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Diana Quill

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Deferred? Now What?

In the world of college admissions, there is one decision that always — and understandably — causes a lot of confusion: the deferral. A deferral is neither an acceptance nor a denial; it means they are going to review your application AGAIN along with the Regular Decision applications. It is a “wait and see” or a “maybe.” It is also an increasingly (and frustratingly) common outcome from the early round as many colleges and universities are experiencing an exceptionally high volume of early applications and appear to be pushing a lot of those applications to the Regular Decision round in order to have more time to review them. Additionally, many colleges and universities have lower acceptance rates in the Regular Decision round, which means that deferred applicants — now being added to this larger applicant pool — realistically face an even lower likelihood of admission than in the early round.

Still, we encourage you to try to see this for the opportunity it is –– having a chance to strengthen your application and having more college choices this spring can be empowering.

The likelihood of being admitted after a deferral is hard to predict and answering, “what are my chances?” will vary each year and across institutions. As noted, the general percentage of acceptances tends to be lower in the Regular Decision round so we encourage deferred students to be both realistic and informed about their chances; in many cases, it may make sense to consider committing elsewhere for Early Decision ll. Our advice is to simply put forth your best effort in addressing the deferral and then, most importantly, focus on your remaining applications!

Side note: If you were deferred from your Early Decision choice, you are no longer bound by the Early Decision agreement. You are free to apply to another college under an Early Decision II plan, if desired and offered.

Here are a few suggestions for deferred students:

  • MOST IMPORTANT: Read the instructions of your deferral letter very carefully. Every college has their own policies regarding how to respond to a deferral.
  • Colleges may welcome an update on any new accomplishments, or updates on scores or awards, along with mid-year grades.
  • They might also require you to confirm that you wish to be included in their Regular Decision pool.
  • If the college allows, you may send an additional letter of recommendation, an arts supplement, or an additional essay –– but make sure the college welcomes this kind of submission. Sending additional materials to a college that doesn’t want them could actually backfire and hurt your chances.
  • You MAY be offered the opportunity to change your mind on whether or not to submit your test scores.
  • IF THE COLLEGE IS RECEPTIVE TO A LETTER OF CONTINUED INTEREST (LOCI): Compose a short, sincere note thanking them for their further consideration and reiterating your continued interest in the college, and either email it to your admission representative or upload it on your portal, as directed by the college in question.
  • What else should go in a LOCI? This is where you can share positive updates from senior year. Did you earn great first semester grades? Did you receive an award or recognition for academics, athletics, art, theater, or dance? Did you win an election, debate title, team championship, or employee of the month? Did you receive new and improved SAT/ACT scores? Remember, the LOCI should include new information and/or updates.
  • If the college that deferred you remains your first choice, reaffirm this in your letter and let them know you will attend if you are admitted. Make sure your school counselor knows this as well so they can convey this information too.

Bottom line: While deferrals can be frustrating, they are a common outcome during the early round. Try to reframe the “maybe” into an opportunity to strengthen your application. Deferrals are also a reminder that the college application process can unfold in stages and to stay focused on the remaining tasks by continuing to work hard in your classes and completing your Regular Decision applications!

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Hats off to the Class of 2024!

In May, we met to review our Dunbar students’ results and see what trends we could identify. Several of us are also participating in a significantly larger pool of anonymous independent consultants’ results as well so we may have an update in a few weeks based on that larger dataset.

Our students garnered 354 acceptances across 201 colleges and universities, and we were happy to see that 70% of them were accepted by one of their top three choices with 47% of our students being accepted by their first choice.

While it certainly felt this year as if we were seeing more deferrals and wait lists – and our professional list serves were full of the same stories! – the actual numbers don’t agree. Seventeen percent of our students’ applications were deferred or wait-listed, which is in line with prior years’ results and actually lower than last year’s at 23%. The last two years have definitely seen higher numbers of deferrals and waitlists at colleges where students are above-profile, reflecting colleges’ commitment to their own enrollment priorities and the importance of demonstrating interest.

Thirteen percent of our deferred students were later accepted and a full third were wait-listed after having been deferred – with these numbers, we would find it hard to recommend a student hold out for a college that has deferred them. The colleges that deferred the greatest number of our students were the University of Michigan, the University of Miami, and the University of Richmond. (At Miami and Richmond, Early Decision students are definitely being rewarded for their commitments and in many cases, switching a deferred Early Action application to Early Decision 2 results in an acceptance.)

At this point in time, only 6% of our students who were wait-listed have been offered a spot off the waitlist. Given the complications with the new FAFSA roll-out this year, we do anticipate some additional waitlist activity this summer, but we encourage our students who have stayed on waitlists to be realistic and prepared to attend the university where they have deposited.

Our students fared equally well submitting applications with and without test scores, following our guidance college by college. Just over 21% of our students applying to Reaches were accepted with or without submitting test scores.

Test scores are viewed within context of both the college or university’s preferences (some are truly test optional, others are essentially test optional in name only for well-resourced students) and the student’s profile. For example, if a student’s scores are below a specific college’s mean but are the strongest part of their application, we would recommend submitting them. And if a student’s scores are below a college’s mean but are high for their high school, we also might recommend submitting them.

We continue to see the importance of institutional priorities driving application decisions as much as students’ academic profiles, highlighting the strategic importance of Early Decision and Early Decision 2 commitments. (Fifty percent of our students’ ED applications and 79% of our students’ ED2 applications were accepted.)

Upcoming changes for next year:

– A small number of highly selective colleges are returning to requiring test scores for this fall’s applications, including MIT, Dartmouth, Brown, and Yale. (The Yale Admissions Office podcast has an excellent discussion of their decision process that is enlightening for anyone who wants to dig more deeply into this topic.)

– Yale is introducing a test flexible program, giving students the option of submitting SAT, ACT, AP, or IB scores.

– A side note on this topic – CA students are finding it very difficult to find seats at SAT and ACT test centers as fewer schools are supporting test dates now that the UCs are test blind.

– Stanford has announced they will return to requiring the SAT or ACT for applications due in the fall of 2025, giving students time to prepare.

– More state universities will clarify their position as “test preferred.”

– The University of Connecticut will offer Early Decision, which may cut down their generous offers as they fill part of their incoming class early.

– The University of Florida will add an Early Action program, providing a second application option to Regular Decision.

– The University of Michigan will start admitting first year students directly into the Ross School of Business.

– Both UNC and Clemson have over-enrolled in recent years, which will most likely result in lower acceptance rates for both.

– For those students interested in UK options, the University of Cambridge and Imperial University are introducing new admissions tests delivered by Pearson VUE – see details here.

We are looking forward to applying these lessons – and more as we are constantly reviewing the landscape for new insights – as we move into a new application season with our rising seniors!

SEE OUR COMPLETE CLASS OF 2024 COLLEGE ACCEPTANCE LIST