Harvard has been very tight-lipped about admissions statistics in recent years. They know that everyone knows that it is extremely hard to get into Harvard. What they don’t want to do, though, is to make such a big deal about how exclusive Harvard is that students are discouraged from applying. What makes the acceptance rate so low, after all, is that the number of applicants is so high. They want to maintain that exclusivity without scaring away future applicants.

This is part of the secret behind offering REA instead ED, which was a change that went into play in only 2011. REA, as you’ve experienced, has drawbacks — though. It has more restrictions than Early Decision with fewer benefits. They don’t lock you in, and you don’t get a strong boost.

As we mentioned, Harvard has held back admissions stats in recent years. In the winter of 2023, though, the REA acceptance rate was The overall acceptance rate for the Class of 2028, for comparison, was only . Despite this swing, Harvard s that students who apply REA do not receive a boost for choosing to apply early. Rather, they say, the increased rate of acceptance is simply because the students who apply REA are so competitive. It is also a testament to the types of kids — beyond academics — who apply early. There are the athletes, the legacies, the children of adults associated with Harvard, and others who receive special consideration. Unsurprisingly, then, more get in. You, unfortunately, didn’t fall into that pool.

In this post, we are going to break down the steps that you need to be taking immediately to bounce back from a rejection or deferral from Harvard in the Restrictive Early Action round. Now, let’s dig in.

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

There are four steps that can make a difference in your admissions outcomes if you start now.

Step One: Take a Break

The first step is to do nothing, seriously. Take a few days to recharge and reset. Give yourself time to sleep, to be outside, and to be with friends. More than anything, be kind to yourself. We know that you are extremely driven. You have big dreams, and you want big things for yourself. You’ve taken big swings, and applying to Harvard REA wasn’t the first nor will it be the last. You have more in you, and we want to see you thrive through this set-back to exceptional successes. 

Step Two: Strategize

Being rejected or deferred by Harvard REA does not mean that you are not cut out for a top-tier school, but you do need to take a measured and balanced approach moving forward. This does not mean, then, that you have to strike all your Harvard-esque schools off of your list. Keep two or three, and ideally one would be Early Decision II. ED II options are few and far between, but some are exceptional and are certainly worthy of consideration.

Then you need some true target schools. Not targets skewed by the Harvard dream, but genuine targets that align with your grades and scores. This can be a little bit painful if it requires some adjustment. That pain is necessary, though, and it doesn’t mean that you won’t have a fabulous college career. It’s okay to feel frustrated by this, but you need to move through that frustration.

Of course, too, there need to be some safety or foundation schools. Ideally, three or four. If your targets are adjusted correctly, your safety schools should naturally follow.

Yes, you can apply to a mountain of schools, but a well-balanced list means that you don’t have to. This gives you more time to dedicate to each application and will result in stronger outcomes than if you take a “spray-all” approach that ultimately weakens the punch of each piece of the application puzzle.

Step Three: Essays

You can’t know why you were rejected or deferred by Harvard REA, but if you have the grades and the scores for Harvard it is something else about your application that didn’t connect with them. Most often, we find that this is an issue of your story. Namely, that the stories that you told in the application did not have the impact that you hoped they would have. This may be because you prioritized sounding impressive over showing who you truly are as an individual.

When facing an acceptance rate as low as that at Harvard, we find that students too often think the solution is to put as many fancy sounding things as they can into their application. Ultimately, it ends up sounding like a heavy and dense list that makes no emotional impact on the reader. Sure, they learn that you’ve done a lot…but that type of writing doesn’t say much about you.

We challenge our students to strip back their essays — both the main essay and supplements — to distill who they are and strength the stories that pack a real punch. This is a targeted approach, rather than turning a college application into a grab bag, and it works. It can make some people uncomfortable, asking “but will they see enough?” That discomfort is understandable, but we do things this way because it works. The number one issue we see with rejected REA applications when students reach out asking “why did this happen?” is that they tried to do too much and weakened the impact of everything in the process.

