After years of building your high school resume and months of hard work on applications, the first round of college decisions has finally arrived. For all Rolling Admissions, Early Action, and Early Decision schools, you will have received one of three decisions: accepted, deferred, or rejected. In this post, we will be going through each type of decision--what it means and the next steps you should take based on the decision you receive.
Acceptance Letters
If you were accepted into a college, congratulations! All the work you have put in throughout high school has paid off, and you now have a clearer idea of your future. While it might be tempting to share your news with everyone and inquire about others’ decisions--especially if you applied to the same schools--tread carefully. Each individual is different, and some people may not be ready to share their decisions with others or are trying to process the news of a deferral or rejection, so make sure you are respecting people’s wishes in sharing decisions.
Soon after you receive your admissions decision, you should be receiving a financial aid package. The cost of college can have a big impact on the decision, so make sure to review your financial aid with your parent or guardian and discuss if the cost of attendance is feasible for you and your family. If you are unhappy with your financial aid, appeal your financial aid. For more specific details on that, read the “Appealing Financial Aid” section of our “A Guide To the College Application Process (Part 3 of 3): What To Do After You Have Applied” post.
Early Decision
If you were accepted to a school under Early Decision and are happy with your financial aid package, withdraw your application from all other colleges and do not apply to any other colleges during the Regular Decision round, because this admissions decision is binding. If you are unhappy with your financial aid package and your financial aid appeal does not work, you can withdraw from the admissions offer if you provide proof that you cannot afford to attend. Arguing that attendance would cause a financial burden is the only way you can get out of an Early Decision admittance.
Early Action/Rolling Admissions
If you were accepted to a school under Early Action or Rolling Admissions, consider where this school falls on your list--is it a reach, target, or safety? Depending on how you classify this school, you could consider what other schools you want to apply to. As a general rule of thumb, you should only apply to schools that you would seriously consider attending over the school(s) you have already been admitted to. So, if you got into your dream school under Early Action and the cost of attendance is feasible, you don’t have to apply to any other schools! If you got into target or safety schools through EA/Rolling, you may want to consider applying to more target or reach schools, but no need to apply to schools lower on your list!
Deferral Letters
(via Sara Harberson)
Getting deferred from an Early Decision or Early Action program means the admissions committee is still considering your application, but they are holding off judgment until they review the Regular Decision applicants to make a final decision on your application. While getting a deferral may be disheartening, it is not the end of the road for you. There are several reasons someone would get deferred, but the most common reason has less to do with the student and more to do with the greater applicant pool. If a college sees a significant increase in early applications, they might want to defer judgment for some applicants in order to see how many applicants and the quality of the applicants they receive during Regular Decision.
If you are still interested in attending a college you get deferred from, there are a couple of steps you can take to best increase your chances of getting in during the Regular Decision round.
1. Express Continued Interest.
Some colleges will automatically consider all deferred applicants for Regular Decision, and in that case, you do not have to complete any additional steps. Some colleges will have a simple “yes” or “no” question in their admissions portals asking if you would like to be considered for admissions, to which you would select “yes.”
2. Reach Out To Admissions Officers.
While most admissions officers will not provide a specific reason for deferral, they may provide you more information on your decision if you reach out to them directly. Send an email to your admissions officer who read your application and see if they’ll speak to you. If the admissions officer won’t speak to you, see if your guidance counselor or school administration can reach out to the admissions officer on your behalf.
3. Write a Letter.
The best way to improve your chances of admission is by writing the college a letter. This letter should be about a page long and needs to be a very mature, self-aware letter about why the institution is your first choice.
One aspect of your letter that is important to emphasize is your maturity and growth during the period of time between when you sent your application to now. If you wrote a supplemental essay about why you want to attend the institution, make sure this letter takes those reasons deeper. Think back to why you are a good fit for the school and vice versa. Show how inspired you are by the academic program you would pursue, how you would contribute, and why they need you in their community. The most important thing is clearly stating “If admitted in Regular Decision, I will attend” if you are still committed to attending the college. This sends a clear message to the college that you will enroll, which is very important to colleges while considering Regular Decision applications because they want to increase their yield rates.
You should submit this letter no later than mid to late January (unless otherwise specified by the college) and it should be sent directly to the admissions office via the admissions portal or email.
Rejection Letters
The most important thing to remember is that a rejection is not a reflection of you as a person or your strength as an applicant. If you receive a rejection letter, the first step is to take time to grieve. Watch your favorite TV show, put on a facemask, lean on your friends and family for emotional support--anything that will help you best process your decision and make you feel better. It might also be a good idea for you to take a break from social media during this time, as it’s likely flooded with college acceptance posts that may be hard to handle.
Once you have taken some time to process your decision, develop a solid game plan for applying to colleges Regular Decision. Reconsider the list of schools you are applying to. If you got rejected from a safety school, consider adding more safeties to your list. If you got rejected (or even deferred) from an Early Decision school, consider looking into schools that have an Early Decision II program and see if you are interested in applying with that admissions plan. Like ED, ED II is binding but gives you a greater chance of acceptance into a school than Regular Decision, and is a great option if one of your top colleges offers it.
In addition to reevaluating your college list, look back at the essays you wrote for the early applications and reflect on how they can be improved for the next round of applications. Refrain from using the same supplemental essays you may have used in the early applications rounds—if they were unsuccessful in early applications, they are unlikely to be effective in Regular Decision.
College decisions are extremely stressful and consuming but remember that no matter what your outcome is, this decision doesn’t define you or your life. If you need any support during this time or guidance about the next steps you should take when you get your decisions, do not hesitate to email us at applicationoverloadblog@gmail.com. Best of luck to you all—we’re rooting for you!
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