Hang in there UCF deferrals!

HurricaneMom
Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:41:36 +0000

In 2008, my son was deferred from UCF. It was devastating, and we were all so upset. We had gone on a weekend campus visit on the same weekend as their very first home football game in their brand new stadium. They nearly beat Colt McCoy and the University of Texas Longhorns! It was an exciting weekend, we had so much fun and we were so excited because we live in Miami, and Orlando is just “right up the road.” Far enough away, but close enough to home. So when he got deferred, it absolutely felt like the end of the world. He was just deflated. I ached for him because this was something that I couldn’t fix.

He picked himself up and went to a different school, and he will graduate in May with his BS, he’s taken the GRE and we are going through the grad-school application process. He has spent the past two summers in NYC on paid internships and will go for his final and third summer in June. He ended up having a fantastic college experience, and has no regrets and doesn’t look back with anger or anything at being deferred. As he came to realize, it was UCF’s loss not to get to have him as a student. He went on to have a very successful college career and at the end of the Fall 2011 semester, he had a 3.73 GPA and we don’t anticipate a drop for his final Spring semester as an undergrad. His highschool stats were like a 3.4 GPA and he made like a 1200-1300 on his SATs. He has been a student leader on campus, a mentor to incoming freshman, he’s tutored on campus, volunteered on campus and in the community, he’s been an RA, he’s had the full college experience. UCF sure missed out on having an incredible kid (even though I’m biased!) attending their school. :)

As disappointed as your kid may be not to get into UCF, please don’t think it’s the end of the world and don’t allow them to think so either. There is life after a deferral. I was researching some things and came across this thread with so many sad faces and wanted to share his experience. As competitive as the Florida public universities have become, you can’t really say Florida has any bad schools. Your kid can have a great opportunity and terrific college experience, and if it’s not at UCF, that is UCF’s loss.

Good luck to all of you – parents and students!