Step Four: Ask For Help

If you still want a shot at a top-tier school with an acceptance rate under 10%, this step is extremely important: you need to ask for help. You are an expert on you, but you are not an expert on the college admissions process. Receiving tailored and customized guidance on everything from big-picture strategy to when a semicolon actually isn’t impressive is critical to achieving your best possible outcomes in the Regular Decision cycle. Remember, it’s harder to get in RD, so each decision matters more than ever. Working with an expert ensures that you make the right ones.

If all of this is overwhelming, take a deep breath and make a literal to-do list. Break down your objectives for the next few weeks, and start tackling them one at a time. You can do this, you just need to start.

Driven students can get into exceptional schools, even after a disappointing ED decision. Learn more.

First things first: this doesn’t mean you weren’t a strong applicant. It doesn’t erase your hard work, your grades, your leadership, your essays. It reflects just how competitive USC’s early pool has become. The university received nearly 40,000 EA applications last cycle alone, and with limited spots in the first round, a deferral simply means they need more time to decide.

It’s okay to be disappointed. Let yourself feel it. Then, once you’re ready, we’re here to help you shift into gear and make your next moves count.

You applied early to USC for a reason. Maybe it was the interdisciplinary programs, the Trojan network, or the blend of film, business, engineering, and global studies all on one vibrant campus. Whatever your “why,” don’t lose sight of it. Let’s map out what to do next.

Step One: Double-Check Your College List

Start by reviewing your current list. Is it truly balanced – a smart spread of reaches, targets, and safeties? Are you applying to schools you’re genuinely excited about attending? If not, time to expand. And not just with “name brand” options.

Look for schools that share what drew you to USC. Maybe that’s a strong urban setting, a focus on media or the arts, or interdisciplinary programs that bridge tech and the humanities. NYU, BU, Tulane, Emory, Northeastern, and LMU could be great additions. And don’t sleep on top public universities with honors programs – they often offer excellent academic communities within larger schools.

From there, it’s time to lock in deadlines, plan your supplement strategy, and get to work. Prioritize essays that show thoughtful fit. The better you articulate why a school aligns with you, the stronger your RD case will be. And we have guides on all sorts of supplements on our blog.

Step Two: Revisit Your Common App

Now’s your chance to take another look at your Common App essay with a bit more distance. Reread it and ask yourself: Does it sound like something only I could have written? Or could this essay have come from anyone else with a similar resume?

Many essays are “fine.” They cover growth, challenge, achievement – and they’re technically solid. But in the Regular Decision pool, solid doesn’t always stand out. What you want is something specific, compelling, and unmistakably you.

Some good self-check questions: Does this essay introduce something that doesn’t already appear in your activities list? Does it reflect how you think? Could a stranger read it and get a genuine sense of your voice or values? If not, don’t panic – but do consider revising. Sometimes a stronger intro, a more personal anecdote, or a deeper insight can make all the difference.

We’ve seen students swap out their Common App essay entirely during this stage, and it’s worked in their favor. Prompt #7 is often a favorite because it offers maximum freedom, but any prompt can work as long as it gives you space to show something real.

Need to completely revamp your Common App essay? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Step Three: Other Applications

Early January is no joke. If you’re still working through Regular Decision deadlines, now’s the time to finish strong. Double-check your Common App one last time for formatting or typo issues, then move to the activities section. If anything has changed since you applied to USC, update accordingly: new awards, leadership roles, or academic progress all belong there.

Then comes the most important piece – the supplements. These essays are where you differentiate yourself. If your USC essays leaned into creativity or personality, keep that same energy. What matters is showing that you’ve done your research and can articulate why you’re a fit. Be specific. Be real.

Once your full slate of RD apps is submitted, you can turn your attention back to USC.

Step Four: Update

USC doesn’t publish a ton of information about their deferral process. You’re moved from the Early Action pool into Regular Decision, and your file will be reviewed again alongside the larger applicant group. Unlike some schools, USC doesn’t ask for an official “Expression of Continued Interest” form. That means it’s up to you to submit a letter of continued interest (LOCI), if you want to be proactive.

Here are some things, from experience, that you may want to gather:

• Mid-Year Report and Mid-Year Transcript

  • Your school counselor should do this automatically, but follow up

• Updated Test Scores

  • If you have them

• Your deferral letter, a.k.a., the letter of continued interest.

