What to Do When Deferred from Your Dream College
/Learn what a college admissions deferral means for your student, strategies for next steps, plus a sample college deferral letter
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Part 1: What is a college deferral?
So, it’s mid-December, and your child has just anxiously opened their Early Action decision letter from their top-choice school. Most people know to expect either a “yes” or a “no,” but they might not always consider a third option: a deferral.
If your child is one of those who’s opted to send in their application earlier than usual to a favorite school, they likely did so because they wanted to secure their shot at this school as soon as possible. A “yes” (an acceptance) might have your child packing their bags and purchasing college gear. A “no” (a rejection) is a straightforward letdown. But a deferral is an awkward limbo that can be emotionally stressful for applicants and their families.
Despite the disappointment, it’s important for you and your child to remember that a deferral is neither an acceptance nor rejection. Rather, deferrals indicate that a given applicant was by-and-large qualified for admission, but the admissions committee deemed it wise to wait and give the applicant a second look within the context of its larger, regular decision applicant pool.
In the event of a deferral, the application process isn’t over for your student. Because the admissions committee has decided to reevaluate your student’s application with senior year accomplishments and their updated transcript in mind, there’s still room for your student to turn that “maybe” into a “yes” in the coming months.
We advocate a broad couple of first steps:
1. Make sure your child feels good about the other schools on their Regular Decision school list, and channel disappointment into acing those schools’ secondary applications.
2. Have your child get a sense for what might be “new” about their application in the lead-up to the next round of admissions, and prepare an update letter or a letter of intent. (More on that below.)
Reasons for deferral
College admissions is a complicated process, and it can be difficult to understand why the chips fall where they do. But we’ve outline three broad reasons an admissions committee might choose to wait and reevaluate an application:
Grades or test scores
Perhaps the most straightforward cause for a deferral is that your student’s transcript or standardized test scores weren’t outstanding enough to warrant early acceptance. Perhaps your child made a convincing case for themselves in their application essays but haven’t shown what they can accomplish in those challenging senior fall AP classes. Maybe your student’s GPA was solid, but their low SAT scores painted a contradictory picture. In all of these cases, the admissions committee wants one thing: a little more information. That’s why your child should pay as much attention to school senior fall as they did the rest of high school. And if there were major changes for the better during their first semester of 12th grade, they’re likely to have something to catch the colleges’ attention.
Application essays not compelling enough
If your student seems to check all the boxes for a top applicant for a given school, then perhaps they didn’t manage to stand out enough in their personal statement and supplemental essays. Though they won’t get a second shot at these particular essays, they can show their ability to craft strong arguments about themselves through writing a solid update letter–more on this below!
Need inspiration for your Common App personal statement? Click below for instant access to 25 full-length example essays including advanced breakdowns of why they resonate with admissions committees.
Gain instant access to 25 exclusive full-length examples covering all seven prompts, plus comprehensive analyses for each to help you craft stellar essays.
Institutional needs
Sometimes a deferral just isn’t about your student; colleges look for well-rounded classes with diverse interests, cultures, experiences and intended majors. Perhaps a college feels as though they need to wait and see what their larger applicant pool looks like before knowing if you student fits into the whole in a meaningful way. In this case, your child won’t have too much control over whether the institution changes its mind, but they can still follow the below strategies to put their best foot forward.
It’s also worth noting that, while school’s typically don’t publish their deferral statistics, we estimate that the percentage of students who are deferred to regular decision and ultimately accepted can be as low as single digits.
To learn how to increase your chances for acing that shot, see below.
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Part 2: Strategies for getting admitted after deferral
The first and most crucial step for preparing a strong deferral strategy begins when your student receives their deferral letter. These letters take various forms, from a thorough list of what the applicant should supply by the regular decision deadline (an update letter, transcript for senior fall, additional SAT subject test scores, etc.) to a general paragraph with little to no guidance.
If a school specifically asks that you do not send them anything additional, your child must listen to that instruction so as not to come off as pushy or defiant.
If it’s unclear why your child was deferred, you should speak to your college counselor, who might be able to connect directly with your child’s admissions officer. If your child was deferred, the admissions officer definitely knows who they are, and may be willing to provide general feedback through their guidance counselor.
If you go through this “assessment” phase and don’t glean new information, don’t worry. Your child can still focus on a few areas after being deferred from college.
1) Resumé
Encourage your child to take on a heftier leadership role in an extracurricular activity they already engage with. This could entail organizing a new project that will show off your student’s passion, drive, and skillset, or running for an elected leadership position in a club they’re part of. The purpose of these actions is to prove to the admissions committee that your student is more prepared to handle the challenges of college now than they were some months ago when they submitted their early action application.
2) Transcript
If grades were an issue, push your student to give their all to senior fall course loads, as a strong semester can do wonders to boost an otherwise unimpressive GPA. More than the objective GPA number, showing that your student has grown in by taking on more challenging, upper-level coursework and earning strong marks will provide an upward trajectory when the admissions committee reviews your student’s transcript, thereby proving your student is more prepared to tackle college academics than their old transcript might have foretold. Once mid-year grades are ready, be sure your student submits the updated transcript to the admissions committee.
