The College Admissions Scoop: Deferred Dos and Don'ts

By Marilyn G.S. Emerson and Jana Jett Loeb

Note to parents: If your child has been deferred, there are steps he or she should take to remain a viable applicant.

Seniors, if you have been deferred from an early school, being proactive may help when your application is considered within the larger regular pool of applicants. Here are some important dos and don’ts.

Do:

• KEEP UP YOUR GRADES. Committees will look carefully at this when making their final decisions.
• Restate your interest in the school in a brief letter that you send in January or February. The purpose of this letter is not to re-frame your entire application or to build your resume; the Committee already has the information they believe that they need to make a final decision in April. However, this letter can be helpful to confirm that this school would be your first choice if you were admitted. The letter tells them that you remain interested despite having been deferred.
• Update the Committee on any additional accomplishments or developments in your application. It is helpful to do this, but only if you have something that will add substantively to your application. Tell them about a significant award you have received or if particular circumstance has changed.
• Ask your guidance counselor to call the school to see if there is a specific reason for the deferral, but note that for the majority of applicants it isn't any one thing. If you are not comfortable having your guidance counselor call on your behalf, then call the school yourself.

Do Not:

• HAVE A DIP IN GRADES. An admissions committee will look unfavorably on students who have let their grades fall in their senior year. This applies to all the schools you have applied to.

• Have Mom or Dad call the school - admissions representatives want to hear from students!
• Re-craft yourself by sending new letters of recommendation, new resumes, or new essays.
• Send the Committee a copy of every article you have published for the school newspaper since your deferral.
• Tell the Committee about every extracurricular activity in which you have ever participated.

While a deferral is disappointing, be sure to keep things in perspective. After the first semester at college, most students report that they are very happy and doing well at the school that they chose and that chose them. Remember, all the schools on your list are there because you know that they are places where you can be successful academically and happy socially. It is more about what you will do with the four years at college than the particular school.

In our experience, things tend to work out for the best and they will for you too!