Being deferred is never satisfying because it isn’t a conclusion. It’s not a no, and you’re still in the running. But it’s also far from a yes. In this post, we’re going to help you bounce back from a deferral. First, let’s run the numbers.
The Best Majors at Duke
Duke is a prestigious university in Durham, North Carolina with 6,500 undergraduates and almost 17,000 students overall. Despite being a larger educational institution, Duke offers a hands-on and intimate learning experience with an 8:1 student-to-faculty ratio. Students in both undergraduate colleges, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences and Pratt School of Engineering, are supported in trying new things, taking calculated risks, and pushing boundaries. “We look for students,” the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions says, “who operate at the intersection of imagination and impact.”
Deferred by Duke Early Decision 2024-2025
This was not the plan. You were going to get into Duke Early Decision, and that would be it. But that isn’t how it worked out. You’ve been deferred, and now you’re in a really awkward spot. You’re not rejected, which is awesome. But you’re also not in, which is awkward. What you do next will chart the course for your future in college, so let’s move carefully, but with confidence.
Deferred by the University of Chicago 2024-2025
You applied to the University of Chicago early, and it hasn’t worked out like you expected. A yes is ideal, but at least a no is definitive and clear. Being deferred, though, is like the worst of both worlds. You aren’t in, but you also can’t grieve not getting into a dream school. That said, we don’t want you to wallow for too long. It still is possible to get into the University of Chicago after a deferral, and it’s absolutely possible to have an outstandingly successful college application experience—if you’re willing to put in the work.
Deferred by Stanford Restrictive Early Action 2024-2025
Stanford University is widely recognized as one of the best universities in the world, and they only offer one early application option. Restrictive Early Action at Stanford is extremely competitive. All admissions options to Stanford are insanely competitive, to be honest, and now you’re on the receiving end of one of the most frustrating possible outcomes: a deferral.
Deferred by Dartmouth Early Decision 2024-2025
Getting a deferral decision is a bummer no matter where you applied, but it’s especially frustrating when it comes from a dream school. Dartmouth is a highly-competitive Ivy League university that receives around 30,000 applications each year, boasting an overall acceptance rate for the class of 2028 of only 5.3%.
Deferred by Princeton Single-Choice Early Action 2024-2025
If you received a notice of deferral from Princeton, you aren’t alone. The renowned Ivy League university has historically deferred a large number of single-choice early action applicants, even the majority. This is frustrating, because you still don’t know where you stand and don’t even really have a hint towards how they feel about your application.
Deferred by Yale Single-Choice Early Action 2024-2025
Once upon a time, Yale deferred a massive number of early applicants. As a result, being deferred didn’t really tell the applicant anything about the status of their application. But now you’ve been deferred, and you’re probably wondering what this means. Luckily, things have changed in recent years. As the number of first-year undergraduate applications to Yale soared, they had to change their strategy. Instead of deferring upwards of 50% of early applicants, they began only deferring applicants who truly have a chance of getting in through the regular decision round.
The Best Majors at Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt is a globally-renowned research university in Nashville, Tennessee with just under 14,000 students, about half of whom are undergraduates. We love Vanderbilt for a lot of reasons (many of which we go into below), but we especially love the Immersion Vanderbilt program. The Immersion Vanderbilt program is an experiential program required for all first-year students. These projects can include research, lab work, internships, and more. Recent projects included “creating case studies about theater performances,” and “conducting economic development research through the National Science Foundation.”
Deferred by Harvard Restrictive Early Action 2024-2025
If you’ve been deferred by Harvard, your frustration is palpable. Getting into Harvard is hard. With an acceptance rate of under 4%, you can be astronomically smart, caring, and inspiring, and still not get in. What you do after receiving a deferral decision, especially from Harvard, is going to make or break your college admissions experience. You can wallow in self-pity and let it negatively impact your chances of eventually getting into Harvard, or into any of your other top picks, or you can let it catalyze you into action. We suggest the latter.
