@QCprincetonian hahaha thank you <3
Hi guys! I just wanted to send more love to everyone - accepted, deferred, rejected - on this thread. You have all contributed in unique ways to a thriving community of support and love over the past few stressful weeks. I wanted to share an article that my school’s college counseling team sent out before early decisions started rolling in. It really helped to calm my nerves, and to assuage my fear of the perceived “failure” of not getting in:
Proud (not really) to join the deferred club… ah well. I was half-expecting it. Best of luck to EVERYONE, I really love you guys and it’s been so amazing to have support during these past few weeks. I truly can’t express how thankful I am for everyone. I hope to talk again? Maybe in a deferred thread… lol ~:> a chicken for good company
Accepted! Never got an interview either, and I’m really nothing extraordinary (white, male, low-income, no legacy, public school), so I really don’t think that’s too big a part of the process. But congrats to everyone, and a deferral is far from a rejection. YOURE ALL GONNA DO GREAT
Perhaps late, but deferred
Deferred 
Deferred. I’m actually devastated. Princeton has been my dream school since I went to my dad’s tenth reunion when I was four. Now I have to tell what feels like the entire school that I didn’t get in… everyone knows how much I love the school, and I feel like I’m letting them down. It’s gonna be a rough few days.
Congrats to everyone who got in 
@emtfxc Just remember that 82% of applicants who logged in to see their decision also have to tell everyone they didn’t get in. 82%! You aren’t alone!
Everything will turn out okay. I was procrastinating on studying for my history final tomorrow when I was reminded by someone that Princeton SCEA decisions come out today. I wasn’t planning on writing anything until I remembered the deep devastation that I experienced when I was deferred last year.
I still remember my deferral vividly- I woke up at 4 AM the morning of decisions and stared at the wall for hours, praying desperately that I would see that orange tiger on my screen at 3 PM EST. I packed my new iPad in my backpack, intending to check my decision after my AP Lit final. When a short paragraph notifying me of my deferral popped up on notify.princeton.edu instead of the orange tiger, my heart shattered into a million pieces and physically ached. I left class early and ran to my school bathroom and sobbed so hard I couldn’t breathe, hoping this was some kind of nightmare or that they sent out the wrong decision. I sat on the bathroom floor (I know, gross) and buried my head in my knees, crying so hard that people outside my stall banged on the door to ask what had happened.
The car ride home was miserable- my mom ran out of consolations as the tears seemed as though they would never stop flowing. I know she was sad too. In my bed, I remember scrolling through collegeconfidential and seeing all the happy “I GOT IN” posts and seeing all the happy parents who were posting for their children and LITERALLY feeling like my entire world was crashing down on me. I didn’t know what to do with my life anymore. Nothing had ever NOT worked out for me. I thought I wouldn’t get in anywhere and questioned everything I ever did in high school. I “disappointed my parents” (or so I thought, in my head) and could never be a daughter they were proud of.
I gained 10 pounds that winter break, bombed the rest of my finals (got a D on my calc final…this also goes to show that midyear reports aren’t that important so RELAX if you didn’t do well), binge-ate carbs, refused to go to any holiday parties, broke out into sobs every 30 minutes, buried myself under my sheets, and watched romantic comedies to cheer me up. Ridiculous, I know. My mom, in an effort to take my mind off of things, booked a 4-night stay at the Trump hotel in Las Vegas, and then at a week-long ski resort in Lake Tahoe, but I sobbed during the whole trip and basically ruined everything for my family. Christmas was awful. I lashed out unnecessarily at my friends and family and caused them deep pain and hurt that I still regret so much today. It’s so pathetic how obsessed with college admissions I was.
To those of you who were deferred, I know my words will mean absolutely nothing to you- nothing anybody could have said to me last year would have made me feel better. My heart aches for all of you, because I know EXACTLY how you feel.
But it will be okay. A year from now, you’ll be sitting in the common room of your suite, cramming for your finals, laughing with your roommates, stress-eating pizza with your freshman counselors, scrolling through summer internship listings, attending club meetings, and wondering why you were even worried at all. For those of you wondering, Yale is honestly everything I expected and more- I highly encourage everyone to apply, but wherever you end up, you will excel.
Sorry for being super incoherent in this post, but I really need to get back to studying! This will probably be my last post on college confidential, but I figured this was the very least I could do to provide some solace and hope to those in their darkest moments.
How kind of you to share that painful period in your life just to help others keep perspective on this crazy ride! Continued success at Yale and beyond.
Hello guys! Sorry about the late update, but I’ve been out for pretty much the entire day. I just came back home a few minutes ago and checked my decision. Unfortunately, I was deferred.
However, the experience wasn’t as disappointing as I would’ve imagined. In fact, I feel more relieved than upset. To know that so many amazing people were accepted, and to realize that I was once a part of this amazing community is almost certainly enough to make me happy. Luckily, I have most of my regular decision applications completed, so my winter break won’t be as stressful.
