What do I do if I've been deferred by my first-choice college?
If you applied to schools early in November during the early decision or early action rounds of college deadlines and now find yourself deferred, you might be feeling a bit stressed about your chances of admission. Luckily, there are a few things you can do before waiting to hear back from colleges in January.
Have a backup plan.
First, be sure to select a second-choice college for the regular decision deadlines. Early Decision II (ED2) does boost your chances of admission to schools—by committing yourself to the school, colleges are more likely to accept you given that you have demonstrated your intention to matriculate should they accept you. Remember, ED2 is binding—only select a school as an ED2 choice if you are certain it is your second-choice college. See below for the complete list of colleges that offer ED2.
Write a Letter of Continued Interest
If you haven’t been rejected from your first-choice college, you still have a fair chance of being accepted. Don’t give up just yet! As a deferred applicant, your application will now be considered alongside every application that is submitted for regular decision deadlines, which are typically in February.
To stand out from the pack, you can update the school on what you have accomplished since you applied to school in November. By writing a Letter of Continued Interest, or LOCI, you can show the school that you are still interested in attending and that you have not stopped being an incredible candidate just because your application was submitted.
Step 1: Check that you should submit a letter
Make sure the school accepts LOCIs. Some schools tell students not to send any updates to the college after their initial application has been submitted. Carnegie Mellon University, for example, asks that waitlisted applicants not send letters of continued interest or any application updates to the school. Check with your first-choice school, either via their website or by emailing their admissions office, and ask if they consider letters of continued interest.
Step 2: Brainstorm for your letter
Your next course of action will be to brainstorm everything you have done since applying and jot down any new achievements that you didn’t get to put on your application the first time around. This is the most important step of the LOCI-writing process. If you have not done anything since you submitted that application in November, you might want to reconsider writing this letter. If you already applied Early Decision, for example, that tells the school point-blank that they are your top choice, and it lets them know that you plan to matriculate if you are admitted. After all, that decision is binding. Writing a letter that only tells them you are interested in them won’t help your case, and it may create more work on their end, doing more harm than good.
However, any changes are fair game here. Think—what clubs are you involved with at school? Especially for clubs in which you hold a leadership position, what have you done since November that might be exciting to the school? What about volunteering? Have you continued to work with an organization, or furthered a goal that you’d only begun since applying? Are you participating in any academic competitions? Won any awards or citations of recognition? What about research? Are you working on a senior project? If so, what have you discovered so far? Have you begun planning for the summer? If you secured a summer internship, tell them about it!
Step 3: Write your letter
First, figure out who you are addressing your letter to. Look up the dean of admissions to the college and address the letter to that person and the admissions committee.
Second, decide how you want to format your letter.
Consider the example below:
Dear Ms. Mahato and Duke Admissions,
I want to thank you for taking the time to consider my application; I appreciate having the opportunity to be considered from the waitlist.
A brief update: Since applying in January, I’ve been fortunate enough to have my science fair project, “Emotoclassifer: An Emotion Classification Algorithm using EEG Signals with a Recurrent Neural Network,” be recognized at the school and regional fairs, where I won first place in the computational biology category. For my project, I developed an artificial intelligence model that uses a person’s brainwave signals to classify emotions. Currently, I’m working on adapting this model to read emotions using brainwave data measured in real-time. This enhancement would allow for doctors and therapists to read patients’ emotions and establish a line of communication — especially important for conditions like autism, where patients are often unable to express their feelings. My project is now moving on to the [redacted] State Fair, and looking ahead, I’d be thrilled to continue this research at Duke, perhaps with the help of Dr. Kevin S. LaBar in the Psychology and Neuroscience Department.
I’ve also been fortunate to be named a National Merit Scholar, receiving a $2,500 scholarship. On a more personal note, I’ve been taking advantage of this coronavirus-induced break, taking an online course in computational neuroscience to deepen my understanding of my current research, and spending a lot of quality time with my sister; we’ve had our share of movie marathons, and I’ve now finished my goal of watching every Friends episode twice.
Along those lines, I’d like to thank the admissions committee for once again reviewing my application — Duke has truly set itself apart for me with its unique dedication to undergraduate research, and I would eagerly matriculate if offered a spot with the Class of 2024.
Warm Regards,
X
Breakdown:
The student opens with gratitude. This can go a long way. Your application was one of thousands, and the admissions committee takes time to slowly review every single one. If you are deferred or on a waitlist, that means they saw something in you and can see you potentially attending the school—thank them for that.
