Chances are that you are reading this because things didn’t go as planned. You didn’t know if you would get into Carnegie Mellon Early Decision, but at least if you didn’t get in, you’d know where you stood. Now you are somewhere awkwardly in the middle between being a fit for Carnegie Mellon and not being what they are looking for.
First, that’s misconception of college admissions. Just because you don’t get in, it doesn’t mean that you ‘aren’t good enough’ or ‘not who they want.’ There are so many other factors that go into admissions decisions and the pursuit of a balanced freshman class than what grade you got in 9th grade Latin. But here you are with a deferral trying to figure out what comes next. Luckily, we’re here to help.
Carnegie Mellon takes their admissions process very seriously. This isn’t to say that any colleges don’t take admissions seriously — they all do — but Carnegie Mellon has certain principals when it comes to admissions that they doggedly stick to. The most recent acceptance rate was 11.5%, and students aren’t deferred from ED to Regular Decision for any one reason in particular. “No single grade, factor, score or activity will automatically gain or deny you admission to Carnegie Mellon,” they say, and they mean it. They’re looking at the big picture.
As we map out your next steps for Carnegie Mellon, and for every other school on your list, this is exactly the perspective we need you to embrace. The details matter, but it’s the big picture, the story, that leads you to success.
In this post, we’ll give you the map you need to have a successful college application experience and increase your chances of getting into Carnegie Mellon in the Regular Decision round.
If you need support pivoting positively out of the deferral set-back, contact us. We’re pros at this.
Before you address what needs to happen with Carnegie Mellon, you need to get everything in line for your other applications.
Review Your College List
The first step is finalizing your college list. It’s possible that you spent a lot of time crafting your perfect college list before you submitted ED to Carnegie Mellon, but it’s just as likely that you didn’t really think you’d need to use it. Now you do, and that means you may need to reassess. Not getting into Carnegie Mellon ED shouldn’t send you into a tailspin. You don’t need to question all of your choices and options, but you do absolutely need to confirm that you have a well-balanced list that is calibrated to your grades, scores, strengths, and interests.
Any well-balanced list must be built on a foundation of foundation schools…which is why we call them “foundations.” These are also called safeties, which can be a little misleading these days as there are very few schools that are ‘shoe-ins’ anymore. The foundation schools should be ones that you are very qualified (or even over-qualified) for according to your scores and grades and can also be in-state schools that you have an additional ‘leg-up’ for due to geographic preference.
After 3-4 foundations, you need 3-4 “target” schools. These are schools that you are a strong match for academically, and that you have a meaningful connection to academically and culturally. By this, we mean that you have scores and grades that line up well with those of recently accepted students, and that your interests academically and culturally are specifically served by programs at the school.
Finally, you’ll have a small handful of reach schools — one of which is Carnegie Mellon. These are schools that you can feasibly get into, but that you need to work extra hard for.
Reassess Your Essays
Once you have a list set, it’s essay time. There is a lot of writing that goes into college applications, and it all needs to be strong. This can be overwhelming, but it is manageable with planning and strategy. We highly recommend reading our guide to the 2024-2025 Common App Essay, as well as our college-specific supplement guides. Strong college essay writing requires a strong narrative and a clear point of view. Read real successful essays on our website to get a sense of what works — and find inspiration for your own story.
Press Submit
Once you have your list set and your writing done, you need to submit. This sounds obvious, but it isn’t. We see so many students postpone submission due to anxiety, and subsequently make edits that actually weaken their application. Don’t fall into this trend. When you’re done, submit.
WHAT CARNEGIE MELLON WANTS
Once you have your regular decision (or ED II) school applications ready to go, you need to turn your attention back to Carnegie Mellon. The university is very particular about how they want to hear from deferred (and waitlisted) students, and you want to be sure to follow the rules while simultaneously making sure your continued interest is clear.
Carnegie Mellon does not consider demonstrated interest, and they do not want supplemental materials like resumes, research abstracts, supplemental recommendations, or additional writing samples. What they will look at, though, is a single paragraph. Yes, really.
When you are notified of your deferral by Carnegie Mellon, or in a subsequent communication, they will give guidance on how to send them a short response, and what they specifically want to know — so you can’t prep for this in advance. If this sounds vague, it is. So, there are two other things we suggest you do to strengthen your application.
Grades
Sending updated grades should be done automatically by your school counselor, but it’s worth double checking. This can also be a good time to ask your school counselor to help you out by doing a little something extra.
Advocacy Call
School counselors are able to call admissions offices after a deferral or waitlist decision to advocate on behalf of a student. This is not something they take lightly, and your counselor is unlikely to do it unless you assure them that you will go if accepted. If you can assure them of this, and ask really nicely, your counselor may be willing to call Carnegie Mellon on your behalf.
An Advocacy Call isn’t a make-or-break for your application. If your counselor doesn’t do it, you can still get in after a deferral. Either way, though, you should plan as if you won’t. Apply regular decision (or ED II) as if an acceptance to Carnegie Mellon won’t happen, and then focus on keeping your grades high and enjoying your senior year!
Every year, we help top students get into exceptional colleges, even after a deferral. Email us to learn more.