Now that December’s here, seniors who submitted early decision and early action applications can expect responses from their colleges relatively soon.
The ideal response, of course, is an acceptance letter from one’s dream school. Denials are also common in the early admission round. (If you’re denied, the good news is that you still have time to submit regular applications to other schools.) However, these aren’t the only possible responses you might receive.
More confusing than either an acceptance or denial is a deferral to the regular admission round. This is common at schools that limit the number of students they will accept via early decision or early action.
What does a deferral mean? Basically, the school thinks you’re qualified for admission, but it picked other students ahead of you. It has decided to put off making a final decision on your application until it sees the quality of the students who submit regular applications.
As many highly qualified applicants apply early (some say the early admission rounds provide the stiffest competition), a deferral isn’t necessarily a gentle way of rejecting an applicant. It’s common for students to get deferred early and then accepted in the regular admission around where the competition is weaker.
However, this doesn’t mean that deferred applicants should just sit on their hands and wait to see what happens. MyCollegeCalendar.org recently offered some tips to deferred students for boosting their chances of admission during the regular round. Click here to check them out.
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