So, you’ve been deferred by Columbia University. That’s a huge bummer. Instead of throwing yourself into action right away, we highly recommend giving yourself a moment to wallow. Eat a pint of ice cream, cry into your pillow, or cuddle with your pup. Allow yourself to feel all the feels, so that you can move on to getting things done.
As you’re wallowing, you should know that Columbia does not release the deferral numbers for the early decision cycle, so we don’t know for sure how many other students were deferred alongside you. Anyone who says they know exactly how many students Columbia defers (who isn’t also an employee of the Columbia Admissions Office) is guestimating based on the early decision acceptance rate — last year was about 11% — and fairy dust.
That said, and if we want to go along with rumors for a second, admission officials have claimed privately to defer more students in the early decision round than they accept, and more than they deny. So, it’s possible that more than 50% of early decision applicants were deferred, although we hypothesize it’s a little less than that. Either way, the pool of deferred candidates is big, and you’re going to have to put work in to stand out when they review your application again in the regular decision cycle.
Your wallowing time is now officially up and it’s time to get to work. You can still get into Columbia, but the overall acceptance rate is under 4% so there is a lot of stuff you need to be doing other than just waiting and wishing for an acceptance letter to arrive. Below we break down what you need to do to improve your chances of getting into Columbia, and what else you need to be working on to make sure you have a successful college admissions experience.
If you’re overwhelmed by what it’s going to take to move forward from a deferral, drop us a line. We help students get into their dream schools.
What Columbia Wants
Columbia is pretty tightlipped about exactly what they want from deferred students in the 2023-2024 season, but we know what works. They’ve seen your application, and it wasn’t enough for them to offer you a spot in the incoming class — so you need to give them something new to look at. The best way to do this is with a Letter of Continued Interest.
Please take specific notice of the singular “letter.”
This is not a series of emails aggressively inquiring as to why you weren’t good enough sent to each of the admissions officials.
This is not a love letter to Columbia snail-mailed to the office along with glitter and themed t-shirts.
This is not a flash mob on the Low steps.
But if you didn’t get that Low reference, you will need to brush up on Columbia building vernacular and slang before writing your Letter of Continued Interest because in addition to reaffirming that you are awesome, you need to prove that you’re a perfect fit for Columbia, in particular.
Your Letter of Continued Interest should be an absolute maximum of one single-spaced page with standard 1-inch margins and size 12 font. Writing a tome will not help your case. More is not more. But you do want to pack specifics in. After re-affirming that Columbia is your number one, you need to remind them that you are amazing and update them on the outstanding things you’ve been accomplishing since submitting your Early Decision application. With each detail, you need to be super specific to Columbia. Use their lingo. Reference particular programs. They should not doubt in any way that you know Columbia and desperately (but not in a weird way) want to be a member of the incoming Freshman class.
Once you’ve written, edited, and submitted your Letter of Continued Interest, it’s time to get on with things.
What Else You Need to Do
Since you didn’t get in Early Decision, you’ll need to apply to a balanced college list in the regular decision round. This may mean making some changes to what you originally had planned.
1. Take Another Look at Your College List
Since you were betting on the early decision round, it’s possible that you didn’t put a ton of thought into your regular decision college list. If this is the case, it’s not too late to fix the situation. You need a balance of “foundation” or “safety” schools and “targets,” and a few reach options — but not more than 2 or 3. Overall, we advise students to apply to 8-10 schools in the regular decision round unless their dream 2nd choice school is a foundation or target that offers Early Decision II, in which case 5-6 may suffice.
If you are looking at your college list and have a sinking feeling in your stomach — we can help. Creating a perfect college list is something we happen to be professionals at.
2. Brush Up Your Common App Essay
Once you’ve locked in your college list, it’s time to go back to your college essay. You probably agonized over your main common app essay for months, and the idea of going back to it may be painful. We get it. You have a bunch of supplements to write now, so why in the world should you go back to your essay if it’s already done? Well, because done isn’t done. All writing has room for growth, so it’s important that you reassess your essay and look for opportunities to improve your work.
If you aren’t scared to dig into the essay and are open to changing things up, check out our essay ‘bootcamp.’ We work with students to write acceptance-winning essays.
3. Get to the Finish Line
If you haven’t been working your way through your application supplements already, you need to get on that right now. Working through things slowly will make a massive difference to your final outcome. Being methodical and taking it one a supplement at a time, rather than having to rush at the end, is the kindest way to care for yourself.
Be nice to yourself. Work carefully. And take it a chunk at a time.
We are really good at helping exceptional students who received disappointing EA or ED decisions get into a perfect fit college or university. If you want outstanding results, send us an email.