Getting deferred is disappointing. Probably part of the reason you applied Early Action to the University of Texas at Austin was that it was a dream school or at least near the top of your list. Getting deferred might feel like a major setback; however, you didn’t get rejected, and this isn’t over yet. They are still reviewing your application, and there are a couple of things you need to do if you have been deferred by UT.

And let’s be clear: it isn’t easy to get into . While their overall acceptance rate was around 29% last year, it was closer to 12% for out-of-state students. They don’t publish their early acceptance rate, but trust us, it’s still competitive (especially since , “​​The Early Action deadline does not provide an advantage in the review process.”)

Be nice to yourself. If you weren’t a serious candidate, they would have rejected your application. You have the grades, scores, and resume for them to seriously consider you. Just something gave them pause, and they needed more time to make their decision.

Getting deferred is stressful. If you need help navigating what comes next, Contact us! We want to help.

Before you do anything with UT, there are a couple of steps to complete first:

Review Your College List

It is important to take another look at your college list. There is a chance you thought UT was a lock and thus didn’t build a balanced college list. Even if you think the rest of your list is balanced, you should double check. Just because you were deferred doesn’t mean you need to delete all your reach schools, but you should make sure you have at least three target schools and three foundational (aka safety) schools. You want to back these choices up with data. If your counselor can access Naviance or other probability tools, you should ask them to help check your list. You want to make sure you have some great backup options if UT doesn’t pan out during RD.

Reassess Your Common App Essay

Likely, your Common App Essay isn’t bad, but you want to make sure that it couldn’t be better. Students often come to us after a deferral, and we always take another look at their Common App Essay. Usually, it could be stronger. We have a helpful guide to what makes a great Common App Essay and we highly encourage you to review it and give your essay a good edit.

The personal essay isn’t everything, but it’s the biggest opportunity you get to showcase your personality and what makes you unique as a person. You want to make sure it strengthens your application as best as it can. We specialize in helping students craft game-changer essays, so trust us when we say a great essay will help differentiate you for all the right reasons.

Press Submit

Once you have finished an application, we recommend pressing submit. It is easy to procrastinate, but you really shouldn’t. Deadlines are coming fast, and dragging your feet will only make this process more stressful.

Once you have submitted your other applications, it is time to turn your head back to UT.

What UT Wants

UT annoyingly published very little about the deferral process. The only thing that UT Austin says about deferred students is:

“Due to the competitiveness of the applicant pool and limited space in high-demand programs, some applicants who meet the Early Action deadline may receive a defer decision by January 15. These applicants will continue to be considered for admission based on the competitiveness of the applicant pool. Students will receive a final decision no later than February 15.”

Without much to go on, this is what we would send to the school.

Mid-Year Grades

UT will need your mid-year report. This document, sent by your school counselor, tells UT your most recent grades. Looking at these grades will help them make decisions (so we hope you didn’t get hit with senioritis). Your counselor should automatically know to send this, but it isn’t a bad call to double-check with them and ensure they know to send it to UT.

Update Letter

While UT doesn’t specifically ask for an update letter (like many other elite schools do), they also don’t say not to send one. Is it a little extra? Yes, but this is the time to be a little extra. Sometimes also called a Letter of Continued Interest, an update letter is essentially just a short email highlighting any significant updates you have and reaffirming that UT is your top choice. First, you want to find the appropriate admissions counselor to send your letter to. You can do that . 

Then, it is time to write. You should base your letter on this rough outline. Start your letter by quickly introducing why you are writing (you were recently deferred, and UT is your top choice) and thanking the admissions team. You should then succinctly showcase 1-3 significant updates since you first applied. For example, you could have won an award, been elected to a new position in a club, started an exciting online course, or got a promotion at your job. Just make sure it feels important. You don’t need to tell them every little thing that has changed in the last couple of months. You want to showcase the most important things. You need to finish the letter by reinforcing that UT is your top choice and that you will attend if admitted.

This letter really shouldn’t be over around 250 words max. They have a lot to review, and you don’t want to overload them with more than they already have. Make your points and be confident and concise.

Then it’s time to wait. We know you won’t, but don’t spam the office or show up on campus demanding to know why you were deferred. Take a deep breath and understand that this process is out of your hands, and that is fine. You are going to get into a great school (even if it isn’t UT in the end.)

This process is stressful, and it can be tough to navigate a deferral. Be kind to yourself, and if you need help, we are here for you.

We help students like you every day. Email us to learn more.