When you applied to Columbia Early Decision, you knew that there were three potential outcomes. You could be accepted — awesome! You could be rejected — huge bummer! And then there was the third possibility: deferral. Being deferred is a hard outcome because it isn’t an outcome at all. You haven’t gotten in, and you may never get in. You also haven’t been rejected, though. Many students receive a deferral and do the equivalent of throwing their hands in the air and relinquishing all control over what comes next. That is the wrong approach for any college, and especially for Columbia. In this post, we’ll break down what to do after a Columbia deferral and how to increase your odds of eventually getting in.

First, though, we’ll address the big elephant in the room: is this just a soft rejection? Columbia does not release data around how many students they defer, nor how many deferred students are eventually accepted. What we do know, though, is that if Columbia wasn’t interested in your application, they would have just rejected you. This tells us that you have the grades and scores that Columbia wants to see, and that your application is strong, but something is genuinely missing that prompted them to pull back from offering you a spot in the first-year class.

The missing piece in your application isn’t enthusiasm for Columbia, as you applied binding Early Decision. The missing piece also isn’t numerical as they know they’ll get plenty of applications from outstanding students on paper in the Regular Decision round and there is no urgency to hold you in the wings waiting for a final decision. What is missing, most often, is actually a clarity of academic path. Paired with that, it is likely that how you communicated what you would bring to the community left them less than impressed.

What we like about that hard reality is that these are things you can address. That should not, however, be your first step after a deferral, especially as the acceptance rate for the Class of 2030 was only 4.2%. The first thing you need to do is to make sure that aren’t betting on Columbia acceptance to achieve outstanding college application outcomes.

We help strong students bounce back from disappointing early decision results. Learn more.

When it comes to responding to a Columbia deferral, there are things you are going to need to do for Columbia, but first we need you to address the things that you need to do for yourself. That means going back to the beginning a bit to put yourself on firm ground in the Regular Decision round.

Review Your College List

First, you need to give your college list a serious review with fresh, post-ED deferral eyes. It’s possible that your college list is perfectly calibrated for your strengths and that no adjustments are necessary, but it’s much more likely — we’ve found — that your list was built around the idea that you would get into your dream school Early Decision. That can result in gaps and blind spots that become glaring in the Regular Decision round.

If you didn’t have the grades or scores for a school like Columbia, you wouldn’t have been deferred, and we have helped many students get into multiple Ivy and Ivy-caliber schools after an ED deferral, or even rejection. What you want to be sure of at this juncture, though, is that your list has balance. Now is not the moment to jettison safety schools. Instead, add one or two more to give yourself some cushion.

Reassess Your Common App Essay

We find that one of the most comment reasons for a deferral is writing that doesn’t align with the academic picture your transcript and scores painted. Writing that felt rushed, half-formed, or performative can absolutely move an application into the deferral pile. They like you as a student, but they aren’t sure they like you as a person.

This is what you need to fix for your next round of applications. You need the application readers to be even more excited about you after reading your essays, not uncertain. That often requires a complete Personal Statement overhaul, and don’t assume that the supplements you drafted casually a few months ago are good to go, either.

We break down what makes for a strong Common App Personal Statement here, going into the key attributes that all impressive, acceptance-earning essays must have. You can also check out some example real college essays that gained our students admission to top colleges in recent years. The tough bit, though, is that there isn’t a template for a great essay. There is no formula. It’s all about being you, which is why we love working with students to create applications that help them shine brightest.

Press Submit

Before you do anything else for Columbia, we advise our students to press submit on their Regular Decision applications. Columbia will not be reviewing deferred applications until after the Regular Decision deadline, so there are no bonus points for doing anything for Columbia ahead of the RD deadline beyond reconfirming your interest if requested by the university — which they don’t normally ask for anyway.

What Columbia Wants

Now, way down here after you’ve revamped your applications and pressed submit, we finally get to what you need to do to increase your odds of getting into Columbia after a deferral.

Columbia is quite tight-lipped about their deferral process. They don’t release statistics or give you a sense of your odds. However, they do offer some vague guidance as to how you can help yourself stand out in the Regular Decision Pool:

“We encourage deferred candidates to update us in the winter with mid-year grades and any significant new achievements.” (Columbia)

So, this is your checklist:

Ensure your school sends updated grades in the form of a mid-year transcript or mid-year report.
Send updated SAT or ACT scores, if you have retaken either test since applying.
Submit Deferral Letter focused on significant new achievements.

But what is a deferral letter?

A deferral letter, also known as a Letter of Continued Interest, does more than tell Columbia that you are still interested. Yes, reaffirming your commitment to Columbia is important, but it is even more important that you underline your continued accomplishments.

In this one-page letter, you should never reiterate anything already stated in your application. Old news is old news. You can definitely, however, build on top of the foundation built in your initial app. For example, maybe you were preparing for a big debate tournament when you pressed submit, but now you can update them on how it went.

The key is to focus on new information that would truly be additive to your application, and to keep it short. A deferral letter should never be longer than one page, and can often be less than 400 words. Longer is not better. Being concise, clear, and respectful of their time is much more valuable than dumping a mountain of irrelevant or repetitive information on the application readers.

Once your letter is written, edit and submit either through the applicant portal or direct email.

Being on the receiving end of a deferral always stings, but there are ways to make it work in your favor in the long run. We work with our students to go from a deferral to a dream acceptance, and you can, too.

Getting into a dream school is possible after a deferral. Learn more.