Ok, so I’ve been going through all the forums and haven’t found a single all-encompassing thread on what to do if you get deferred from your EA or ED school. Could everyone give me (and the rest of the CC community) some guidance? Should I e-mail my adcom? Should my guidance counselor call him up? Should I send in more essays or recs? What’s the best plan of action?
<p>I'm in the same boat.... C'mon people, any advice would help!</p>
<p>Here's an article by College Confidential's Dave Berry: Dealing</a> with Deferrals & Waitlists - some good info in there.</p>
<p>The hard truth is that there's no magic answer. Some people do nothing; others bombard their regional reps personally with emails and letters and additional materials; others ask their guidance counselors to call the rep, then follow up with a letter. Sometimes the candidate gets in RD and sometimes not; no one really knows what, if anything, helps or hurts.</p>
<p>My daughter was deferred EA from Yale last year, and followed what seemed to us like pretty routine advice. First, she asked her GC to call the regional rep to emphasize that Yale was still her strong first choice. (Because of vacation schedules and so on, the conversation didn't take place until mid-January.) Some posters on CC seem to expect these conversations to yield detailed analyses of a candidate's strengths and weaknesses, but I suspect such analyses are rare; the rep said fairly standard things about how they liked my daughter and other deferred candidates, but because of numbers, they simply couldn't take everyone they liked.</p>
<p>My daughter then wrote the rep a letter that added some details about why she wanted to go to Yale--the Why Yale? part of the application was extremely short--and added some minor updates about her ECs; she also addressed the one specific that came up in the conversation with the GC (about the reasons behind my daughter's choice of a major being slightly unclear). She made sure her grades stayed extremely high, and basically held her breath until April 1, when she was lucky enough to be admitted.</p>
<p>Honestly, I do think that luck has more to do with it at this point than anything else. They deferred you, rather than rejected you outright, because they saw real merit in your application. Ultimately the decision will probably come down to how well you balance out the class in some way.</p>
<p>For what it's worth, my advice would be to get back in touch with the school, preferably through your GC (I can't imagine that reps enjoy talking to unhappy students), because it's become such common procedure to do so that it might conceivably stand out if you don't. I would not bombard the rep with tons of phone calls and extra essays, though I might send an extra supplemental rec if--but only if--it could offer a fresh perspective that didn't come across in the initial application. If you happen to have new and better test scores, by all means send them. Keep your grades as high as you possibly can, and don't drop any demanding courses; adcoms will definitely consider your midyear report in making their final decision.</p>
<p>Try not to obsess too much over your EA/ED school, for two reasons: (1) you're more likely to hurt your application by sending too much extra material than too little (adcoms are too busy to read endless variations on the same theme); and (2) your energies would be better directed to finding other schools you love and making sure that your applications to those schools are as strong as possible. Good luck; I know what a difficult time this can be, but things usually turn out fine.</p>
<p>I definitely agree with editrix. I have just been deferred from Harvard (like 75% of the applicants), and if Harvard states they plan on only taking 5-11% of deferees in the regular round, I surmise that they know who they will be taking in the regular round barring any major drop in grades or some bizarre situation. Correct me if I am wrong.</p>
<p>" I surmise that they know who they will be taking in the regular round barring any major drop in grades or some bizarre situation. Correct me if I am wrong."</p>
<p>They don't know whom they will be taking. Harvard admits students based on creating a well rounded class. Thus, who gets admitted depends on who else has been admitted. Most students who apply to Harvard qualify for admission there. If, though, Harvard needs bassoon players or staunch Republicans or students from Idaho to create a well rounded class, those are the students who'll get the nod even if others have higher stats.</p>
<p>That's also why Harvard has such a long waitlist. Who gets taken off the waitlist depends upon which students accept admission offers.</p>