College Decision Terms

We are in the earliest stages of college application decisions starting to come back.  I wanted to make sure you knew some of the terms you might see in your decision notifications.  If you receive an email or letter and are uncertain what it means, please feel free to let me know or to contact the college directly.

- Accepted: Congratulations - they are inviting you to join and be a part of their college/ university!

- Declined/ Rejected/ Not Accepted: For whatever reason the college did not feel that you would be a good fit. While it is understandably disappointing, please remember that there are lots of colleges and universities out there so don’t give up on finding a good match.

- Decision Deferred: The college is not sure yet… usually they 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.

- Wait List: The wait list is not a denial, but it is not an acceptance either. Colleges use wait lists as insurance to make sure that their freshman class will be the appropriate size. If enough students decide to attend, the college will not accept anyone off of their wait-list.  We will talk more about wait lists later in the spring because this rarely a response students will receive at this time of year, but it is more common later in the application season.

One of the realities of the college admission process is that not every student will be accepted to every college. The waiting game can often be one of the more frustrating aspects. With family members and friends consistently asking, "Where are you going to college?" the uncertainty present with each "I don't know" response can be overwhelming.  Remember, I am here to help support you in managing all the stress related to admissions decisions.