It’s a big week for college admissions: Early Action and Early Decision notifications are released around Thursday, December 15th. That means that if you applied EA or ED, you should learn in just a few days whether you got into your dream school…or didn’t.
While you may well be feeling a mixture of big emotions right now—hope, fear, excitement, stress—no matter what your outcome is, you need a logical plan for how to proceed. And as always, I’m here to take your hand and guide you through it!
Scenario #1) YOU GOT IN EARLY DECISION! YIPPEEEE!
GO YOU! I'm hope you’re feeling super proud of yourself right now—you deserve to.
Because you’re the one who earned this, after all: you got your test scores together on time, kept up good grades, slayed your Common App (or non-Common App) essay, and wrote engaging and unique supplemental essays.
After that gauntlet, you can finally take a deep breath! Because you know which lucky campus will be your home next year.
But after you take your finals, take your mini-breather, and take your holiday break…I’m afraid it’s time to get back to work—on your high school classes, that is.
I know this isn’t what you want to hear, and I’m sorry about that. On the one hand, you can let go of some of your college apps-era perfectionism (and really, it’s in your best interest to kill that instinct once and for all!). But on the other, I don’t want you to do anything next semester that sabotages your past 2+ years of hard work!
What I mean by this is: 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 flunk a final project! I have known of students who got in early, only to have their acceptances revoked after barely passing chemistry. It’s a real shame.
As far as applying to other schools, I wouldn’t bother. You have my full permission not to finish the half-written supplemental essays for the rest of your college list! Just don’t screw things up academically, please.
Scenario #2) You got Rejected
I’m really sorry to hear it. I know this is a massive bummer; chances are, you’ve been dreaming about this school for a while. It’s perfectly healthy to let yourself cry or take a kick-boxing class to blow off some steam.
But stay with me for the (very real) silver lining. It turns out getting rejected ED or EA isn’t as bad as it first seems, because at least you’re not stuck in limbo. In fact, I know this will sound odd, 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 “good enough” or “not good enough”—it’s about being a match.
Wouldn’t you rather be on a campus that genuinely WANTS you there, will make you feel welcome, and might even offer you some money towards your tuition?
The not-so-silver lining, of course, is that your quest continues for the school that IS a perfect 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 put your nose to the grindstone. You can go take a relaxing spa day (or cathartic run, or whatever) when your last application is in on January 1st or 15th.
And please please please make sure you have a few “safety” 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 be so easily within reach after all!
Scenario #3) You got Deferred
I get it: you may well be feeling really down in the dumps right now. But that doesn’t change the fact that you need a plan, and fast. 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 finely tuned and spot-on. They will actually matter! Write them as if you did get rejected and truly, madly, deeply want to go to each and every one of the other 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 holiday break to unwind a bit.
Next, find out from the college representative if they need anything from you. This could be updated (i.e. higher) test scores, a deferral letter (more on this below), more letters of recommendation, or even a particular form to fill out. Whatever they say, FOLLOW THEIR INSTRUCTIONS! If they ask you not to submit anything further, please resist the urge to disobey this rule. Defying their explicit request might screw up your shot at regular decision success.
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. Sorry! That’s just the fact of the matter, since you do not yet have have an acceptance.
In fact, now that applications aren’t taking up much of your waking life, it’s time to punch up your efforts! Need better test scores?! RETAKE THE SAT OR ACT! Always wanted to join the debate society at your school? Go for it. Want to start a Feminism club at your all-boy private school and create campaigns to raise awareness of male privilege? DO IT! (This last example is a real one—and a success story. Keep reading for the deets.)
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 (in the vein 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 Alex. Alex’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-male private school. And he didn’t stop there: he initiated a social media campaign to get almost every boy in his school to announce, via pictures, why they needed feminism. 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 participation on an All-American athletics team.
Alex 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 I’ve helped you jump for joy, grieve, and/or pick yourself back up for the final stretch of the college application marathon! And remember, if you need help with any mile of that marathon, you can contact me here.
