That is interesting that someone would get deferred from Udel, they do not have early action just one rolling application cycle with one deadline. I wonder when they are deferred to? I thought it was only accepted or waitlisted. I hope that doesn’t happen to many students, seems it would be a terrible limbo.
@zipbags I’m applying to the business school as well
It would appear that a significant number of applicants have received notification from UD that due to the large number of applicants that their decision is being “deferred” until March. I believe what is happening here is that over the last 2 years UD found itself in the position of a higher number of individuals accepting offers of admission than expected resulting in a freshman class larger than they would have liked. I think UD is trying to get a better feel for the qualifications of the overall applicant pool before making a lot of final decisions. In fact over the last 2 years no applicants placed on the wait list were accepted for Fall admission due to this, except that some of these students were offered admission in the Spring or could become involved in the UD in DC Program (at American University) for the first semester and then start UD in the Spring. Actually UD had an overwheliming response to this latter program offer and many students who had opted for it could not be accomadated (there were only 50 slots available-UD had been expecting many fewer number of students who would be interested in this). I would not be surprised if UD also does this again this year. Last year students placed in the waiting list type category had multiple options including just staying on it for Fall admission (no one subsequently taken off it), being accepted for the Spring semester at UD (I don’t know how many choose to do this), or attending the UD in DC Program (as noted). I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens this year. Just my thoughts.
My D received a letter that stated UD needed additional time to finalize decisions, but there was no mention of “being deferred until March”. In fact, her letter states “We hope to give you good news by mid-February”. Do you think there are different types of letters being sent out? Or is everyone receiving the same letter? It also recommended that she complete the supplemental optional essay questions, if she had not already. Since she completed the questions and submitted them with her application in September, I am assuming her application has not be reviewed beyond her standardized test scores.
In my post I put the term deferred in quotes because this was not an official UD designation but rather indicated that a decision would be made at a time beyond the 8-12 week time frame. I believe most people were given the time frame of mid-Feb while for some other issues (i.e. Honors decisions) March was given. I would certainly follow any recommendations received in the letter. I don’t know for sure if the exact same letter was received by everyone (but I suspect they were all pretty similar). I suspect that for some applicants UD may also be waiting for Fall semester HS grades so I would recommend that an applicant make sure that their HS sends these in as soon as they are available. In the past they sometimes have specifically contacted some applicants requesting these but to be on the safe side I recommend routinely sending them in to avoid any further potential delay. Good luck.
@mwallenmd - Thank you so much for all of your insightful posts! Appreciate it! 
@SALSRL my d has 4.0 and 1880 SAT. APs, couple college classes. Major is Food science.
Bummed though because she did not receive any merit in the letter so that might knock it out as a viable option.
@cakeisgreat Thank you for the update. When my older D applied and was accepted 2 years ago, the merit money was only posted on per portal. There was nothing about it in her letter. Don’t know if they are doing it differently this year but it is worth a check. My D ended up choosing a different school, but was accepted as a Bio-Chemistry major with a 27 ACT and received $7000 a year.
Oh good @SALSRL ! there is hope then thanks!!
Hey I don’t mean to bother anyone, and I’m not sure if anyone knows the answer to my question. If you can help though, I’d appreciate it.
I know Delaware says it can take a fairly long time to review an application, but most people on here seem to be taking only a month and maybe a week or two more. I applied mid October, and my application was marked complete toward the end of October. I like Delaware a lot, and would definitely consider it if I received enough merit aid. I know I shouldn’t be concerned, but I thought I would have heard at least something or seen some change in my application status by now. I’m from Pennsylvania and have a 35 ACT, 2250 SAT, 97.5 UW GPA, 1 out of a little over 280 for my class rank. I have a lot of extracurricular activities and plenty of leadership. I have completed 7 AP tests and gotten all 5’s, and I am taking 5 more AP classes this year. National merit scholar. Does anyone know why it would take so long to hear back? It seems like most other people who applied around the same time have already heard. Is it the out of state thing or something else? Anyhow, it’s one of the last colleges I need to hear back from, so I’m a little anxious. Thanks!
The question is - does anyone know why it would take so long to hear back. No one here can know for certain unless they work at the admission office. Perhaps Delaware received a lot of applications and it takes a long time to go through them? Maybe they don’t do a cursory review of them to sort the “definite admits” from the “borderlines,” which would explain the delay. Maybe they carefully look at each app once and put them in piles - admit, deny or defer - and then send letters? This would explain why someone with your credentials would not hear back immediately. Not a matter of if, but a matter of when. Hope that helps.
@itsajoke My S applied October 1st and everything was complete 10/2 and has not received a decision yet. They say 8-12 weeks. We are at 10 weeks and waiting.
Hey @SALSRL out of curiosity, what did your daughter choose over Delaware??
@firstborn She decided on U of SC. Substantial scholarship and she decided she wanted a bigger school. It is also a “Level 1” research institution which is important for her major.
My daughter was accepted to UDel last month. But, just got accepted to Penn State (her top choice). So she will be letting UDel know she is not accepting today. Hoping that opens a spot for someone else.
@zipbags my daughter is in the same boat. Waiting to hear from Udel, but already accepted to PSU which was her #1 (although it’s 4 hours from me vs 1.5 for Udel). Waiting to hear from Udel - bio major applied to honors college.
@jrossi266 My older daughter goes to UDel (currently a junior). Being from NJ it’s just under 2hrs to Udel and 4hrs to PSU. But, my daughter wants big. Since she got into both…She chose PSU.
@zipbags Yep - my daughter is saying exactly the same. Only diff is we’re waiting on UDel. the happy Valley experience is a big draw, but we’ll see. What county are you in? Im in Monmouth.
@jrossi266 I am also in Monmouth (Ocean Twp).
We have friends whose kids go to PSU and love it. My older daughter loves UDel. So we couldn’t go wrong either way.
@zipbags Holmdel