Getting deferred from your top school can be a gut punch. You worked your butt off, likely with the expectation of getting in. The first thing we recommend you do is to take a breath. (You’re going to be okay!) Keep in mind, while it’s not ideal, it’s not personal. You might just want to sit down and stay down, but you have a little ways to go before you can breathe a sigh of real relief. We recommend following these next steps:

The College List

If you haven’t done so already, you need to create a new college list. This should include 10-12 schools, a mix of reaches, targets, and safeties. If you’re really starting from zero, do your research. Look at your own grades and test scores and see where you fall into the average acceptance range. Take a good look in the mirror: you should fall into the average acceptance range at your reach schools, too. As you’ve just learned first-hand, college is hyper-competitive these days.  

Next, identify what it is you’re looking for in a school. Big or small? Close to home or a plane ride away? Do you want to do Greek Life or watch football on the weekends or go to a poetry slam? How do you feel about cold weather? Hopefully, these are questions you already asked yourself before applying early decision. Either way, your new list should include schools where you could actually see yourself going. While it might be painful to look at, consider the things you really liked about your early decision school and see what other universities have similar elements. We promise, there are plenty of schools out there that are a great fit for you! 

Next, get organized. Make a list of deadlines and requirements for each school and create a schedule for yourself. Staying on task is key. It will also help you stay motivated when you might feel inclined to give up a little.  

The Applications 

Get your applications in for each school ASAP. It’s also time to take another look at your Common App essay. You may want to start over or just re-work your existing essay. Either way, we recommend considering this: each essay is an opportunity for you to share a part of your personality that’s not present elsewhere on your application. Identify 2-3 characteristics about yourself. If you’re having trouble thinking of some, ask a few friends. Now, tell a story (with a beginning, middle, and end) that demonstrates 1-2 of these characteristics. The story should be commonplace. It shouldn’t be a big, existential thing. It could be about your drive to school, your desk, a story about a time you babysat your little brother. It can also be creative. Don’t be locked into form. You can write a recipe or a short play if your heart so desires.  

Get your supplements in order as soon as possible. Edit and re-edit these until they’re excellent. You don’t have to re-invent the wheel for every supplement. If schools have similar prompts, you can re-use parts of each essay. Just make sure you’re not copying/pasting!!! You run the risk of carrying over another school’s name in your essay. Many schools have “Why X School?” supplements. For these, we recommend telling an “origin story” of sorts. We work with our students to develop an academic niche that they’ll continue to expand throughout high school. This should be a highly specific area (think astrophysics over science).

Hopefully, you have an academic area of expertise you can point to with classes and extracurriculars in your arsenal that support it. Start with the origin story of how you got into that field. This doesn’t need to be something grandiose. Maybe you did a project on the presidents in 7th grade and now you’re hooked on American policy. Perhaps you got a telescope in 4th grade and became obsessed with astronomy. Then, do a deep dive into the school you’re applying to. Find the academic overlaps between your niche and what they offer. Identify the major or focus at said school that most closely corresponds to your area of expertise. Talk about specific (higher-level) courses you’d want to take and the professors that teach them. Talk about the research those professors are conducting and why it interests you. Finally, identify the extracurriculars or clubs that pertain to that major and your area of expertise.

The Deferral Package

As we mentioned above, you should still assume you’re in the fight for the school that deferred you. If it’s still your top choice school, there are things you can do to follow up and nudge them along. But we do recommend doing some reflection first. Do you still really want to go there? If not, great! You’ve just identified 10-12 other schools where you’d be happy. Don’t look back. If your heart is still set on that school, we recommend sending an update of sorts. You will need to have accomplished something new since you applied. Reintroduce yourself. Reiterate why it is you’d really love to go there and be very specific. Remember when we talked about your academic area of expertise above? Highlight this and talk, in detail, about why you and that school are a great match academically. Identify the major and classes that would be a natural extension of the niche you’ve been cultivating in high school. Do the same with professors and extracurriculars.

You should also update them with your grades and anything else you’ve been up to. (Big projects, extracurricular accomplishments, etc.). You can also include an additional letter of recommendation. What you want to demonstrate here is commitment, hard work, and accomplishment.

Getting deferred can be frustrating, but there are plenty of ways to move forward that are well within your control. The key is to stay focused and keep working hard. You’re going to get in somewhere great. It might feel like you’re starting over, but you’re not. Most of what you’ve done thus far can be repurposed for applying elsewhere or updating your school of choice.  You’re almost to home base, so just keep running a little bit longer.

Need some help creating a plan after a deferral? Call us. We’re great at helping kids get organized and into their dream schools.