<p>You were deferred because of the numbers. No question.</p>
<p>The recs may have played a small part too.</p>
<p>Yes, W&M is known for a very holistic admissions process, but the flip side of that means that you need good ECs as well - a “hook” as its called. Getting admitted ED as an OOS female is very difficult; I’d estimate that the admissions rate for that category is down between 10 and 15 percent. A 3.8 weighted GPA seems very low if its using the same grading scale I’m familiar with. You have a good critical reading score, which is a strength on your application that your aspiration to major in English will augment. Definitely get the teacher recs and, assuming its the same GPA policy that I’m familiar with, possibly explain in the extra space why it may be so low (i.e. taking the difficult AP Math courses to challenge yourself even though you want to major in English, for example). As soccerguy said, finishing the semester strong will definitely help. But yes, as SkyDancer pointed out, the entire process can seem very messy and have odd results. Its important to aim for the moon, yet should you miss, be willing to settle for whichever star you land on.</p>