College Decision Terms

As more and more students begin hearing from colleges I thought it might be helpful to know some of the most common terms you will see in response letters from colleges. Everyone hopes they will receive nothing but acceptances, but the reality is that far too often that is not the case. Below are some of the more common college related terms/ phrases for admissions decisions. If you receive a letter and you are uncertain what it means, please feel free to let me know or to contact the college directly. I would also like to remind you that we keep track of the admissions decisions that you receive from your colleges so please stop in and keep me posted on what you are hearing from each of the schools.

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

- Declined/ Rejected/ Denied/ 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. Please be sure to follow through on getting this information to them promptly.

- 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. If you are interested in accepting a spot on a college's wait list, stop in and see me so that we can discuss some of the steps you should take to put yourself in the best situation should the college be able to accept students off of their wait list.