  • More on this next

The Deferral Letter - Letter of Continued Interest

If you’re still fully committed to USC, and you want to improve your standing in the RD pool, a well-written LOCI can help.

This letter should do a few key things, a) Reaffirm your strong interest in USC, b) State clearly that, if admitted, you would attend, and c) Share meaningful updates that strengthen your application.

It’s not a place to rehash your resume. And it shouldn’t feel like you’re begging. Think of it more as a professional follow-up that demonstrates your reflection, proactivity, and continued interest.

Start with a polite and professional greeting. If you know your regional rep, address them by name. If not, “Dear USC Admissions” is fine. From there, lead with your commitment: make it clear that USC remains your top choice and that you’d enroll if offered a spot.

Then, get into your updates. Maybe you’ve received a new academic honor, taken on a leadership role, launched a creative project, or seen real progress in an independent endeavor. Pick two or three updates that are relevant and recent. Don’t just list them, tie them back to USC when appropriate. If your film placed in a festival and you’re excited about SCA, say that. If you started tutoring kids in your community and want to study education, explain how the update reflects your goals.

Close with a short thank-you and a reiteration of your enthusiasm. Upload it to your portal and if you’ve been in contact with your rep, a quick email letting them know you’ve submitted an update is appropriate.

A thoughtful, specific LOCI won’t guarantee admission, but it can tip the balance when your application goes back to the committee.

Step Five: Wait

Once your update is in, your other apps are done, and your Common App is in good shape, you wait.

There’s no benefit to emailing multiple times or sending extra materials unless USC specifically asks for them. One well-crafted LOCI, mid-year grades, and updated test scores (if available) are more than enough.

Decisions will likely come in late March. Until then, your job is to focus on school, take care of yourself, and stay engaged in the process. A deferral is frustrating, but it’s not the end of the road. You’re still in the running.

We’ve seen it happen before, and we’ll see it again. You’ve got this.

We can help you bounce back from a deferral or rejection. Reach out to us today to learn more.

While a 20+% acceptance rate in the Early Decision round can sound cushy, you’ve experienced the hard fact that it isn’t actually 20% or more for all ED applicants. That elevated rate of acceptance is significantly padded out by athletes with coach support, legacies with strong donor connection to the school, and other students who knew that they were highly-likely to get in long before they pressed submit.

The ED application cycle boost is much more modest for the average Cornell applicant, even if they have the grades and scores to stand out. Instead of a 20% probability Early Decision, then, it’s really like maybe 12% or 15%. And that’s better than the overall, but it certainly isn’t comfortable.

We say this to, hopefully, soften the blow. Yes, it is totally frustrating that you didn’t get into Cornell Early Decision — but that doesn’t mean that you were a bad applicant. You can’t know exactly why Cornell decided to say a definite no (as opposed to a deferral). It could be that it was a really hard call on their part, and it doesn’t mean that you couldn’t still be a strong applicant to another top school. We routinely help students get into an Ivy in the Regular Decision round after an Early Decision rejection. It is possible to pull off a comeback. What you do next, though, is what will make the difference. Below, we’ll break it down.

We help students bounce back from ED rejections. Learn how.

There are four steps you need to start right now, seriously, to have a successful college admissions cycle after an Early Decision rejection from Cornell.

Step One: Take a Break

This one is light-hearted, but it isn’t a joke. It’s actually really important that you take a second — or a few days — to process the frustration of the rejection and regain an optimistic outlook for the future. We need you to get back into your college applications excited and raring to go, not second guessing your decisions because of what happened in the past.

So, fill your favorite bowl with sugary cereal, curl up on the couch with a book and a blanket, go on a long walk in the woods with your dog, or have a long decadently gossip-y conversation with a friend. Whatever fills your emotional cup — do it. You will make your best decisions and do your best work with a deep reservoir of energy and excitement for the future.

Once you feel recharged and ready to dig in, it’s time to get back to work.

Step Two: Strategize

Don’t just start writing right away, though. You have more to do than to simply fill out a bunch more applications. Before you finalize your supplements, you need to finalize where you are even applying.

