OMG - I got deferred, now what!

gibby
Tue, 13 Dec 2016 21:33:27 +0000

Six-years ago, about this time of year, my daughter was anxiously awaiting her SCEA application result. When the decision finally came down, she was deferred by her first choice school (Yale). This was exceedingly difficult for our family, as my daughter thought (or was simply delusional) that she was a shoo-in for Yale. Unfortunately, Yale Admissions didn’t think so.

And, double-unfortunately, my daughter was so confident she would be accepted to Yale that she had not submitted ANY other RD applications. Consequently, the two week period between mid-December and New Year’s became a nightmare for our family, as my daughter pumped out more than 10 applications to various colleges (including Princeton).

The not-so-good news: In the RD round, my daughter was ultimately rejected by Yale and waitlisted at Princeton. The good news: She was accepted to Harvard.

The moral of the story: No matter what happens this week, understand that your "dream school” may NOT be dreaming of you. But, another wonderful college actually might be!

Although this article is about Harvard, I imagine it’s the same at Princeton: http://www.boston.com/news/education/2015/12/11/harvard-accepts-record-low-percentage-of-early-applicants

Last year, just 2.3 percent of applicants who were deferred to the regular admissions cycle received acceptance letters.

If you receive a deferral letter this week, please understand that **IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON! ** Sure, you can try to have your guidance counselor contact Princeton Admissions and find out why you were deferred – will it do any good (most likely not). Sure, you can write an update letter to Admissions – will it do any good (most likely not). Sure, you can try to get another teacher to write you a recommendation letter — will it do any good (most likely not). Sure, you can write another essay that’s better than the ones you’ve already submitted – will it do any good (most likely not).

Everyone needs to understand A DEFERRAL IS AS GOOD AS A REJECTION and if you can wrap your head around that fact, you’ll be in a much better frame of mind to embrace the colleges that actually accept and want you!

Best of luck to everyone!