If you’ve been deferred by the University of Chicago, you’re probably pretty disappointed. The college application process can feel like it slogs on forever, and it would have been really nice to have an acceptance to a top-tier school under your belt — or even to be done altogether if you’d applied Early Decision. The bad news is that you got bad news. The good news is that you didn’t get the worst news. You weren’t rejected, so you still have a shot.
Deferred by Cornell (2023-24)
By this time, you were probably hoping that you’d be making big plans for cheering on Big Red as a proud Cornellian next fall. Instead, you have no idea what’s going on. You’re not yet deemed worthy of a yes, but also not a hard no. You are somewhere in the middle, and that’s super annoying. But what you do next will determine whether you have a successful college admissions experience.
Deferred by the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) (2023-24)
If you received a deferral decision from the University of Pennsylvania, or Penn, or UPenn, you have every right to be annoyed. You put in the work, and you crafted a strong enough application to not get a ‘no’ — but something just didn’t click. For some reason, Penn wasn’t sold on making you a Quaker. The good news is that you still have a shot, and we’re here to help. First, though, some stats.
Deferred from New York University (NYU) Early Decision
Deferred by Columbia Early Decision (2023-24)
So, you’ve been deferred by Columbia University. That’s a huge bummer. Instead of throwing yourself into action right away, we highly recommend giving yourself a moment to wallow. Eat a pint of ice cream, cry into your pillow, or cuddle with your pup. Allow yourself to feel all the feels, so that you can move on to getting things done.
Deferred from Duke Early Decision (2023-2024)
If you find yourself here, we’re sorry you got deferred from Duke. First things first, that's tough, and we feel for you. Take the time to let those feelings sink in – be it sadness, frustration, or whatever you're experiencing – because it's valid! But once you've had a moment to regroup, we’ve gotta get to work on your regular decision strategy, and that deferral letter too.
Deferred by Dartmouth — Now What? (2023-24)
Rejected Early Decision from Columbia 2023
Getting a rejection in the Early Decision round is definitely not easy. But the good news is, it’s really just the start, and that one rejection has no bearing on how you’re going to do with other, similarly competitive schools. The thing about Early Decision is it comes alone and it comes first. It’s sometimes easier to tolerate a rejection when it’s preceded by several acceptance letters. College admissions are extraordinarily competitive these days and the Ivies are just more competitive than any other time or place in history. That’s it. It doesn’t get harder. And Columbia in particular has just a 4% acceptance rate! So, if you’ve been rejected in the Early Decision round, don’t despair. We have some advice about how you might go forward. (And don’t worry, it’s really not that much more work!)
Rejected Early Decision from Brown 2023
Getting a rejection from your Early Decision school can be crushing. You’ve worked very hard. You’ve not only put in the sweat equity, but you’ve invested emotionally and envisioned yourself at a particular school, otherwise, you wouldn’t have applied to a binding opportunity. We understand it’s a tough blow. But we also want you to keep in mind that college admissions are incredibly competitive. The acceptance rate for Brown is just 5%. So, the fact that you didn’t get into Brown ED does not mean you should rule out all of the other Ivies or other similarly competitive schools. We like to have our students consider it to be a minor setback, as opposed to a failure. Here are some steps you can take to help you get back on the horse after a setback:
Rejected Early Decision from Penn 2023
Getting rejected can be tough. Getting rejected Early Decision can be extra tough because it doesn’t come along at the same time as acceptance letters to all of the other schools you’re going to get into. But we want to make sure you don’t fret too much. Just because you’re rejected from Penn doesn’t mean you should cast aside any hope of getting into the others or similarly competitive top-tier schools. Penn is a really, really competitive school. In fact, the acceptance rate is just 7%. There are a ton of qualified candidates applying. So, don’t sweat this one too badly. We also want to offer some advice for what to do next:
Rejected Restricted Early Action from Yale 2023
Experiencing the disappointment of getting a dreaded rejection letter from your dream school during the Early Decision phase can be truly disheartening. You've invested your heart, soul, dedication, and countless hours into becoming an exceptional candidate. It's crucial to remember that this outcome doesn't define your worth or your potential. Your bright future still awaits, and there are other really, really good options out there.