As we said earlier, it’s impossible to know exactly why Cornell didn’t let you in. Even if your grades or scores were a little low for Cornell, something (or somethings) else played into their decision. So, you shouldn’t just throw your college list out and resign yourself to less competitive schools, but you also shouldn’t just plow forward as if the Cornell rejection didn’t happen. What Cornell gave you is a data point, and it’s important to use that data point to make your best decisions moving forward.

When you look at your college list, do you have a strong balance between schools acceptance-rate wise? If you answer is no, it’s time to fix that. You absolutely must have 3-4 target and 3-4 safety schools unless you have an Early Acceptance or two under your belt that you would be happy to attend.

Whether or not you have an EA acceptance, you need to give some thought to an Early Decision II option. ED II is your next best tool for getting into a highly-competitive college. Of course, you have to really like the ED II you are applying to. If there isn’t a school you love offers ED II, balance on your college list is even more important.

Step Three: Essays

Once you have your list, it’s time to write. Yes, you have a college essay. And we can’t tell you that your essay is the reason that you didn’t get into Cornell. We haven’t seen your essay, and we weren’t in the decision-making room at Cornell. However, we highly recommend starting over.

A strong college essay is a game-changer. It makes the application reader look for reasons to say yes to you, even if other pieces of your application aren’t precisely what they are usually looking for. The story — and what it says about you — needs to be super strong and truly compelling. The reader should feel connected to who you are, not simply something you have done. A successful college essay doesn’t list your accomplishments like a narrative version of a resume, it builds a relationship.

This is true of supplements, too. Yes, supplements are typically more fact-driven and need to be clearly informative, but they still need to be imbued with story. Even a “why this school?” type essay should have a story that drives it forward and hooks the reader.

We work with students to transform their applications between the ED and RD round, and the results are astonishing. Students rejected from Ivies ED receive a landslide of acceptances just a few months later, and it isn’t because their profile changed. Their grades are the same, scores are the same, activities are the same, and dreams are the same. What changed? The writing. So, make that change.

Step Four: Ask For Help

The last step on this list is often the most uncomfortable for students so we put it at the end, but really it should be happening all along the way. You need to be asking for help from people who really know what you are dealing with. Friends are important for regaining a positive outlook. Parent’s, too, are crucial for support, kindness, and an occasional shoulder to cry on. Neither, though, are college admissions professionals who understand what you are dealing with within the broader scope of the national college admissions process. Getting advice from someone who really knows what you are facing, whether by working with a professional on our team or reading our blog posts, is a critical step for outstanding outcomes.

It's easier, of course, to bury your head in the sand and say that it’s too late to change things. That’s incorrect, though. There is time to improve your outcomes, you just need to start making moves today — after a cookie and a 90s sitcom marathon, of course.

An Early Decision rejection is a massive bummer, but it isn’t the end of the world. Learn more.

In the 2024-2025 college admissions cycle, Columbia College and the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) 4.29% of applicants overall. This followed a slight decrease in the number of Early Decision applicants — and by slight, we mean really slight. The drop was only 2.28%. Columbia did not release the Early Decision acceptance rate.

With or without ED-specific statistics, obsessing over why you didn’t get into Columbia is not productive. If you have the grades and scores, it could be literally any other reason. It could be too many impressive students interested in your prospective major, or one too few leadership roles. Or it could be that you have many leadership roles, but the readers weren’t sold that you were deeply passionate about your role as a leader and mentor. They could have been ‘wowed’ by your transcript, but let down by your main Common App essay. Again, it could be anything in your application package — and trying to figure it out is not useful. You’ve been rejected. Now it is time to project into the future, not to try to decode the past.

We help strong students chart outstanding futures — even after setbacks. Learn more. 

Below are the four steps you must be taking, starting today, to make the most of the rest of your college admissions process.

Step One: Take a Break

Okay, so this one might feel like a non-step or an anti-step. We’re serious about it, though. It is extremely important that you take a moment to process and reset before jumping back into applications. So, take a walk with your dog and a friend. Eat a bowl of ice cream, or two. Binge watch a reality show, or read a book that you’ve had on your bedside table for months. Pick something that is truly just for yourself, and do it without any self-consciousness or concern about ‘wasting’ time. It is not time wasted if you can come back to the proverbial table with a positive outlook and ready to work.

