S25 was deferred from Bard, which, on paper, seems like a perfect match/Target for them, and they really liked the school. Bard asked for senior mid-year grades (which will be straight As with the highest rigor) and a LOCI. Grades are final 1/20.
Does he send the letter sooner and then grades when available, or should we wait until everything can be discussed in the letter?
Also, he applied in several categories and with different pieces to Scholastic Art & Writing, which releases regional decisions on 1/26. We are pretty confident he will get at least one since he has every year since freshman year. Does it feel late to send the letter then?
End of January should be completely fine. If the potential award is very similar to previous ones and you’re antsy, you don’t need to wait until the 26th, but it’s fine to do so. Good luck!
From what I have heard, it seems that it is often better to wait closer to the deadline to send in the LOCI (which is counter to what I would probably do in real life!). The thought process is to allow the emotion of the deferral pass a bit before writing the LOCI.
The Your College Bound Kid podcast has just completed(?) a short series on deferrals and how to handle them. If I recall correctly it was an interview with Rick Clark from Georgia Tech admissions. Rooting for your kiddo at Bard.
Wait until closer to deadline - more stuff to report and more time to reflect on what you want to share in your LOCI. Good luck!
What would a deadline be for a LOCI? No date was listed on the deferral letter.
There isn’t a specific deadline if the school didn’t provide one, but you want it to be in the time they’re reading and considering applications.
One thing to think about here: often we think about a Letter of Continued Interest as something that the student initiates because they want the school to know they’re still interested.
In some cases, though, especially when the school asks for it, what they’re also doing is trying to understand how serious your son is about Bard. Bard publishes a yield rate of 17.5% - that’s higher than their actual RD rate, since their ED population yields at approximately 100%, but also Bard ED is pretty small, so the impact is probably just a few %. In any case, that means that 5-out-of-6 of their accepted applicants don’t attend, and they’d like that % to be higher, or at least more predictable. So they do want to hear about further accomplishments etc., but if they also get the sense from your son that he’s still very excited about Bard - and (if this is true!) it would still be his first choice - that’s a meaningful piece of information.
This is fantastic information to know. Thank you!
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