@Gauchman Thank you for your update. You message made me feel a bit better about my deferral 
And @Govgirl, maybe they only start re-reading deferred applicants’ files after the optional update deadline has passed?
I really hope that’s the case. It’s so nerve-wracking just waiting and biding my time
@sjsprint and @DL43516. Since each and every deferred applicant (only 562) is seriously in the running to be accepted in the regular round…you have to understand…each deferred applicant was deferred for a particular reason…particular strength (music, art, community service, debating, writing, acting, research, etc.) or particular demographics (domestic URM, under-represented country, under-represented small state, etc.) or particular interest of study (humanities, social sciences, art, music, CS, engineering, etc.) or socio-economic status (poor, homeless, undocumented, wealthy, etc.) or legacy status or potentially “developmental” (those from very wealthy donors to Stanford) status or some combination of the above…
…of the remaining slots available in the regular decision pool…someone from the regular pool with “similar” particular strength, demographics, socio-economic status, interest of study, legacy/developmental status will “need” to “trump” someone from the deferred pool to get in…and, if the regular applicant is about “equal” to the one being compared from the deferred pool…the “ties” will generally go to the deferred…
…on the other hand, if the regular round applicant has the stellar qualities and characteristics to have been admitted during Stanford’s REA (early) round…they will be admitted.
…bottom line…the remaining regular decisions (golden tickets) are largely based on the institutional needs of Stanford…and how many of each targeted group was already met in the early round (REA). One thing for certain…Stanford will never lack for getting too many of the top students appyling…who aspire to be a special “tree” growing on the “farm”.
Here’s a Stanford Daily Article from today: The Gatekeepers: Inside Montag Hall
http://www.stanforddaily.com/2015/01/09/the-gatekeepers-inside-montag-hall/
Hope this helps.
I know the waiting is really difficult. My ds went from deferred to accepted last year. It was a long, hard winter. Heed the words of @gravitas2; sh/e is always spot on.
Hang in there. Try to focus on your classes and just ENJOYING the remainder of your senior year. I’m just an old mom, but don’t wish your young lives away. Try not to let all of this consume you. Just free advice. Which, of course, is worth what you pay for it! 
Gravitas2, you beat me to it! I saw that article in the Stanford Daily and thought it would be good for applicants to see as well.
Have any of you submitted your update forms yet? I’m planning on sending mine in mid-February.
That’s when I’m sending mine as well. It probably won’t be too packed tho 
Last year Stanford deferred 593. Of those, 145 were admitted, yielding an admit rate of 24%. There has been some talk on this board that the deferred admit rate is 15%. That may have been true in prior years, but it was not true last year.
FWIW, I applaud Stanford’s policy of deferring relatively few kids. Those schools that defer a lot (you know who they are) are being disingenuous. They are simply trying to induce more kids to apply in subsequent years. (“Mary applied and she was deferred, so she must have been close. I’m not quite as good as Mary, but what the heck I’ll give it a try.”)
I also applaud Stanford’s policy of not wait-listing kids who have already been deferred. At some point, you must get on with your life.
@fredthered - Wow! I had no idea there were so many accepted out of last year’s deferred applicant pool! Where does one find that number? And can it be obtained for those schools that defer a lot? Or do schools individually decide whether or not to release that number? Thanks in advance for any insights you can share.
@fredthered. I have heard that number being quoted for last year at 24.5% as well…but Stanford usually does not always release the exact numbers for the deferred admissions. As I have said in another thread:
The 15% that they use in their deferral letter each December is low-ball conservative number…and I would not be surprised that the actual “real” number is somewhere in between 15% - 25% (most likely on the higher end since more and more of the top “star” students have Stanford as their dream school and apply REA)…
…so, in reality, those top students who apply REA to Stanford may actually have a higher rate of admissions than what the REA numbers would lead one to believe (if you add the number accepted REA plus the “actual” high number accepted for the REA deferred…it approaches 900 being admitted for those who applied EARLY)…
…and, I know many of the most sophisticated/savvy students and their parents used this knowledge in applying to Stanford REA…and those who were not aware of this applying to another school(s) out east thinking it was “easier” to get in to those (for engineering/CS)…and now potentially being “numbered” out in the regular round…
What part of those REA numbers are the athletes?
In the June 2014 faculty senate notes someone posted on another thread, Dean Shaw said 13% of admitted students overall are recruited athletes - not sure how many of those are REA but I believe a high percentage as a lot of sports have November signing dates for NLIs.
@JustOneDad and @bluewater2015. Through the grapevine I have heard that 55-67% of the recruited athletes are usually admitted in the REA and the remaining 33-45% (large number) is admitted during the regular round. Remember…Stanford can admit recruited athletes at any time during the application cycle (once they qualify academically…but, some just can’t so they will not be admitted despite being “recruited”)…and a good number are admitted during the regular decision time slot. Some of the athletes have to pass the academic hurdle (some may need to take the exams so many times or maintain a certain GPA) before they can be officially offered a spot…and many of the non-glamour sports athletes are in the regular pool…
one such example is this senior: http://tennessee.247sports.com/Bolt/Stanfords-Shaw-in-East-Tennessee-to-see-DE-prospect-34883328
^^here is another example of a top national recruit getting in during the regular round:
http://www.dailynews.com/sports/20150106/harts-trent-irwin-announces-commitment-to-play-football-at-stanford
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2157127-trent-irwin-to-stanford-cardinal-land-4-star-wr-prospect
So for those who think the early slots are “reserved” for recruited athletes…better think long and hard before they give away their REA chances to someone “more savvy” 
Am I the only one who randomly gets upset about being deferred? I knew being deferred/rejected would sting, but I didn’t imagine it would sting this much. I never thought I would become so attached to a school.
@KelMoo I feel you! 
There are moments when I just feel so terrible about being deferred (especially when I compare myself to the kid who got in from my school, which I know is a terrible thing to think!) But then there are moments when I remember that out of nearly 7500 students who applied, I made into the group of 562 kids who got deferred. Other elite schools deferred 60-80% of their applicants, but Stanford kept us around for a reason. We could have easily been rejected–Stanford mercilessly rejected nearly 83% of their REA applicants–they have no problem with rejecting people. So we should remind ourselves that we’ve made it this far, and hope that we’ll end up somewhere great (even if it’s not Stanford).
@sjsprint Omg that blows! I’m sorry. I’m so glad I am the only one from my school applying because I would not be able to deal if someone I knew got in. I had lunch with a doctor like three days ago and I gravely told him about my deferment and he congratulated me. Haha, needless to say, that was not the response I had expected. I recognize that being deferred is an honor but I just feel like Stanford thinks I’m not good enough to be initially accepted, y’know?
@KelMoo Yeah, I know how you feel. For almost a month, I was so hung up on that (feeling like Stanford thinks I’m not good enough to get in initially). But then I realized that I knew a lot of extremely smart and talented people who got flat-out rejected from Stanford (early) and then got into Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, Yale and MIT (regular). I also know people who got rejected from Stanford REA, but then got likely letters from Columbia and Yale. Applying early to Stanford is a crapshoot and if you end up getting in RD, I don’t think it means you’re somehow inferior to the early admits (since amazing kids who might even be more qualified/impressive than the early admits get flat-out rejected).
I’ve just been really nervous because there has been all sorts of problems with my transcript last semester that I’ve been working out (errors in processing, ect.). My midyear report is finally going in today or tomorrow, so hopefully Stanford doesn’t consider that as late. It would be awful to miss this opportunity because of some processing errors.
Many high schools haven’t even finished the first semester yet, so don’t worry about your transcript arriving late.