So You've Been Deferred. Now What?
I hate seeing my students get deferred. A deferral means more uncertainty, more waiting, and, more work for the student. Those negatives come with a big positive, however: at least we have a chance!
If an Early Decision or Early Action school defers your child, that means he or she will be reconsidered along with the Regular Decision applicants. This is a college’s way of saying, “Let’s wait and see.” It’s also a college’s challenge to the applicant: “You really want to go here? Then prove it!”
Unfortunately, following all the steps to nudge that decision from deferral to acceptance requires extensive effort -- often as much as your child invested in completing the initial application. And following all the steps is no guarantee; even if these efforts result in better chances, “better chances” are not the same as “good chances,” especially at selective schools.
That said, there is a clear deferral playbook. It’s important to talk these steps over with your child to see which ones she is willing and able to carry out. Every child’s motivation, time, and energy, is different. Sometimes, when I talk to my students about these steps, they just tell me, “No, I don’t want to do this.” Or they say, “Let me think about it,” which also means no.
But -- suppose you have a real go-getter on your hands, a child who just knows the school that deferred her is a great fit. Here are eight steps your child can take to improve her chances:
Check the deferral letter and applicant portal for further instructions. Colleges are trying to communicate with you, so start by reading and re-reading the material you find about deferrals in the letter and the applicant portal. These are your first sources of information about what you can, should, and must do. Often, these will be unclear. Don’t worry. That’s the perfect excuse to email the admissions office. As a side note, whenever your child is emailing the admissions office, it’s a great idea to include the topic, your child’s name, and your child’s Common App ID in the subject line to make everyone’s life easier. For example, a good subject line might read, “Question about Deferral / Joaquin Chang Common App ID 88888888.” This professional approach will ensure the college knows your child is one who is to be taken seriously. The email can be brief. It can simply say, “Though I was disappointed to be deferred, [Awesome] University is my top choice school, and if admitted, I would attend. [Question about deferral?] Thank you for your help.” Once your child has information directly from the college, she will feel more comfortable about deciding what to do next. Informed decisions are fantastic.
Talk to your counselor. Nearly every college will require your child’s school to send a Mid-Year Report with first semester grades. However, with some planning, the Mid-Year Report can include more than just grades. For example, the counselor can include an update about what your child has been doing between November 1 when she submitted the application and February 1, which is when counselors often send Mid-Year reports. If your child has any new and significant accomplishments, make sure she mentions them to her counselor. In addition, if the deferral school is your child’s top choice, then your child can ask the counselor to write, “This is Yuna’s first-choice school, and she would attend if accepted.” But don’t say it if you don’t mean it, since then you will make your counselor look bad and you will screw over future students.
Seek out an additional letter of recommendation. Now that your child has gone through a semester with senior teachers, she might feel comfortable asking one of those teachers to write an additional letter of rec. Or perhaps there is a junior year teacher who she could ask, or maybe the principal or a research supervisor. Think about the information your child has already conveyed through the application, the essays, and the existing letters of rec. Who might be able to provide a fresh angle on your child’s character or accomplishments? That’s the question to consider as you identify who can write a new letter.
Write your own update letter. There’s no substitute for advocating for yourself. Even if your child’s counselor is writing a note in the Mid-Year Report and even if your child is tracking down another letter of rec, it’s a good idea for your child to write an update letter, too. This letter should do three things. First, it should highlight new information, such as additional honors, awards, and activities -- including exploration or deepening of academic interests. Second, it should explain why the college is a good fit. Third, it should confirm (if this is actually true) that the college is your top choice and that you would attend if accepted.
Email your interviewer. If your child had an admissions interview, she should inform the interviewer about the deferral and explain that the school is still her top choice.
Keep your grades up. I mentioned the main component of the Mid-Year Report: grades. Therefore, it’s critical to continue to study hard to keep those grades up. Sometimes, your child will have to be strategic. If your child has a B+ in two classes but the school reports on an A / B / C / D / F scale, then sacrifice one of those classes and aim for a B to improve the chances of getting an A in the other class.
Review your list. If your child gets deferred in December, she still has time to apply to schools with January deadlines. Perhaps November’s “I would never go there” schools are today’s “Maybe they’re not so bad” schools. Deferrals are splashes of ice water in our face that jolt us to our senses. Your child has to be satisfied with the Safety and Target schools on her list because most likely, the Reach schools aren’t happening. So have the discussion about whether it makes sense to add Safety or Target schools.
Keep working. A deferral is coal in your stocking, as far as I can tell. Winter break and the holidays are here, but instead of sitting by the fire with a cup of good cheer, your child will labor away by candle light in a drafty attic to stay on top of classes, work on all this deferral nonsense, and finish up any remaining applications with January deadlines. It can seem rather bleak. So do what you can to encourage your child. One of our recurring messages about deferrals and about so many other college-related topics is that it’s not all or nothing. Just take it day by day, and remind your child that doing a little bit each day is better than doing nothing.
I’ll close with the big question: Is all this effort to turn a deferral to an acceptance worth it? With rare exception, we don’t have statistics on this question because colleges don’t usually publish the percentage of deferred students who are later accepted. So whether this is worth the effort depends on how important the school is to the student, how much time and energy the student has available to devote to the process, and how appealing the student’s alternatives -- including other acceptances -- happen to be.
It really is a judgment call. So often in the college application process, families feel like there is a right or wrong decision, but that is rarely the case. Your child is unique, and your family circumstances are, too. Think it over, talk it over, decide, and move on!