3) Standardized tests
Simply put, if your student’s standardized test score were too low for early admissions, they may opt to re-take them after receiving a deferral. Your child may not need to retake the ACT, but might, for instance make use of SAT subject tests to prove proficiency in a given subject that might appear worrisome on their transcript. If your quantitative skills might not look strong enough for an MIT acceptance, for example, acing the SAT Math 2 subject test could set aside any worries the admissions committee might have on that front. Check individual schools’ websites to find out the final deadline for submitting new test scores.
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Part 3: How to write a deferral letter
Your child should also begin to prepare an update letter or a letter of intent, to be submitted to the college admissions office that deferred them. This note can go out sometime in the early spring semester, around late January or early February. You need enough time to pass in order to have meaningful changes to discuss in the letter, but you also want the letter in to the admissions office in time to be considered as part of your file.
1) Keep it brief. This is not a new personal statement and shouldn’t be treated as such. 350-500 words is the sweet spot. Do not go longer than one page.
2) Make an ARGUMENT about how the new information in the letter proves your child is readier-than-ever for their dream school
This is probably the number one issue we see with update letters. Sure, your child got elected senior class president and aced an SAT History subject test, but so what? The argument for this letter needs to be clear: Due to XYZ reasons, your student is better prepared to succeed and contribute in college than they were at the time of their early decision application. That’s all this letter needs to accomplish, and the more persuasively and efficiently your student can make that argument, the better.
Here’s a structure for the letter that your child can follow.
Thank the school.
Your child should begin by addressing your admissions representative by name (their name may be on your deferral letter, or you can locate your regional rep through the university’s directory). Thank them for taking the time to review your application. Acknowledge the good fortune of having second shot.
What’s changed since the time of application?
Now your child gets to show off all they’ve accomplished between the time of the deferral and the time of letter-writing.
Remember: this is NOT a chance to blindly list accomplishments of their high school resume. A new development in your student’s life only belongs in this letter if it helps to make the argument that they’re now a better applicant.
Show commitment to school
Your child should get specific about why this program is their top-choice school, demonstrating passion for its offerings. This isn’t going to happen in a standard, by-the-book, “I look forward to taking economics at Dartmouth” kind of paragraph. Your child instead should really seek to show emotion here. Perhaps they reflect on the campus visit they took (or the YouTube videos they’ve spent hours scrolling through in lieu of a tour).
And ideally, they’ll connect their new successes to a vision of themselves in college. For example, if they were elected senior class president, perhaps they’ll keep running with this form of leadership and advocacy work in college through joining the school’s undergraduate council.
This is also the place to make any statements of intent, if your child wishes to. Take these seriously: A statement of intent is saying, “Yale is my top choice school, and I intend to enroll there if admitted.” Needless to say, if you’ve made a declaration of intent to enroll, it’s very bad form to renege. Check with your school’s guidance or college counselor to see how they feel about your child writing any statements of intent. If your child were to declare Yale their top choice and then skip off to Princeton if admitted, your school’s reputation might take a ding.
College deferral letter sample
Dear Ms. Brickstone,
Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with my guidance counselor about my deferral status. Though I admit I was disappointed to learn that I did not gain acceptance to Harvard, my dream school, in the early action round, I’ve grown a ton over the past few months, and I’m excited to share with you the ways in which I’m now more prepared to make the most of a future Harvard education!
At the time of my application, I had only taken three AP classes due to focusing much of my time on captaining my school’s varsity swim team. However, this past fall, I was able to enroll in four additional AP classes and have earned As in all of them. I hope this strong performance will show you that my somewhat lighter former academic commitment does not wholly reflect my preparedness for the rigors of college courses. In addition to academics, I’m also pleased to share with you that I ran for student body vice-president and won! Though I always felt like I was able to make an impact as a leader on my swim team, when I learned that our school was undergoing changes to its budget that would affect school-wide athletics, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and do whatever I could to help advocate for the hundreds of athletes on campus who could be affected by the cuts. Since winning the election on the platform of supporting my fellow athletes, I’ve begun drafting a proposal to negotiate with our school board on behalf of students, and I’ve made a ton of new friends outside of athletics while canvassing the student body.
I never knew my passion for advocacy work until I started my tenure as a Class Officer, and today my ultimate goal of becoming a doctor has now become more nuanced: not only do I continue to want to treat patients in need, but I also want to work toward a more equitable healthcare system overall via immersing myself in public policy work throughout college.
Harvard has always been my dream school, ever since my uncle told me it had produced both NBA players and surgeons general. I want to go somewhere where everyone aims to be the best all the time, and is deeply passionate about what they do. I’ve become even more passionate this semester, and I think that makes me an even better fit for Harvard. Harvard would be crucial in letting me explore my future goals. At Harvard, I could take classes like “Healthcare Policy” and “Democratizing Health” at the School of Public Health while also immersing myself in Harvard’s uniquely integrated pre-med courses. Additionally, I hope to continue my work advocating for student needs by running for Harvard’s Undergraduate Council as a freshman yard rep!
Harvard remains my top-choice program, and should I be fortunate enough to gain acceptance through the regular decision cycle, I would attend in a heartbeat.
Thank you for your time,
Alessia Patrick
Why this letter works
This applicant seems self-aware and humble from the start, and the way she addresses both academic and extracurricular improvements in order to persuasively argue why she’s now better prepared for Harvard is effective. Furthermore, she ties in her latest accomplishment to a more nuanced utilization of Harvard’s immense offerings, thereby showing that she’s not only done her homework on the university but also is adaptable and open when it comes to letting new passions inspire her long-term goal!