumped out more than 10 applications to various colleges.
The not-so-good news: She was ultimately rejected at Yale and waitlisted at Princeton. The good news: She was accepted to Harvard.
The moral of the story: No matter what happens tomorrow, understand that your "dream school” may NOT be dreaming of you. But, another wonderful school actually might be!
So, don’t give up hope! By all means, talk to your guidance counselor and convince them to call Harvard Admissions and ask “Why did my favorite applicant get deferred?”
If your GC can find the answer to that question, it will help you address the issue(s) of your deferral. But for those students who have been deferred, here’s some cogent advice
Not sure that "Why did my favorite applicant get deferred?” is a useful question at Yale or Harvard. The answer for both is that they each accept ~300 legacies and ~300 athletes in the early admit round, leaving only about 300 spots open at Harvard, (and significantly fewer at Yale) for unconnected non-athletes.
Or, did their essays not portray them in the best light? Or, perhaps did Admissions want to see how a student performed in their senior year?
All of the above help a student’s re-address those specific issues. If you have absolutely no idea why you were deferred, you cannot try to get the upper hand and help Admissions understand why you should be admitted over anyone else.
It depends on your GC’s relationship with Harvard and the actual reason you were deferred. At my son and daughter;s high school, the GC had been in the position for 20+ years, and had relationships with HYP et all, so they could call, ask these questions and get a definitive answer.
@gibby Would you say this is a useful thing to ask my guidance counselor to do whether or not he will get a definitive answer back from the college, or even call? I just wonder if it crosses the line for “nosy” for the applicant — if they wanted to let EVERYONE know why, they would, wouldn’t they?
Your guidance counselor’s job is to be an advocate for students in the applications process – so it’s not “nosy” of them to call and ask.
The question can take many forms, such as “Is there anything you need to see more of that would help @Sterben’s application move forward?” or “Is there something you can point to that was lacking in @Sterben’s application?” or “Did @Sterben’s make it to the Full Committee?” or “What concerns did you have that held @Sterben’s application from being presented to the Full Committee?” Mind you, an Admissions Officers will not tell students these things, but sometimes might tell your GC.
If you come from a school that has hundreds of SCEA applications to Harvard, obviously your GC isn’t going to have the time to do this for every applicant. But, if you’re the Valedictorian or Salutatorian of your class, or ranked in the top 1% of your class, your GC might agree to advocate on your behalf. And if there are just a few applicants from you high school applying in the SCEA round, there’s no reason for your GC not to do it.
FWIW: One major difference between public and private schools is that guidance counselor’s at private school’s feel very comfortable about picking up the phone and calling Admissions, while public school GC’s are overworked and don’t want to give the appearance that they are advocating for one student but not another. If you are deferred, it’s worth talking to your guidance counselor to see if they will make the call.
@gibby always appreciate your posts. But, why exactly was your daughter so confident about Yale? It seems that everyone knows it is a reach for even the top tier applicants. I’d be upset if a GC told someone they were a shoo-in for any top 10-20 school. Just incorrect.
^^ The GC felt my daughter was a great fit for Yale given her academic record and EC’s. As the GC had spent 20-year’s in her job, had a long track record with HYP, and my daughter was our first child applying to college, we trusted the GC’s judgement. In the end, it worked out for my daughter. FWIW: The GC felt the same about my son being a shoe-in for Yale and she was right about him.
I just got deferred. My school/GC (Midwestern public school) doesn’t have any ties or relationship with Harvard. Do you think Harvard would tell my GC anything about my deferral?
Also, I’m really not sure what I can add or edit to my application to improve it for the RD round. I got my first B in high school last trimester, so a Mid Year Report might actually hurt me :-/
^^ As you noted, it’s going to be difficult for your GC to call and talk you up because they don’t have a prior relationship with Harvard’s Regional Admissions Director who covers your school. That, coupled with the decline in your grades, makes it a tough-sell. I agree: there’s not much you can do (sorry).
My daughter’s GC did not hear back from Admissions until after New Year’s, so no changes were made to her Common Application. However, additional essays needed to be written at the last minute for supplemental questions. So Harvard accepted the same Common Application that Yale rejected and Princeton waitlisted.
@tdy123 I don’t believe Harvard sets aside spots for legacies. I’m legacy and I was deferred today. I think you’re thinking of kids with legacy who donate a crap ton to the university
@gibby I got deferred yesterday and in all honesty I was pleasantly surprised… However I am in, at this point, the exact same boat your daughter was in in the sense that I haven’t yet even started filling out any other applications for RD… I just really want to know why I got deferred so I can maybe try to incorporate elements of what the Harvard admissions commitee felt I was lacking into my other applications and although three other kids from my school also applied to Harvard SCEA do you still think I should go ahead and ask my GC to call?
^^ Keep in mind that my daughter submitted the same Common Application to all schools, so what one college wants another may not be interested in. You should concentrate on your other RD applications and pump those out first. Then have your GC call.
@trytophan, I don’t understand why you were “pleasantly surprised” that you got deferred (which implies that you weren’t expecting to get in) but “haven’t even started filling out any other applications for RD”. Why not? This is the next 4 years of your life, and one of the most important developmental periods. You need to make sure that you put out really good applications. Make sure that your essays and overall application present a clear and coherent picture of who you are, and why you deserve a spot at your target schools.
@gibby I was deferred.
I don’t have a guidance counselor at my school. Should I call the admission office (I’m from Europe) or email them by myself? I’d really like to know what exactly kept me out or what I can do to better my RD applications.
No, you shouldn’t call Admissions yourself as AO’s are unlikely to discuss that information directly with a student. If your high school doesn’t have a GC, then you should just write an update letter, as indicated by the links in the first post.
I didn’t want to say this last week as I thought it would be too brutal, but now that a few days have gone by, here’s the harsh reality of being deferred.
Harvard has an 82% yield, so they accept about 2000 students hoping to achieve their goal of 1650 matriculating students for September. Given that 918 students were accepted in the SCEA cycle, that leaves 1080 spaces left for the 4673 students who were deferred.
If Harvard doesn’t take anyone who applies from the RD cycle (an unlikely occurrence), Admissions can only take 23% of those who were deferred.
My best guess is that Harvard accepts a maximum of 10% of deferred students. If I’m correct, 90% of deferred students will ultimately be rejected. That should be a wake-up call.
If you’ve been deferred, you should do everything to get back on Admissions’ radar – have your GC call Harvard and find out if there was a specific reason you were deferred, address those concerns, write a letter of continued interest, send an update letter with significant achievements that you’ve earned since your application was submitted – and then move on, as if you have been rejected.