You may have recently received a defer decision from one of your early application colleges, and you might be wondering what that means, and what you can do about it. This blog post should clear up a few things, and help you plan for the future.
What does it mean that my application was deferred? If your application was deferred it means that the college didn’t deny your application, but that for any number of reasons, they were not prepared to give you a final decision in December. The college will re-review your application, and send you a final decision in the spring, along with the rest of the Regular Decision applicant pool.
So what should I do next? The first thing you should do is send a friendly and polite email to your area admissions counselor telling him or her that you’re still very interested in the school, and would like to know if there’s anything that would be helpful for you to send them. Sometimes, they might have a very specific request, so it’s important to ask. For example, they might just want to see how your fall semester grades turned out. They might also have specific advice about what you should and shouldn’t do to increase your chances of admission. If there’s nothing specific that they need from you, here are a couple of things you may want to consider to strengthen your application.
- Send a short, sincere, and specific letter or email of interest to your area admissions counselor.
- Ask the admissions office if you can sign up for an interview (if you haven’t already had one). Some colleges don’t allow deferred applicants to interview, so don’t be discouraged if this option is not available to you.
- Ask the admissions office if they think paying them a visit would be a good idea (if you haven’t already visited). Some schools care about demonstrated interest, and a visit could be something they care about.
If you feel the need to do anything beyond these suggestions, we recommend holding off, or asking the college if it would be okay. You want them to know that you’re still interested, but you don’t want to do toomuch. A few well-written lines can have more impact than an overload of information. Remember – there’s no guarantee you’ll be admitted, even if you follow the admissions office’s instructions to the letter, so you can be optimistic, but it’s best not to focus on it too much.
Then, you should look forward to the admissions decisions you’ll be getting in the spring from all of the colleges you applied to.
Leave a Reply