Step Two: Strategize

Next, you need to strategize. Yes, you had a college admissions strategy and hypothetical college list before you applied ED to Columbia, but you probably didn’t think you’d actually need to use it — or, at least, you hoped you wouldn’t. But now you have one more go at it and this one absolutely must work.

When it comes to your college list, you don’t necessarily need to throw out what you have but you do need to give it another look and evaluate the balance. There needs to be a mix of reach, target, and foundation schools. And, while it might be uncomfortable, you need to be honest about what each type of school really is for you. It’s possible that you have been counting some reaches as targets, and some targets as safety. Looking at past Common Data Set reports for schools on your list will give you a better idea of how your academics line up with those of previously accepted students.

Don’t just change your list, though. Look into how you approached the picture you show to each college. For example, only of admitted and enrolled students in the Columbia and SEAS Class of 2029 applied as “undecided” on their major. So, if you did not specify a major that may have played a role in your ED rejection. Moving forward, you absolutely must specify a prospective major that aligns with your expressed interests emphasized through your course selections and extracurriculars.

You should also consider applying to a close reach, or far target, Early Decision II. Not a ton of schools offer EDII, but it can be a powerful tool if there happens to be a school that you are passionate about offering the Early Decision II option.  

Step Three: Essays

If you were within the realm of possibility with your grades and scores as an applicant to Columbia, your essays were part of the problem with your application. We regularly help students with grades and scores on the ‘cusp’ for Columbia get in. The writing is the secret ingredient every single time.

Do you have to rewrite your main college essay and rethink your supplements? No, you don’t have to. However, we have yet to see an application that can’t be improved. So, yes. You can plough forward with what you have. But we don’t advise it.

Strong writing is the difference maker on any application, making an impact that goes far beyond an extra GPA point or a boosted SAT. Telling stories that connect with the application readers, and that pull them from their heads into their hearts is important. We aren’t saying that you should tell sob stories, though. Instead, you want the reader to enjoy your application. They should feel invigorated, inspired, and excited for your future at their school. If your essays do not do this right now, they need to be redone. 

Step Four: Ask For Help

The final step is often the hardest for highly-motivated students: you need to admit what you don’t know. You are a strong student, and you know school. But you haven’t applied to college before. Even a parent isn’t a pro at this: they most likely last did it a few decades ago. And a sibling? They can give great advice, but they’ve only applied once. Asking for help from someone who faces the college mountain every year can be an important tool towards an impressive acceptance.

We regularly work with students who were rejected by an Ivy Early Decision, and now want expert help on turning their college admissions experience around. It is possible to get into a top-tier school after an ED rejection — even an Ivy. We know this because we help students do it every year. You, too, can turn around your experience. It’s all about what you do next.

Getting into a top school is possible after an ED rejection. Learn more.

Northeastern is one of the most applied-to schools in the country, with tens of thousands of applicants fighting for relatively few seats. Early Action and Early Decision both have slightly better admit rates than Regular Decision, but they’re still selective, and Northeastern doesn’t publish exact stats on how many deferred students make it in later. That uncertainty makes this sting more, but it also means the story isn’t over. We’ve helped countless students get out of no-man's-land and into Northeastern, and we can help you, too. You still have tools you can use, and you still have agency here. Let’s map out your next steps.

Step One: Double-Check Your College List

If Northeastern was your biggest push this fall and you haven’t finished your other applications, now’s the time to recalibrate. Your list should have balance: a mix of reaches, targets, and safeties. Aim for 8–12 schools total, depending on your bandwidth. Compare your GPA, test scores (if you submitted them), and extracurriculars to admitted-student profiles to be sure your targets and safeties are really what you think they are.

Don’t just fill your list with “big name” schools. Go deeper: what about Northeastern appealed to you? Was it the co-op model? The global campus options? The blend of urban life with serious academic resources? Use those qualities to guide your search. Schools like BU, GW, American, and NYU offer similar hands-on, experiential learning vibes. And depending on your academic interests, you could also consider schools with strong honors programs at larger universities. The point is, don’t just get tied up in clout. You’ve got to build out a smart, intentional list.

Once that’s settled, get serious about your supplements. These essays aren’t afterthoughts; they’re often deal-breakers. They show schools that you’ve done your homework and know exactly why you’re applying. And the earlier you start drafting, the more polished those essays will be when it counts.