The deferral wasn’t really surprising. I go to a public high school in Michigan, and no one at our school was accepted to any ivy leagues this year (except for one or two athletes). In fact, the genius of my class (uber-college level math, 10+ APs, amazing soccer player, pianist, and community leader) was deferred from MIT today. Even all the people from the neighboring school districts and the competitive private were deferred from their top schools. Perhaps my composure walking into today’s decision was fueled by this low expectation I had from hearing about everyone else’s results (that’s a good consequence of being last to know decisions!). I guess Michigan got the short end of the stick this time around.
I’m going to focus on other non-Princeton things over the break. Maybe I’ll compose a piece of music or something; it’s always been something I wanted to do (maybe learn a piano piece every day? I never really had the time since I’m so busy all the time… photography also seems very interesting). I’m just so glad that college admissions season is temporarily over — well, at least until April.
The funny thing is that I woke up this morning after dreaming that I was deferred. It seemed so strange to actually live through the experience, but I guess it was destined to happen anyway.
To all those deferred, we aimed high but still failed. However, do not approach this fork in the road with dispair; realize that, if we ever look back to this day in the future, we will not remember how we missed our target, but the mere fact that we had the bravery to aim at all. And isn’t that the first step to any accomplishment? We can only make the shots that we dare to take in the first place: it’s often the journey that means more than the destination.
Anyways, I’ll be off for tonight since I have several exams that I have to study for. I also have to prepare some activities for the wonderful elementary school kids that I will coach tomorrow (that is definitely something that I don’t need Princeton for). I’ll post my results on the results thread tomorrow or Friday since I just don’t have the time tonight to spend much more time of this site. Don’t worry though; I’ll still try to come back and visit every once in a while!
Once again, congratulations to everyone accepted today! You’ll all do great at Princeton, and hopefully I’ll find the time over the weekend to send personalized messages or something…
Today I finally bid farewell to this wonderful chicken family! I’m kind of excited since I’ll be able to use my UChicago essay now that I will apply… (I love UChicago by the way; they’re nice enough to superscore my 36 ACT and actually care a lot about the essays. In addition, the school is also very close to home). 
@Ambitious19 Thank you so, so much for this. I don’t know how well the other deferred students can relate, but I also feel like being visibly and outstandingly miserable because I feel like I disappointed my parents and myself. I wish you the best at Yale and wherever you go!
@Ambitious19 Thank you so much! In the end, the only loser was Princeton, not you. Yale must be so lucky to have you as a member of their class. Best of wishes on your college journey!
@Ambitious19 Wow that really helped… It really does feel better to know that someone went through this awful process and emerged victorious. I know in a year I’ll be laughing about this very deferral which now seems so life-changing and dismal. Best of luck on your history final and Yale!!
p.s. I totally get the whole rom-com thing. Rom-coms are life.
I’ve been lurking on this thread for a month of so now but haven’t posted until now. I just have to say that you guys seem to be not only exceptionally accomplished individuals but also warm, caring and kind people. While I was not shocked by my deferral today (considering my lowish stats) I will admit that my initial reaction was that of extreme disappointment, but after a while I was able to calm down and I realized that the very fact that I am a part of self selected group of applicants who are applying to Princeton is in itself an accomplishment. All of you have a lot to be proud of, regardless of wether your SAT score is 2400 or a 1900 you are all clearly in the highest of ranks amongst high school seniors in the world. So regardless of wether you were deferred, accepted, or rejected hold your heads high. Your success in life is all but guaranteed by the drive, and determination you have already showed throughout your high school careers. You will all go onto great things regardless of which school you go to! And of course a huge congratulations to all those fortunate enough to be admitted to the SCEA class of 2020.
@azwu331 Thanks for “reporting in”. We were waiting to hear from you. Sorry you are among the ranks of the significant majority-the deferreds. You have amazing grace and wisdom and will do well wherever. Please do stay in touch.
@azwu331 I admire you and your fortitude! May you compose the most beautiful piece over break!
Only 8 hours later and I’ve regained some semblance of my former self. Thanks for the advice
To my wonderful surprise, I was accepted! This was an amazing day for me, and to those deferred/rejected - there is yet hope for you guys to succeed beyond what the admissions committee thought of you. Good luck!
My son was deferred today as well. Barely a reaction from him honestly other than something like “oh god, now I have to do more stuff for RD.” So annoyance, I suppose it was. I will leave it up to him to post his stats.
Being deferred isn’t the same as being rejected. It just simply isn’t. So if this really was your dream school, just remember, you’re still in the game!
And for the record, other than an email on 11/2 stating they received all tax docs sent on 11/1, we received no other emails regard tax docs or anything from FA at all. So I guess we broke that streak on here for acceptances! Lol. Sorry!