We all know that colleges want a lot of students to apply. They also love low acceptance rates that boost their rankings. What some people don’t understand is that when colleges accept students, they’re doing a bit of gambling. This is why we stress the importance of writing specific, well-researched and thorough supplements. Before you can be admitted, colleges want to know that you’re going to attend the school, go back year after year, and graduate within four years. This pertains to this blog post because whether you’re deferred or waitlisted, you’re put in a sort of holding tank. They’re essentially waiting to see if A) your application will hold up against the rest of the applicants during regular decision, or B) who else says “yes” before they reach out to you.
If you get deferred in the next couple of weeks, it should go without saying that you need to finish the rest of your applications by the end of this year. We wrote a detailed blog post about it here, and here. This blog post is for those students who were deferred, and have gone through all of the steps to finish the rest of their supplements, but are still 100% certain that they want to attend the school they were deferred from. Keep reading for our tips:
Don’t give up on anything. Students who eventually get into their dream school after being deferred or waitlisted maintain their grades, keep up with their extracurricular activities, and most importantly, improve in basically every area of their life. Read books about your areas of academic interest, take an online course, pursue a passion project, etc. We know this seems like a lot to do, especially given that you’re probably deep in the trenches as it relates to finishing the rest of your applications. But when you reach out to the school early next year, you need to have legitimate updates.
Reach out to X school with a deferral package in February. The most important thing about a deferral package, which is a fancy term for an email that you’ll write to the admissions office, is that it absolutely must demonstrate growth. Please don’t abuse this opportunity and send an email to every school! In this letter, you’re going to tell them that you’ll absolutely attend if you are admitted, and if you write this to a school that you’re meh about, you might end up taking a spot from someone who genuinely wants to attend. There are no guarantees, so don’t get too excited. But this actionable step can help you show your dream school that you’re still just as committed as you were before you hit submit your early decision application. Here’s what you should include:
An introduction. Re-introduce yourself and include your reference number, if you have one. Tell them that you were deferred early decision, and are writing to send update them on what’s happened since then.
A few new reasons why X school is still your top choice. They already read your supplement, so avoid repeating information here. Highlight new classes and opportunities that you plan to take advantage of should you be admitted.
An update: include a mid-year progress report and then outline any improvements. This is why step one is key. Let’s say you applied to study Environmental Science, and you’ve been organizing and maintaining a socially distanced trash pick-up on the beach in your hometown. Let them know, and be sure to highlight the link between what you’ve doing now and what you plan to do once you’re a student at X school.
Another letter of recommendation that they haven’t seen before. You should ask someone who is A) able to write to your strengths and B) related to your course of study, if possible.
One sentence that states that if admitted, you will attend the school.
We recommend reaching out to the school and asking the best place to send your email. If you’ve had contact with someone in the admissions office before, you should definitely send it to them. But either way, give them a call and explain that you have some supplemental materials to send their way. Your email should be professional, to the point, and it should not include information that is not pertinent to your application.
Reach out to us here if you’d like to work with someone from our team.