Getting deferred from Notre Dame stings – no sugarcoating it. You spent months building an application that told a story you were proud of; you hit “submit” with fingers crossed, and instead of a yes, you got a maybe. It’s a frustrating middle ground that leaves a lot of students wondering what went wrong.

If you recently learned that you were rejected Restrictive Early Action by Harvard, you aren’t alone in your frustration. We are widening the scope for this post, though. Harvard defers most REA applicants, yet very few deferred applicants get in. This guidance, then, applies for both rejected and deferred REA applicants. First, though, some statistics.

This probably wasn’t the outcome you envisioned. You submitted your USC Early Action app with optimism, maybe even confidence, and hoped for a yes. Instead, you’re sitting in limbo. Not an acceptance, not a denial. Just... deferred.

If you recently received a rejection from Cornell in the Early Decision round, you are not alone in that outcome, nor in the massive disappoint you are probably feeling. Cornell has had an overall acceptance rate just under 9% for the past two admissions cycles, with the acceptance rate staying somewhere under 10% for 5 years. The Early Decision acceptance rate, by comparison, has been about double the overall acceptance rate for that period of time.

If you recently received a rejection letter from Columbia College or the Fu School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) in the Early Decision round, you are in your right to be quite upset. You worked hard, you did the ‘right’ things, and you took a big swing — and it didn’t pay off. An ED rejection can be deeply upsetting because it also used up your most powerful tool in the college admissions process. Early Decision offered your best chance of getting into a top school, and you can’t get that back. In this post, we’re going to dig into what may have gone awry with your Columbia application and what you can do now to improve your chances of getting into a dream school. First, let’s break down what may have happened with Columbia. 

Let’s face it: this isn’t what you wanted. You poured yourself into that Northeastern ED/EA application, imagined co-ops and toughing out Boston winters with your fellow Huskies, and instead of the quick yes you were hoping for, you’ve landed in that awkward middle place. Not rejected, but not accepted either. It feels anticlimactic and, honestly, kind of crushing. That’s okay. It’s normal to be frustrated. Give yourself a moment to be upset. Then remind yourself: a deferral isn’t the end of the line. Your application is still alive in the pool, and you’ve got chances to strengthen it.

If you were recently rejected by Duke, you aren’t alone. Duke receives well over 50,000 applications annually, and the overall acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was only 4.8%. The Early Decision acceptance rate has plummeted, too, in recent years, and was only 12.8% for the Class of 2029 — that is lower than a number of Ivy League schools!

Hearing that you’ve been deferred from Pomona can sting. You gave the application your all – refined every line, edited until it shone, and hit submit, picturing yourself walking to class under the California sun. Now? You’re stuck in that weird middle space. Neither denied nor admitted. It’s a frustrating place to be!

If you recently found that that you were rejected from Brown in the Early Decision round, you’re allowed to be really frustrated, sad, and confused. You worked hard. You did all the things you felt you had to do to be a competitive applicant. And yet, it didn’t work. You aren’t alone, though. The overall Class of 2029 first year acceptance rate for Brown was only 5.65%. The ED acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 can feel sky high at 17.9%, which was the highest ED acceptance rate in over 5 years, but you need to take that number with a massive handful of salt. Let us explain why 17.9% isn’t actually 17.9%, and help you take your best next steps.

Hearing “deferred” from Northwestern is tough. You put everything into that application, hit submit, and imagined yourself walking through the Arch in the fall. Instead of the clean “yes” you were hoping for, you got “not yet.” And while it can feel like a rejection in disguise, it isn’t. Northwestern didn’t close the door on you; they’re keeping you in play. It’s not over!