<p>Question on wait listing versus outright denial for EA at Amherst. </p>
<p>Under no delusions that being wait listed is for all intents and purposes a denial, but is the fact that I wasn't outright denied a good overall sign for my chances at less selective places? </p>
<p>Bottom line question -- Does Amherst deny in EA, or is wait listing a nice way of denying for EA?</p>
<p>Clarification … “Deferred for reconsideration with RA Spring Applicants”</p>
<p>Is this the same as a denial?</p>
<p>For all intents and purposes?</p>
<p>Deferral is not being wait listed(which happens in April).</p>
<p>Deferral is what happens to early applicants who are not accepted nor rejected. Rejected = rejected. Deferral /= rejected. It is not “for all intents and purposes a denial.” Period.</p>
<p>You should have understood the outcomes of your early application before you submitted it. </p>
<p>Rather than wallow in disappointment you should calm down. You’re still in the running. Your chances are likely as least as good as all the subsequent RD applicants. </p>
<p>You took your shot. And the outcome wasn’t what you wanted. Now it’s time to rationally regroup and focus on other colleges and even see if Amherst might come calling in April. </p>
<p>Clearly, this is a normal outcome for a portion of the early pool. You’re due a little sympathy. But not like if you were denied.</p>
<p>I’m not “wallowing in self pity” … I’m trying to understand what a deferral actually means. I was specifically unclear as to if denials are issued in EA, or if a deferral is a nice way of saying “don’t get your hopes up.” - That’s all. </p>
<p>Some others on this site have commented in the past that this should be taken as a denial. I fully intend and am in the process of submitting a number of regular decision apps. I was just wondering if the deferral meant Amherst thinks I’m weak – From your comment I shouldn’t read anything into it I guess. Frankly it’s a little hard to “move-on” when the school leaves you in limbo. But I am and will move forward. </p>
<p>However - Does one send any supplemental material or letter of continued interest in the meantime? </p>
<p>I thought this was an advice forum … jeesh … </p>
<p>If I wanted to be attacked I’d have gone to a debate forum.</p>
<p>Treat a deferral as a denial and be happily surprised if you make it in during RD. Most deferred students will not, about the same percentage that get in overall RD will get in from the deferred pile RD.</p>
<p>Students are deferred for different reasons. They can like you a lot but want to see
Who else from your pool applies RD. You can be a legacy or a connected student who they want to let down easy. You can be from a school/country/state they want to continue to attract applicants from…there are many reasons for referrals.</p>
<p>Move on, put your best effort into the rest of your applications and fall in love with a few other schools.</p>
<p>If they had wanted to reject you, they would have. There is no percentage in it for them to waste their time doing a second review of your file if they didn’t think you were a viable candidate. That said, Amherst is going to deny many qualified candidates come Spring simply because it’s a very popular school. Try not to take it personally. Life is not over if you don’t get into Amherst.</p>
<p>Wow T26E4 must be having a rough day…</p>
<p>The second part of your question:</p>
<p>“However - Does one send any supplemental material or letter of continued interest in the meantime?”</p>
<p>Absolutely. You’re still in the running. It’s worthwhile for you to keep Amherst aware of your new achievements. Send them relevant supplementary information, such as awards that may come your way, in your academics, ECs or sports. If you do exceptionally well in a senior course, have your teacher send a supplemental reference noting that. If you retake a standard test, or an additional SAT II and do very well send the score. Talk to your college counselor. Perhaps he has a relationship with Amherst admissions and is willing to advocate for acceptance.</p>
<p>Quilh, many colleges have a philosophy of deferring rather than denying. It has little to do with whether they are intending to admit the deferred. In fact, most colleges hate to reject ED/EA applicants and defer most.</p>
<p>So I just wanted to know…is there any hope for the deferred applicants? I’m definitely applying elsewhere, i’m just curious whether i should abandon my little dream of going to amherst hahaha</p>
<p>Some others on this site have commented in the past that this should be taken as a denial.</p>
<p>They liked enough about you NOT to reject you. Some defers are because another kid from your area, major, with your particular profle, etc, was ahead of you. Some are because you seem like a good catch, but they need other factors to start to gel in the selection process before they can see if you are the right final choice. I am sure there are other reasons, as well.</p>
<p>Any school that rejects upwards of 90% of apps isn’t “afraid” to outright reject those EDs they feel are not worth a 2nd look in RD. They aren’t “being nice” or letting you down easy. That’s what you can cling to- a school thought enough of your app to keep you in the running. </p>