Step Two: Revisit Your Common App

This is the perfect chance to give your Common App essay a second look. Ask yourself: does this essay really sound like me, or could it pass for any other high-achieving student? If it feels generic, that’s a red flag. Plenty of kids get admitted with “safe” or even cliched essays, but the ones who really stand out take risks – telling stories only they could tell.

A few questions to test your draft: Does this essay reveal something not found in your activities list? Would a stranger walk away with a sense of who I am? Do admissions officers get a glimpse into my values, traits, or beliefs?

If your answers don’t hold up, it’s time to revise. Remember, you don’t need a life-altering event or some epic “aha” moment to be compelling. Specific, personal, reflective stories resonate more than polished but impersonal narratives.

Prompt #7 is our forever fave, but any prompt can work if you write with authenticity and depth. Just steer clear of essays that read like resumes, spend more time on external events than your own growth, or sound so polished that your real voice disappears. If you feel like your essay is missing that spark, take the time to rework it – you’ll thank yourself when RD decisions come out.

Need to completely revamp your Common App essay? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Step Three: Other Applications

We’re in crunch time. If it’s mid-December to early January, the Regular Decision deadlines are right around the corner. Prioritize your Common App essay first, then move on to tightening your activities section. Make sure your descriptions are concise, specific, and highlight impact, and make sure the order is communicating what you want to communicate. If you are applying as a STEM major and you don’t have your STEM extracurriculars right up top, that’s a missed opportunity.

After that, it’s supplement central. Every school has different prompts, and this is where you prove you’ve done your research. Don’t leave them until the last second – submitting at 11:59 p.m. on January 1 is an easy way to invite stress or technical glitches. Finish and submit as early as possible.

Only once your RD applications are locked in should you circle back to Northeastern with an update. You need to take care of your broader list first.

Step Four: Update

Northeastern has this handy on Early Action deferral (but not ED) that gives us some interesting information. Here are two of the most relevant questions (for our purposes), but the whole document is much more revealing than most colleges like to give, so please give it a read:

“What can an applicant expect if they confirm interest in deferring their application?

Students who opt in to defer their application by February 6 will be considered within the context of the Early Decision II or Regular Decision applicant pool and will receive an admission decision by March 1 or April 1 respectively.

I applied to Early Action because I am committed to Northeastern, but I was deferred—what else can I do?

When considering your application for admission in the Early Decision II or Regular Decision pool, the admissions committee will take into consideration your high level of interest in Northeastern. Students who are deferred from Early Action are advised to send updated academic and extracurricular information when it becomes available.

What else can I send to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions for consideration?

Deferred candidates should ask their high schools to send in first trimester, semester, or midyear senior year grades when they become available. If you have any new standardized tests that you would like to be considered, you should self-report new scores in your Application Status Check. While it is not required, you may also submit a letter of continued interest or other supplemental materials, which can be uploaded to the Application Status Check.”

We love it when colleges just tell us what they want and they put their policies and thoughts on paper, online, for us to read. Thank you, Northeastern!!!

The TL;DR of what you need to do/gather/submit:

• Accept the Deferral

  • You can choose to be moved to ED2 (nice!) or RD. Not all schools offer this, and we’re mixed on if it works, but we like the moxie. However, if you’re truly all in on Northeastern, and you have some really strong things to add to your application (like a 35+ or 1550+ test score, huge research, etc.), then it might be a smart move.

• Mid-Year Report and Transcript:

  • Your counselor usually sends this automatically, but double-check.

• New Test Scores:

  • Only if they’re stronger than the ones already on file. If you submitted test-optional and ended up getting a strong score (Northeastern middle 50 for the SAT is 1450-1520, and 33-35 for the ACT, for reference), then go for it.

• “Other Supplemental Materials” (optional):

  • Truly optional if you don’t have them, but if you do, it may look like a recommendation letter (only include if it’s truly groundbreaking), a research abstract, a published paper, etc.

• Letter of Continued Interest (LOCI) (Optional, but not really):

  • More on this below.

