Dealing with Deferrals

Decision Deferred... When you receive your college admissions decision and you read that your application has been defered it can often create a lot of questions.  A deferral is not a "yes" and it is not a "no." It is what a college will do when they need more time to make a decision on your application which means that your wait for a final decision continues.  The college knows that you would be successful on their campus, but they're not sure if they will have room based upon all of the other applicants and their institutional goals so they need more time, and often more information, to help them make the final decision.  Most colleges who offer deferals will tell you what additional data/ information they are interested in receiving to help them make their decision. The most common piece of data they will look for are senior year grades at the semester time.

So, what should you do if you are deferred?
One of the first steps should be to stop in and see me so that we can talk about the college decision and develop a game-plan for your next steps.

The other critical step is to closely read the information that the college has shared along with their deferral about what additional information and material they would like to help them as they make their final decisions.

If a college didn't provide any guidance and I were trying to simplify the process, then I would next suggest that you call the admisisons office and talk directly with the admissions officer who is in charge of our region. Talk to him/ her about where you stand and what they would like for you to do to be a more "ideal" candidate.

Draft a letter with any updates and information that you can share with the admissions staff. In particular, let them know that of any new experiences that you have had or recent accomplishments that they weren't previously aware of when you first applied. Updating them on your new activities and accomplishments is important because it is your effort to help give the college a reason to select you and add your application to the "accepted" pile. 

Send them an updated copy of your transcript. (I have uploaded mid-year transcripts to Common App for the colleges that indicated a need for them previously.)

If you re-took your ACT or SAT exams and haven't forwarded your most recent scores to the college, request for the scores to be sent directly to the college of your choice.

Consider other outreach efforts to communicate your strengths with the admissions office such as an additional teacher recommendation letter.

Although no one likes to be deferred, remember that this is not the end of the world and there is still plenty of time to communicate your strengths to the admissions committee so that you will hopefully be accepted to their school.