<p>But, that’s all. It holds no guarantees of an admit or an easier second go-round. But, yes, it does offer chance to keep them posted of new, relevant info.</p>
<p>Waverly advises - “… many colleges have a philosophy of deferring rather than denying. It has little to do with whether they are intending to admit the deferred. In fact, most colleges hate to reject ED/EA applicants and defer most.”</p>
<p>This is what I wanted to know, and to solicit opinions. experiences and facts from others about … </p>
<p>If this is what they do, it’s dishonest and a disservice - but from their perspective a good marketing technique. </p>
<p>My counselor told me she would eventually call and try and get some feedback – nothing to lose. </p>
<p>More or less, it would be nice to know if my app was close to or not even close to what they wanted. Sounds like the “deferred” doesn’t give any indication. This was the main foundation of my original question.</p>
<p>I agree it’s a disservice. I think it allows many to cling to hope and not put their best into other applications. I admire Stanford for being one of the few that defers relatively few. Do read the web sites though, most colleges will tell you the percent of the deferred that typically are admitted.</p>
<p>Do have your counselor call.</p>
<p>I can’t name a college that would defer, just to avoid telling you the brutal reality. (The one exception being legacies from extremely high-$ donor families; they may want to reserve a 2nd chance to see if there is some way these kids fit.) Can you name schools that defer to let you down softly? Because the review proces is brutal and top schools have so many apps to go through- why would they confuse the process? Every deferral (IME) is reveiwed fresh. If one feels so strongly that it is false niceness- a disservice- then remove your name from consideration.</p>
<p>I don’t know if it’s false niceness … that’s what I’m asking. </p>
<p>Hopefully my counselor’s talk with the admissions people will provide some clarity. </p>
<p>I would be interested in statistics of deferrals if anyone has any or knows a source. </p>
<p>Is this forum interested in what I find out from my counselor?</p>
<p>There are also a lot of angry people on here - 2 now … What’s up with that?</p>
<p>
Got any evidence for this?</p>
<p>Colleges have a good idea of who is a competitive candidate and who is not, and who falls into the grey area of maybe. A few are refreshingly honest about this, like Stanford, and will reject those they decide are not up to what they expect to see. Stanford, in fact, rejects about 1/2 of its early applicants. Most, though, prefer to let kids think they still “have a chance” even if they know the kid isn’t getting in since it is in the best interest of the college to do so.</p>
<p>So on the one hand you have an anonymous poster promising you that you’re still in the running, getting a new look just like any RD applicant. Or on the other hand you might want to take the word of Christoph Guttentag, dean of undergraduate admission at Duke University, who is quoted in the NY Times as saying
</p>
<p>Looking forward,</p>
<p>Harvard just deferred 2/3’s of its applicants and admitted more than were rejected. Seems like Harvard is trying to avoid telling lots of good students the brutal reality.</p>
<p>Yes. I read for a top school. I review (in part) kids who got deferred in ED, as part of the RD pool. Review 'em fresh. No telltale comments from ED expressing plusses and minuses. </p>
<p>Duke is saying what another poster noted: being deferred does not mean you have a special position in RD. Most of the x number of deferrals will not get in. Note the qualifier: “for most of you,” which equates to that same 90% who get rejected in RD. The one BUT is that they liked you enough not to cross you off the list. (As I said to a young friend who was deferred by Stanford, “They liked you; not enough to take you early, but enough not to give up on you.” He did get in RD.) </p>
<p>I don’t know where niceness plays into any of this. They reject 90%- it’s not like they are new to the reject realities. You can feel good that you were not outright rejected. You can feel good something struck them in the right way. Just don’t count on anything til you see the final letters.</p>
<p>-muck, I’ll take a look at that, later.</p>
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<p>Why on earth is this in the best interest of the college? What’s in the best interest of the college is, absent extraordinary circumstances, to keep the applications that they like and ditch the ones they don’t. </p>
<p>Colleges can’t know who they are going to get in the RD pool, so it makes perfect sense to reevaluate deferrals in the context of the RD pool before making a final decision on them. Of course, if you’ve got a low acceptance rate, as is the case at Amherst, lots of kids–including lots of deferrals are going to get denied, but I see no evidence that kids who were deferred are denied at higher rates than any other kids. In fact, given that the ED pool is usually stronger, I’d bet it’s lower.</p>
<p>Look through the posts on CC, plenty of kids ultimately get into schools that deferred them ED. How does that happen if they aren’t reevaluated.</p>