Rejected Early Decision from Cornell 2023
Experiencing the disappointment of a rejection letter from your dream school can be disheartening. You’ve put your heart and soul into getting into Cornell Early Decision. It can be crushing not to get what you want. But it’s really important to remember that this outcome doesn’t define your worth, your potential, or your future. There are still bright things on the horizon for you despite this setback. College admissions have undeniably become exceptionally competitive. In fact, Cornell’s acceptance rate is only 7%! And by the way, a rejection from Cornell doesn’t mean you can’t apply to other Ivies regular decision, either.
Rejected from UVA Early Decision 2023
Receiving a rejection letter from your dream school in the Early Decision round can seem like a heavy blow. You’ve put in countless hours of hard work to be a strong candidate and had high hopes for your future at UVA. It’s really important to remember, however, that the outcome here isn’t a reflection of your potential (or your worth). College admissions have become incredibly competitive and UVA’s acceptance rate is just 19%, according to U.S. News and World. And by the way, we don’t think this means you’re not qualified to get into similarly competitive schools. So, don’t despair. Read our guide below on what you should do next:
Rejected from NYU Early Decision
We understand that receiving a rejection from your dream school, like NYU, in the Early Decision round can be disheartening. You’ve invested countless hours making yourself a great candidate and had a clear vision of your future there. First and foremost, we want to emphasize that this outcome is not a reflection of your worth or your potential. College admissions have become exceptionally competitive! And NYU’s acceptance rate, according to U.S. News & World Report, is only about 12%.
Rejected from Duke Early Decision
Getting rejected can be really awful. We know you had your heart set on Duke, but it’s important to remember that the college admissions process is extremely competitive. So much so that Duke’s acceptance rate is about 6% these days. That’s crazy low! The good news is, things aren’t hopeless. You’re still going to get in and go somewhere great. Yes, it’s going to take a bit more work, but you can do it. (And a lot of the work is already done). Here are our tips on what to do next:
Read this if Rejected Early Decision
Rejection is always hard. Getting rejected from your early decision school can feel like the end of the world, but it's not. It’s the end of the road with that school but not with this process. We work with students every year that come to us after getting rejected from their ED school. We sometimes call it our “everything's going to be ok” package. Because, we promise even if you have gotten a tough rejection, everything is going to be ok.
What is the Difference Between Deferred and Waitlisted?
The college application process is confusing. It’s confusing for parents, it’s confusing for kids, and it’s confusing for Aunt Kathy who asks you intrusive questions at family gatherings like, “So where are you going to college?” We’re here to help lift the fog of confusion and to bring clarity to the whole process, and one of the most frequent questions we’ve been getting lately is:
What Does it Mean to be Deferred from a College?
We want you to get into every college that you apply to, we really do. We want all students to have that low stress, all success, wonderful fuzzy feeling that only a tiny percentage of students applying to college ever get to feel. But that isn’t how it happens for the vast majority of students, so it’s time to plan for how it normally goes, which includes a pinch of frustration, an ounce of rejection, and — ideally — a mighty helping of perseverance. One of the most confusing possibilities in this process isn’t rejection, though, it’s the “eh, maybe later” of deferral.
Rejected for Early Decision
Getting a rejection sucks. There is no way around it. But if you get rejected during early decisions, it's not over, even if it can feel like the end of the world. You might feel like the only one of your friends who didn’t get into their ED school, but not getting into an ED school is really common. And we wanted to give you some tips and tricks if you got rejected during ED.
Early Decision 2021 Statistics
We are kind of numbers nerds. Seriously, we love pouring over data, especially the type of data that helps us prepare for next year’s college application season. By now, colleges have chosen their early decision admissions and many have shared that data online. We love to track this data and look for trends that might help our students make decisions in the future. This year was a bit of a mixed bag. So let’s look at the number for this year’s ED admissions.