OMG, I just got deferred -- now what!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

Six-years ago, about this time of year, my daughter was anxiously awaiting her SCEA application result. 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 thought (or was simply delusional) that she was a shoo-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: In the RD round, my daughter was ultimately rejected by Yale and waitlisted at Princeton. The good news: She was accepted to Harvard.

The moral of the story: No matter what happens this week, understand that your "dream school” may NOT be dreaming of you. But, another wonderful college actually might be!

Although this article is about Harvard, I imagine it’s the same at Yale: http://www.boston.com/news/education/2015/12/11/harvard-accepts-record-low-percentage-of-early-applicants

If you receive a deferral letter this week, please understand that **IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON! ** Sure, you can try to have your guidance counselor contact Yale Admissions and find out why you were deferred – will it do any good (most likely not). Sure, you can write an update letter to Admissions – will it do any good (most likely not). Sure, you can try to get another teacher to write you a recommendation letter — will it do any good (most likely not). Sure, you can write another essay that’s better than the ones you’ve already submitted – will it do any good (most likely not).

Everyone needs to understand **A DEFERRAL IS AS GOOD AS A REJECTION ** and if you can wrap your head around that fact, you’ll be in a much better frame of mind to embrace the colleges that actually accept and want you!

Best of luck to everyone!

2

When I had my interview, my interviewer said that she was initially deferred and then accepted to Yale. She also said that she met a lot of people at Yale who had similar experiences, so maybe acceptance after being deferred at Yale is more common than at Harvard! I could be wrong, but I thought I’d share what my interviewer said.

3

Very realistic advice by the OP. If my daughter is deferred at her SCEA school, I will make her read the original post a few times. My daughter has half heartedly sent in 3 other RD applications to schools that are not ivy but are still very selective. If she gets deferred or rejected, we will have 2 hellish weeks too. I am not making any plans to go anywhere over the holidays.

4

My D was also deferred and then accepted at Yale. I don’t know of many others though. She did have some accomplishments to report in her update letter. Who knows what gave her the boost? The only feedback she got was a personal positive note from admissions about her essay which was from the early round.

After the deferral, she did focus on other schools, but still always had Yale in the back of her mind. It was a long wait to RD.

5

I do believe everyone should take heed at @gibby advise and counsel. One or two instances of deferrals resulting in admission do, of course happen. But I have been doing interviews for years and years, and I can honestly say that not one of my deferred early action kids ultimately got in. We still of course wish you all the luck in the world, but I think you need to what the ultimate goal of the OP’s story was. The end result, even after the devastating news from Yale, turned out fine. This information is probably more for the parents on CC than the students since you will have to be the ones dealing with them after Dec. 15.

6

^^ Yes it did turn out fine, but – and I cannot stress this enough – it would also have turned out just fine if my daughter had ultimately been rejected from Harvard and had attended any other college that had accepted her, including her safety school! I strongly believe in this advice from Jeffrey Brenzel, Yale’s retired Admissions Director

7

I like how he said “what you decide to do once you get to a STRONG college”

8

^^ Yes, and IMHO, a STRONG college is any one of the top 300 colleges that you’ll find here: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities

9

What about colleges outside those top 300 (say a top 10 regional)?

Maybe I don’t want the answer to that, heh. I’m sure plenty of CCers would be pleased to tell me my experience was worthless and that any success I had was just because I happened to be someplace second rate (or perhaps even third or fourth, depending on whom you ask). Sometimes I wonder myself; I have a lot of regrets about just about every decision I’ve made from high school onward (none of them are really grade related; they go beyond that). But I try to count my blessings and be grateful for what I’ve been given.

10

FWIW: Although this is not about Yale, it should give you some perspective: http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3201481

Warren Buffet attended the University of Nebraska for undergraduate school, which is not on the top 300 list – so maybe I should have expanded the definition of a STRONG college to the top 1,000 or 5,000 colleges!

11

My daughter was deferred like almost 2700 others. She was sad, but realizes it is time to move on with those RD applications.

12

I urge the kids that were deferred to read through the stats that were posted and know that all of those things you see that you had the same or better means that you were just as likely a candidate. In many cases its a matter of numbers vs location and in some other cases it will be the stat poster being modest. One thing we were told is that Yale likes to pick kids that do not even realize how great they are. Take that information and all of your enthusiasm and keep putting yourselves out there. Do lots of research on the schools you will now apply to while waiting for the end of March. Look into more than just the academics. Look into the social scenes and what the other students are really like. My daughter was deferred from her original first choice. In the end Yale became her first choice after the research she did and she is now where she needed to be all along. Best of luck!

13

I guess I would add one thing here…there’s “deferred” and then there’s “Deferred.” That is, some colleges simply defer everyone as more of a courtesy, rejecting only those students who aren’t within the possible parameters. Stanford is the classic example of the other side – I believe they outright reject 80% and defer than less 10% of their early applicants – and there are likely other colleges where a kid could still have a decent amount of optimism in the new year.

That said, hope for the best, prepare for the rest.

14

Just adding, deferral isn’t a final loss, it’s a sort of hanging in purgatory. You weren’t outright rejected, but you don’t know why they did it. Sometimes, you’re strong, but they’re waiting to see how you compare in the RD pool. Sometimes, it’s that a couple of applicants from your area were more obvious choices now, they got priority in the decisions, but the school wants to keep you on deck.

Deferral shows how the school is in control of this. You can submit addl materials, but the only real way to get back some vestige of your own control is to do what gibby advocates: move on. Of course, to wise choices, informed choices, not shots in the dark.

15

Hey I agree with post 9, but I thought Scott McNealy did go to Harvard?

16

@bluewater2015 It is about Harvard but the schools are similar enough the post applies

17

Dear Daughter got rejected by Columbia, wait listed by Harvard, accepted in the dual degree program by Penn, and went to Pomona. Lots of good choices out there. Don’t get thrown by one deferment or rejection.

18

I agree with the post, I was just making a minor factual point, that Scott McNealy (cited in the article as rejected by Harvard), in fact went to Harvard (and also Stanford).

19

Deferred is way better than rejected, even if the final result is the same.

The way I look at it is that anything from demographics to geography can result in deferment, and generally it is zero to do with the student themselves. My best friend was waitlisted from Princeton, but other applications were submitted by the time the news of the waitlist status arrived.

Because I feel that waitlisting is more about the numbers and less about the student (sort of a “we’d accept this student normally, but here are the details…”, I feel it is worth celebrating - not as much as acceptance of course, but still celebrated.

And I have no idea who Scott McNealy is.

20

For those planning to apply next year, what you should take from this, I think, is: Don’t focus too much on your SCEA school, even if you think it’s your “dream school.” Have a strategy from the beginning that includes reach, match, and safety schools and, if at all possible, prepare your RD applications at the same time you prepare your SCEA application. My kids submitted (almost) all of their RD apps before we heard from the SCEA school, because we wanted to decrease the emphasis on the SCEA decision. (Of course, this cost money, so you might want to prepare the apps but delay submitting them until you hear from the SCEA school.)