How to Write the Santa Clara University Supplement 2024-2025
Santa Clara University (SCU) is a private Jesuit university located in, you guessed it, Santa Clara. It’s also the oldest college in California. SCU is known for their social sciences (just look up how many politicians and fancy government people have gone here – it’s wild!) and business programs and the proximity to Silicon Valley is great for students who want to break into tech. We think SCU is a bit of a sleeper school, and think it’ll jump in popularity over the next few years. Last cycle, SCU had a record-breaking number of applications and had an acceptance rate of 47%. They’re also test-optional through this year, and it’s good to note that 41% of admitted students didn’t submit scores.
Applying to Amherst College as a Student Athlete
Amherst is a small liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. The school has 1,907 students with a 7:1 student-to-faculty ratio. There are 42 majors, more than 400 courses to choose from each term, and 83% of classes have fewer than 30 students.
How to Write the Rice University Supplement 2024-2025
Located in Beyonce’s hometown of Houston, Rice University is a private research university known for their very strong and very competitive STEM programs, as well as a solid business school. Rice is a very hard school to get into; last cycle, they had a 16% acceptance rate for ED and EDII and a 7% RD acceptance rate. Rice is also continuing their test-optional policy this year, but we don’t recommend applying without scores – it’s an 8% acceptance rate overall, and their middle 50% for the ACT and SAT were 34-36 and 1500-1560, respectively.
9th Grade College Strategy for English
How to Write the MIT Application 2024-2025
MIT is one of the preeminent engineering, science, math, and technology universities in the world. Officially called the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. There are about 4,500 undergraduate students, and the acceptance rate for the Class of 2027 was 4.8%. For the Class of 2028, it dropped to 4.5%. The Early Action acceptance rate was only a little bit higher at 5.3%, and the acceptance rate for international students was terrifyingly low at only 2%.
How to Write the Amherst Supplement 2024-2025
Amherst College is an exceptional college full of passionate, engaged, and inquisitive students and community-members in Amherst, Massachusetts, about an hour and a half from Boston. There are just under 2,000 students, and about half are domestic students of color. As part of the Five College Consortium, students at Amherst have access to the courses and resources of Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Hampshire, and the University of Massachusetts. The vast majority of classes have less than 30 students, and there are 42 majors. The acceptance rate is 10%.
How to Write the Georgetown Application 2024-2025
Liberal arts and research university with a Jesuit foundation and a sterling reputation today as a place of exceptional education, scholarship, and community. Located in Washington, D.C., Georgetown is also deeply tied to the political and policy-making community, and many students go there because they are interested in going into government or public service. The acceptance rate is 13%.
Deferred Early Decision by Columbia 2024-2025
Getting deferred from Early Decision is really disappointing. You picked a school, Columbia College or the School of Engineering at Columbia, and said “yes, this is my perfect fit.” Then you went through the effort of applying Early Decision — and it didn’t pan out. You are well within your right to be frustrated and disappointed. But you also weren’t rejected. You have the chance to turn this around, or to launch into another great option. Basically, the stage lights are still on, and the curtain hasn’t dropped. You’re still in this.
How to Write the Yale Supplement 2024-2025
Yale is universally recognized as one of the best universities in the world. A member of the vaunted Ivy League, Yale has one of the best undergraduate programs in every single subject they offer. The 6,750ish undergraduate student fight hard to get there. Yale receives nearly 60,000 applications for only about 1,600 spots per class. The acceptance rate for the Class of 2028 was only 3.7%, the lowest acceptance rate in the history of the university.
How to Get into UC Berkeley
University of California Berkeley, often just called Cal or Berkeley, is a public university in (you guessed it) Berkeley, California. It is the founding campus of the UC schools, the state’s nine-school university system. The school is famous for research, and in 2021, the funding for research and development exceeded $1 billion. Cal is also a large university with over 30k undergraduates across five undergraduate schools (The College of Letters and Science, Chemistry, Engineering, Environmental Design, Natural Resources, and the Haas School of Business). Some schools are more competitive than others, and some majors have strict enrollment caps, so it pays to do your research into the school and program you hope to attend.