<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>I was thinking about putting together a blog post (I'm an admissions blogger) for deferred students, since I was one, with the stories of other, current MIT students who were deferred. Unfortunately we don't know anything about your application--just our own experiences. To those of you who were deferred this year: are there any specific questions you have that you would like to see answered?</p>
<p>I would love a collection of stories from the deferred! and a prediction of the acceptance rate would be great but is probably unrealistic. How exactly does the committee decide to defer an applicant? Does it mean they are expecting something to change in between now and March?</p>
<p>You can find some stats here [Admissions</a> Statistics | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/apply/process/stats]Admissions”>Admissions statistics | MIT Admissions). Last year 4% of applicants who were initially deferred were accepted in the regular round and students were deferred and then accepted composed 23% of students who applied early and were accepted in either round (I think the second figure is considerably higher than at most schools). These figures can obviously vary a little year to year but should be roughly accurate.</p>
<p>I think they defer any applicant that is remotely competitive as last year 78% of early applicants were either accepted early or deferred. The wisdom of deferring applicants in the bottom quarter of the early applicant pool when 13% of early applicants are accepted in another question.</p>
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Maybe, maybe not. I’m sure it varies by applicant. If there are very specific, concrete things that might have weakened your application (any SAT scores below 700, for example, or low grades over the past year and new, possibly improved semester grades that will be coming in over the next month) then you should definitely work on those. This was my situation when I was deferred (I was missing a recommendation letter and my junior year grades were not that great).</p>
<p>Otherwise, I would set my application aside for a while and try not to think about it, and then a few weeks before the deadline for the midyear report read through it and think about the picture it paints of you and if there are any gaps. If there are gaps that could be filled with an additional essay or recommendation letter you have the opportunity to fill them using your midyear report. If you don’t see any gaps then you might be fine, though I would still send an update about what you’ve been up to since November.</p>
<p>Are we able to edit essays? From the FUN form’s description, it seems like essay revisions are not an option, but in [url=<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/for_ea_deferred_students]this[/url”>For EA Deferred Students | MIT Admissions]this[/url</a>] post, Mr. McGann says, “You do not need to ‘improve’ your application, or redo/edit/modify part or all of your application… Let it stand.” By how he speaks, I get the feeling that revising essays might be a possibility.</p>
<p>No, you can’t edit essays. You can submit a letter than could include new essays (and any other new information), but you can’t edit what you’ve already sent in.</p>
<p>I do not know if I speak for a majority of students who were deferred, but I am curious as to what needs to be done now.</p>
<p>I know we are supposed to submit the Feb updates form, but what exactly is in it? Will I need to get another letter of recommendation? Will this semesters grades be IN the form or do I need to send in a whole new transcript? When is the Feb Updates form deadline? Do deferred students need to do anything other than this?</p>
<p>Mostly I’m just looking at where I need to go from here.</p>
<p>Those particular questions are going to be answered over probably the next few days, in a blog post on the admissions blogs and probably in other documents that you’ll get access to electronically, either by email or myMIT.</p>
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A space to enter any new information, probably just a large text box and some explanatory sentences. Look here: [February</a> Updates & Notes Form | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/apply/freshman/midyear]February”>February Updates & Notes Form | MIT Admissions)</p>
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You won’t be required to, but if you want to (and you think it will add something not already covered by the letters of recommendation you already sent in) you can.</p>
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You’ll probably need to send in a new transcript, and I think you will also need to list them yourself.</p>
<p>
February 15, as posted here: [Deadlines</a> & Requirements | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/apply/freshman/dates]Deadlines”>Deadlines & requirements | MIT Admissions)</p>
<p>What type of things to people normally put in the Feb Updates box?</p>
<p>New grades, new awards, new essays, what they’ve been up to for the past few months.</p>
<p>After being deferred can you submit something like an athletic supplement video of you playing a sport, or like a Maker App?</p>
<p>I don’t see why not. I think it’s too late to get recruited by a coach at MIT, though.</p>
<p>If I completely tanked the SAT Math II (650) it’s definitely worth a retake, right?</p>
<p>Yes. You should have at least a 700 in every category.</p>
<p>If I submitted a URL in the additional section of my research portfolio (poster image + abstract) and MIT never viewed it (still at 35 views), do you think I should include it on the Feb. update or is that too forward?</p>
<p>I got deferred. I see that my stats is better than most of the admitted ones. What should I do? I guess that nothing I can do.</p>
<p>^Probably a bad idea for you to compare yourself to others - I’m just doing as much as I can to make my app stronger. It might be nothing, it might be a lot, we’re all in different situations</p>
<p>On my answer to the last essay question (“significant struggle”), I cut down a 700ish word essay down to 250 and I feel that it didn’t properly convey what I intended for it to convey. At the time, I didn’t know I could have pasted the full essay in the Additional Information section. Can I submit the full essay with the updates form?</p>
<p>May deferred applicants contact MIT admissions and ask for information like, “What is a contributing factor to my deferral?” It seems like one student did contact admissions, and he got feedback: www . reddit . com/r/mit/comments/1sv432/today<em>mit</em>sends<em>out</em>early<em>action</em>decisions_at/ce1vac0</p>
<p>^That was for a waitlist, not a deferral. </p>
<p>If you call the admissions office, they will not be able to give you feedback on your application. You were deferred because the admissions office thought your application would be competitive in the RD round.</p>
<p>From Matt’s blog, [here](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/deferred-applicants-q-a]here[/url]:”>Deferred Applicants Q & A | MIT Admissions):</a>
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