Deferral and waitlist mean the same thing?
@Yo No, deferral means you are considered in the pool with RD applicants, waitlist means that when you submitted an RD application you were waitlisted and thus if spaces become available, you may get in. They are different.
@currypotato ANOTHER IB STUDENT! IB midterms suck- right there with you omg good luck on your exams!!!
Gotcha @VenomBuds
@Yo No a deferral is sending the application to the regular round decision pool to be reviewed again with all the other regular round applications. A place on the waitlist is offered after the regular decision round to applicants who meet the criteria for acceptance and may be offered admission if enough other accepted applicants decline their offer of admission.
As a point of interest my son’s year ('16) was the first class where early action was reinstated after several years without this option. Since admissions presumably did not know how many applicants would accept offers of admission, they offered admission to too many students and the class ended up overenrolled by about 58 students. This meant that the wait list was not used at all for the class of 2016 and housing was overfilled to the point that some single rooms needed to be converted to doubles (my son was in one of these very small rooms freshman year). For several years that followed, enrolment was reduced by about 18 students per class to bring the numbers back down to target levels.
Since the over-enrolment incident, it seems that admissions has been more cautious about the number of students offered admission each year.
@Cantiger thanks for the information. So it seems waitlisted students have very slim chances at admission since princeton has become so cautious about the numbers admitted.
IB KIDS WOOHOO cries
If the deferral pool is so big why does Princeton even bother rejecting people?
I would say the rejection is used for people they truly think do not fit in. In an article I read, it said that a rejection from an early school that defers so many applicants typically means you may be aiming too high.
I’ve just accepted my deferral at this point. I don’t think I’m gonna even check on Thursday. No point.
@MissAnthropy Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll all do fine 
@MissAnthropy think positive! Also sending good vibes your way
@MissAnthropy Definitely check, but I share the same outlook as you. Expect 100% to be deferred, and an acceptance will come as a very welcome surprise. Expect to be admitted (which is statistically improbable anyway), and you will likely be devastated. You should absolutely check though! Though I wish that @VenomBuds was right in that we’ll all fare well in this process, the truth is that most of us will, in fact, be deferred. Don’t worry though-- I’m confident that everyone in this thread will end up somewhere spectacular!
For the past week, my friends, family & teachers have been telling me “oh, you’ll definitely get in.” I’m ignoring them though, because I know deep down that even for the most qualified applicants, it can come down to luck. Best of luck and be sure to keep a positive outlook 
aw thanks you guys this is so sweet, we’ll all be fine in life i just wish we weren’t so worked up over this haha @VenomBuds @mackyg @gmanhax
Sending good vibes to everyone over the next 46-ish hours
i think it’s a bad idea to tell anyone (no matter how sure you are) that you think they’ll get in, or act as though it’s guarenteed. That happened to my friend last year, and it made getting deferred 10x harder for him to deal with
So the Harvard decisions came out at 5:17… I hope that doesn’t happen to us!! even more panicking
Ive had a rollercoaster of emotions like one day im like i have a really good chance of getting in and then another i think im the most underqualified person. I think right now im accepting defeat!! Still going to check but itd be nice if i was wrong
I’m pretty sure I’m going to get deferred/rejected. So what do I say to the people who tell me, “Don’t worry, you’ll definitely get in.”?
Every time someone says that to me, I get nervous and say something like “uhh I hope so”
I once had an uncle who told me that I’ll easily get into Stanford based on my SAT score alone. What do I say to him? And he grew up in America and went to an Ivy League school, so it’s not like he is unfamiliar with the college application process.
I guess that shows how much times have changed since 30 years ago.
@BlueSnail Honestly I’ve just been saying “oh, thank you… we’ll see!”… that sort of thing. I feel like that has been working, so maybe just say something along those lines.
Also, as annoying as this probably is, think good thoughts!! And that goes for everyone