The Deferral Letter – Letter of Continued Interest

This is the piece that’s still fully in your hands – the letter of continued interest, or LOCI. Think of it as your professional follow-up, your chance to remind Northeastern that you remain committed, demonstrate that you’ve grown since November, and reassure them that you’d be an immediate yes if they let you in.

Your letter needs to accomplish three things. 1) Reaffirm Northeastern as your top choice. Leave no ambiguity: if admitted, you will enroll. 2) Show momentum. Share 2–3 substantial updates that genuinely strengthen your file. And 3) Strike the right tone. Enthusiastic but not desperate, polished but still personal.

The best LOCIs are concise but substantial. Aim for about 300–350 words. Too short and it risks feeling rushed; too long and it starts to read like filler. You want admissions officers to walk away confident that your interest is strong and your candidacy is even better now than it was in December.

Format it like a formal letter. Begin with a respectful greeting, if you know your regional officer, use their name. If not, “Dear Northeastern University Admissions Committee” works perfectly.

Open with clarity: state plainly that Northeastern remains your first choice and that you would absolutely attend if admitted. This is critical. If you were deferred EA, you can back this up by deferring your application to ED2. The admissions team needs reassurance that you’ll say yes, which helps them feel confident about yield.

From there, transition into updates. Highlight what’s new and meaningful, like academic awards, new leadership responsibilities, independent projects, significant extracurricular milestones, or advanced coursework. Quality matters more than quantity; admissions officers don’t want a laundry list, they want evidence. Two or three impactful updates, explained briefly but thoughtfully, is the sweet spot.

Close with gratitude and one more direct confirmation of your excitement about Northeastern. Thank the committee for reconsidering your application, remind them that you would be delighted to join the Husky community, and sign off professionally. Upload the letter through your applicant portal. If you’ve already been in touch with your regional representative, you can send them a polite note to let them know that it has been submitted. And that’s it! No need for repeated emails or extra updates.

Step Five: Wait

And now, the hardest part: waiting. Once your LOCI is in and your other applications are finished, you’ve done all you can. Resist the urge to send more updates, email every week, or stop by campus. One thoughtful LOCI is enough.

Final decisions for ED2 applicants are expected in early March, while RD decisions will be announced in early April. In the meantime, stay focused on your classes, keep your activities strong, and take care of yourself. You’ve shown Northeastern your best – it’s their turn now. You’ve got this!

We can help you bounce back from a deferral or rejection. Reach out to us today to learn more.

Getting into Duke in through any type of application now requires truly exceptional grades and scores. The middle 50% of accepted students in recent years have SAT scores in the 1510-1560 range, and strong ACT scores are over a 34. Simply having these scores doesn’t guarantee that your application will even be seriously considered, though. So many strong students are applying to Duke that the way that you present yourself through activities, recommendations, and writing has never been more important. Of course, it’s too late to change your activities and you don’t control what your recommenders say, so really it all comes down to the writing and there is work to be done. That’s where we can help.

Below, we break down the four steps that you need to be taking starting today to turn the disappointing Duke decision into a dream acceptance in the Regular Decision or EDII round.

We help students bounce back from disappointing early decisions. Learn how.

We like to break the post-ED rejection process down into four steps, but don’t think about them as a linear process. Be willing to be flexible, to try new things, and to be open to new ideas to achieve your best possible results.

Step One: Take a Break

First, you need to slow down. Seriously. You have gone through a pretty unpleasant experience with the Duke rejection, and you need to rest and recharge before pushing forward for strong results. So, make yourself a bowl of something sweet or salty. Curl up with a book or turn on a show you’ve been waiting to binge. Unplug from your phone for a weekend and go on a walk with a good friend or a friendly dog. Let’s be clear: this isn’t wasted time. It’s a necessary recharge.

Being kind to yourself is good for you, and it’s also good for your work. You will do your best writing and make your best decisions from a place of balance and rest. So, give yourself some time before you get back to work. When you’re ready, it’s time to strategize.

Step Two: Strategize

Once you are feeling good, it’s time to come up with a plan. Yes, you had an idea of how your college process would go — but it probably didn’t include a Duke rejection. You didn’t make assumptions, of course, but you were operating with an optimism that you wouldn’t really need the rest of your list. Or, at least, you’d be grappling with a deferral. This means that your college list is due for a fresh look and a critical eye.

