Welcome to one of the most exciting times in college admissions: December 15 is when many Early Action and Early Decision notifications are released! That means that if you applied EA or ED, you should learn in just a few days whether you got into your top-pick school…or didn’t.
You may well be feeling a mixture of big emotions right now—hope, fear, excitement, stress. But whatever your outcome is, you need a logical plan for how to proceed afterwards. And as always, I’m here to take your hand and guide you through it!
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I got in ED
First of all…woohoo!! Please give yourself time and permission to feel REALLY good about your accomplishment.
You earned that letter that began with “Congratulations.” You studied for and conquered the SAT/ACT, kept your grades where they needed to be, wrote and rewrote your Personal Statement, and wrote thoughtful and compelling supplemental essays.
After that marathon, you’ve certainly earned a breather! Because you now know for certain which school will be your happy home next year.
But…there’s a small asterisk there. Because after you take your fall quarter/semester finals, and relax and celebrate over winter break…it’s unfortunately time to get back to work. On your high school courses, that is.
I know this is annoying to hear, and you have my full sympathies on that front. Believe me—I wish I could give you the whole rest of the school year off!
And I will say: you can relax some of your college apps-era perfectionism. (In the long run you’ll be much more mentally and physically healthy if you learn to let go of perfectionism, anyways!) But on the other hand, I don’t want you to do anything next semester that ruins your past 2+ years of hard work!
What I mean is this: sure, it’s ok to get an A- during senior spring when you’ve usually earned nothing but As and A+s. Even getting your first B, while an unpleasant surprise, is not the end of the world. But please don’t think it’s cool to all of a sudden start getting straight C’s or to totally fail a final exam! I have known of students who got in to their dream schools early, only to have their acceptances revoked after barely passing Physics. It’s a horrible reversal to experience.
As far as applying to other schools just in case, not only is that not worth your time, but if you got in with binding Early Decision, then you can’t! Go ahead and skip finishing the half-written supplemental essays for the rest of your college list! Just don’t mess up your spring academic transcript, please.
(Note: If you got in Early Action, which is NOT binding, then yes, please continue filling out more applications if you want to keep your options open.)
How to proceed if your early application got rejected
I’m so sorry to hear it. I know this is a huge disappointment. You may have been thinking and dreaming about this school for a long time. It’s perfectly healthy to let yourself cry or go for some long bike rides to process some of these bad feelings.
But stay with me for the (very real!) upside. Many students don’t realize that getting rejected ED or EA isn’t as much of a catastrophe as it first seems, because at least you’re not stuck in limbo.
In fact, I know this may sound strange, but if you were straight-up denied…it’s really a blessing in disguise. Because you wouldn’t have been a good match for that school in the first place. Remember, a successful college admission isn’t a question of being “smart enough” or “not smart enough”—it’s about BOTH you and the school being a good fit for each other.
Wouldn’t you rather be on a campus that actively WANTS you there, will make you feel welcome, and might even offer you some money towards your tuition?
The tough part, of course, is that your quest continues for the school(s) that ARE a fantastic fit. And you’re going to need to pay special attention to the rest of your applications, too, putting even more work into them than you put into your dream school’s application. Yes, you only have a couple (or a few) weeks to do it in, but that’s enough time to get to “done” if you really buckle up now. You can go get a relaxing massage (or take a kickboxing class, or whatever) when your last application is in on January 1st or 15th.
And please, for the love of all that is holy, make sure you have a few “safety” (or “likely”) schools in there—because a common mistake I see among my college applications tutoring clients is that a lot of what students think of as a “safety” might not, in fact, be a shoo-in.
What to do if you got deferred
Even though it isn’t a flat-out rejection, I know it can be hard to feel like this outcome isn’t a big bummer, too. Regardless, though, you need a plan—ASAP. Because while you feel like being deferred is a rejection, it ISN’T. It just means that your application will be held and considered with the rest of the school’s regular decision applications. I’ve known plenty of students who initially got deferred from their ED or EA schools and later got in!
But you DO have some work ahead of you.
For starters, make sure the rest of your applications and supplements are in excellent shape. They really matter now! Write them as if you did get rejected and would be sincerely over the moon to attend each and every one of the remaining schools on your list. Submit them all by their respective deadlines (preferably before they’re actually due). Hopefully you’ll still have a few days left of your winter vacation to unwind a bit.
Next, find out from the college representative if they need anything from you. This could be “updated” (by which they mean higher) test scores, a deferral letter (more on this below), more letters of recommendation, or even a specific form to fill out. Whatever they say, FOLLOW THEIR INSTRUCTIONS to the T! If they ask you not to submit anything further, please resist the urge to ignore this rule. Snubbing their explicit request might mess up your chances at a “yes” come regular decision time
Then, however involved you were with all your extracurriculars and grades during junior year and during the fall semester…you basically need to keep up that same clip. I know you may be feeling burned out. But unfortunately, that’s just the way the cookie crumbles, since you do not yet have an acceptance.
In fact, now that you’re not spending all of your extra evening and weekend time writing applications, it’s time to step up your efforts! Need better test scores?! Retake the Digital SAT or ACT! Always wanted to join the glee squad at your school? Go for it. Want to start a Feminism club at your all-male private school and launch a campaign about the realities of male privilege? DO IT! (This last example is a real one—and a success story. Keep reading for the full story.)
Then, in late February, write a detailed, respectful letter (a “letter of continued interest”) to your dream school’s regional admissions counselor—basically, the person who looks at all the applications from your city or state—telling them:
a) how committed you still are to their school
b) why the school and you are a match made in heaven (along the lines of a “Why This College?” essay), and
c) updates on all the things you’ve accomplished since you submitted your early application. (The trick here is to make sure you’ve actually done noteworthy things to include in said update.)
Finally, if you haven’t already, go visit the campus! Take a tour, sit in on courses, talk with the admissions team. SHOW them how committed you are to getting in!
I wouldn’t write it if it weren’t true: these steps really can help your application.
Here’s a real-life example of this strategy in action. A few years ago, I worked with a highly passionate and gifted student who got deferred from Stanford. Let’s call him Ben. Ben’s deferral inspired him to get it together in a way unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The moment he came back from holiday break in January, he finished his remaining applications. Then he started a feminism club at his all-boys private school. And he didn’t stop there: he started a social media campaign to get almost every boy in his school to post text and pictures about why they needed feminism in their lives. It was a moving endeavor, one that generated real momentum outside his school and even garnered media coverage. He also continued to take the most challenging classes offered at his school and raised his grades in almost all of them…all while keeping up his membership on an All-American sports team.
Ben wove all of these early spring quarter endeavors into a mature and positive letter to the university admissions liaison to his school. And you know what happened? Come April, he got his acceptance letter in the mail! I’ve never seen someone smile so big. If you follow my steps and step up your game, you’ll be smiling, too.
So, I hope today’s post has helped you celebrate, mourn, and/or pick yourself back up for the final lap of the college application race! And remember, if you need help with any step of that journey, you can contact me here.
