Hugs to you. My S25 got deferred at three schools in a row this week, the last of which he had in his top 3 (and I thought he had a good chance of getting in). In the letter, this school encouraged him to switch to ED2, which totally soured him on the school as a whole. I know he will end up in a school that will work for him in the end (and he is in at two safeties, two targets), but I hate seeing his confidence tested like this.
18 Likes
oof that is hard 
Good to have existing options, but still a big blow/frustration. ugh.
3 Likes
Deferring someone and encouraging them to switch to ED2 at the same time is almost like coercion …. It would sour me too. Good luck to him for the rest.
18 Likes
Agree, it’s yucky.
5 Likes
And I thought expecting them to write the groveling letter begging the school to let them in was bad, sorry the “Letter of Continued Interest”. Umm, we applied, I spent money for him to apply, I spent money to send his financial aid, why does he need to prove he’s still interested?
That’s downright disgusting to encourage them to apply ED2.
Deferrals suck and I really feel like these schools are ■■■■■■ for not making the decision then and there. It’s like telling someone you don’t want to commit to their party in case something better comes along.
12 Likes
My oldest went to his ED choice, so this is my first time around navigating how to start visiting schools once acceptances start coming through. Ideally we’d go to the admitted student days for all the top choices, but it’s hard to plan around that (especially since we won’t hear RD for quite some time). I’ve already looked at some of the EA school dates and they’re not going to work for us.
I’ve heard of students having opportunities to sit in on classes, meet other students, and sometimes even over-nights. Is this the norm? Or is it common for families to set this up on their own? Is it standard practice to request this? He hasn’t visited some of his top choices yet so we want to make the most of those visits.
TIA!
Yes, super icky. He visited twice, had an individual tour with the department head, sat in on a class and emailed with the school rep. That should be plenty of demonstrated interest. I don’t blame him at all for being soured…I would really like to tell them to go ____ themselves. But I won’t.
10 Likes
So most schools will have accepted students events. I highly recommend going to them if you can and if your child is seriously considering the school. They often include classes and social activities. Overnights I think have mostly gone away after Covid.
2 Likes
I think a deferral would remove that school off our list tbh. If they do t want us, I can find others. But maybe just my emotions.
3 Likes
Most schools will do that for you. And we are having that discussion now because we think that gives us a better feel of day to day life than admitted student days. But you don’t get to meet other admitted students. We decided that we will figure this out in mid Jan
D got an email from one of the schools that her fafsa was received by the financial aid department and to check her portal for any updates but so far nothing new. Hopefully soon they should send something but with the holidays coming I really don’t want to hold my breath.
My older son was like this, it went from number 1 to I won’t go there in minutes. I agreed with him.
My youngest is not like this, unfortunately. He is still holding out hope. It’s like they get to deny you twice.
3 Likes
Question: Do schools take kids EA and NOT give them $? Every EA acceptance my student has received has included $— but he’s been deferred at two schools of roughly equal caliber to those he got into. Do you think they mostly take kids EA if they qualify for merit aid and defer the kids that don’t?
My kid has gotten into four EA schools so far with no merit.
6 Likes
Let me introduce you to UChicago…
19 Likes
You should have left out “almost like”.
I suspect that if he did make the switch that an admittance would be forthcoming. This is just done to protect their yield. Assuming I am correct, this is despicable.
9 Likes
And their BFF, Tulane
https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-front-in-college-admissions-nudging-students-to-decide-early-11546449608?st=jKSo87&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
3 Likes
Our experience with Tulane was they contacted D19 before the decisions were out to ask if she wanted to change to ED2, so not the same thing imo.
S25 just got into St Olaf with a really nice scholarship. Not his top choice but it would be such a good option if he changes his mind about Rose-Hulman.
37 Likes
My S25 also in at St. Olaf with an amazing scholarship! I am really hoping he stays closer to home, but thrilled that he has an affordable small school option now.
33 Likes