Then, they dive into their most exciting update. Not only did their project win first place in both school and regional science fairs, but they are still working to improve it, and they explain its potential impact to the committee.
Following this update, they quickly mention their National Merit Scholar $2,500 scholarship. Not only is the award impressive but that scholarship money is worth mentioning—whether or not students can afford college is more important for waitlisted students. If a college can’t offer you a spot up front, they likely will not be able to offer you aid, so letting them know you’ll have financial support from elsewhere is a good call.
Next, the student includes a few personal insights into their lives. Some of these, like the online course, are more academic. However, mentioning that they are spending more time with their family indicates one of their core values and tells the school a bit about them.
Finally, the letter ends with more gratitude and an emphasis on the student’s intention to matriculate if offered a spot. You can also use this space to compliment the school, especially if the school has recently done something that makes you even more excited about the prospect of attending.
After sending your letter, breathe
It’s normal to feel initially anxious when you receive a deferral, but don’t let it ruin your senior year. Keep in mind that neither a deferral nor a rejection is necessarily a reflection of you as a student. In case you find yourself on a waitlist in April when schools release their final decisions, you should take this post-application period to start applying for summer internships, research opportunities, or current competitions to have something to update other schools with. Your future-self will thank you for being proactive—plus, a summer internship will ensure that you start your freshman year off right.
2023-24 Colleges that offer ED2:
American University: January 15
Babson College: January 2
Bates College: January 10
Bennington College: January 15
Bentley University: January 15
Boston College: January 2
Boston University: January 4
Bowdoin College: January 5
Brandeis University: January 2
Bryant University: January 16
Bryn Mawr: January 1
Bucknell University: January 15
Carleton College: January 15
Carnegie Mellon University: January 3
Case Western Reserve University: January 15
Catholic University of America: January 15
Claremont McKenna College: January 10
Clark University: January 15
Colby College: January 2
Colgate University: January 15
College of the Atlantic: January 15
College of the Holy Cross: January 15
College of Wooster: January 15
Colorado College: January 15
Connecticut College: January 15
Davidson College: January 5
Denison College: January 8
Dickinson College: January 15
Drew University: January 15
Emerson College: January 3
Emory University: January 1
Fairfield University: January 15
Franklin & Marshall College: January 15
Furman University: January 15
George Washington University: January 5
Gettysburg College: January 15
Grinnell College: January 5
Grove College: December 1
Hamilton College: January 3
Hampshire College: January 1
Harvey Mudd College: January 5
Haverford College: January 5
High Point University: February 1
Hobart and William Smith Colleges: January 15
Jewish Theological Seminary: January 1
Johns Hopkins University: January 2
Kenyon College: January 15
Lafayette College: January 15
Lake Forest College: January 15
Loyola Marymount University: January 8
Lehigh University: January 1
Macalester College: January 1
Marist College: February 15
Middlebury College: January 3
Mount Holyoke College: January 3
Muhlenberg College: February 1
New York University: January 1
Northeastern University: January 1
Oberlin College: January 2
Occidental College: January 10
Pitzer College: January 6
Pomona College: January 8
Providence College: January 15
Reed College: December 20
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: December 15
Rhodes College: January 15
Rochester Institute of Technology: January 1
Rollins College: January 5
Saint Joseph’s University: January 15
Santa Clara University: January 7
Sarah Lawrence College: January 15
Scripps College: January 5
Sewanee: The University of the South: January 15
Skidmore College: January 15
Smith College: January 1
Southern Methodist University: January 15
Springfield College: January 15
St. Olaf College: January 4
Stevens Institute of Technology: January 15
Stonehill College: February 1
Swarthmore College: January 4
Syracuse University: January 5
Texas Christian University: February 1
Trinity College: January 17
Trinity University: February 1
Tufts University: January 4
Tulane University: January 13
Union College: January 15
University of Chicago: January 2
University of Miami: January 1
University of Richmond: January 1
University of Rochester: January 5
Ursinus College: February 1
Vanderbilt University: January 1
Vassar College: January 1
Villanova University: January 15
Wake Forest University: January 1
Washington and Lee University: January 1
Washington University in St. Louis: January 3
Wellesley College: January 1
Wesleyan University: January 1
Whitman College: January 10
William and Mary: January 5
Worcester Polytechnic Institute: January 5