If you have an Early Action acceptance under your belt, then you may not have to change much about your college list. You have somewhere to go in the fall, and now it’s just about getting options. If you didn’t receive an acceptance in the Early Action cycle, though, or didn’t apply anywhere EA, then you absolutely must broaden and deepen your college list. Your list needs to be broader, encompassing a wider range of schools geographically, in size, and in structure. Your list also needs to be deeper, with schools that offer a range of likelihoods of admission based on your grades and scores, and based on their acceptance rates.

If your grades are nearly perfect and your scores are nearly perfect, that didn’t make Duke a shoo-in and it doesn’t make any other schools at the tippy-top of the collegiate mountain a safety either. In this world of cut-throat admissions, no school with an acceptance rate under 10% is ever something that you can count on until you are in. So, you need balance. Aim for 3-4 true safety, or foundation, schools, 3-4 targets, and 2-3 reaches.

You should also seriously consider applying to a near-reach dream school Early Decision II. Not many schools offer ED II, but there are some exceptional options. This can be a powerful tool for a boosted chance at an acceptance.

Once you have your list, it’s time to write.

Step Three: Essays

If you put a ton of effort into your Duke application and were hoping to reuse that work for your RD and EDII application, we have bad news. Now, we can’t say that your writing is bad. But we do know that it could be better. If you have the scores and grades for Duke, it was something else in your application that didn’t work. Most probably, your writing. We’re not even saying that you’re a bad writer. You could be an exceptional writer, but the stories you told — and the way you told them — didn’t click with the application readers.

One of the things that we’ve learned in over a decade of crafting college essays is the power of the right story, in the right place. It’s not just about being impressive, but about connecting with the reader on a level that makes them want to accept you and get a coffee after you move onto campus.

Remember, application readers for highly selective schools are looking for reasons to say no. They have to reject so many students for each student they accept that they really need to buzz through applications. The applications that get serious consideration make them pause, and the applications that make them say “yes” make them feel something.

So, it is time to start writing with this goal in mind. Instead of obsessing over impressing, focus on connecting.

Step Four: Ask For Help

The last step is the most difficult for many of our students. When you are a high achiever who is confident about your work, it can be tough to admit that you are operating outside of your field of expertise. But you haven’t applied to college before, and there isn’t much time for a learning curve with only a few weeks before RD and EDII applications are due. Now is the moment, then, to call in help.

Your best friend or sibling do not fit the bill for offering expert advice. Neither do most parents, or even teachers. College admissions is its own monster, so getting guidance on strong writing can be helpful but won’t necessarily be tuned to the nuances of what it takes to get into a top school. Instead, we’re (understandably) biased towards working with a true college expert to craft applications that make readers look for reasons to say yes.

Getting into a dream school after a rejection from Duke isn’t rocket science, but it isn’t simple either. It takes strategy, care, and confidence. So, let’s start.

An ED rejection is disappointing, but it isn’t the end of the world. Learn more.

Take a breather. Feel your feelings. Then remind yourself: this isn’t the end. Pomona didn’t close the door – they just haven’t made a final decision. And you’re still in the game.

A deferral says more about how selective Pomona has become than it does about you. Their Early Decision acceptance rate is already low, and Regular Decision is even tighter. That said, students do get in after being deferred. And if you want to be one of them, you’ve got to stay sharp and strategic.

Step One: Double-Check Your College List

If Pomona was your sole focus during ED season, there’s a good chance your Regular Decision list hasn’t gotten the attention it needs. Let’s change that.

Start by assessing your current list. Do you have enough reaches, targets, and safeties? Are they schools that genuinely excite you? Don’t just go for name recognition – think about places that offer the academic and personal experience you were drawn to at Pomona.

Was it the close student-faculty relationships? Access to the Claremont Consortium? An emphasis on interdisciplinary exploration? Let those priorities guide your search. Consider schools like Pitzer, Claremont McKenna, Swarthmore, Carleton, Macalester, Wesleyan, or Davidson – places that value undergrad research, small classes, and community, or honors colleges within larger public universities.

From there, get to work on your supplements. Make sure every essay is thoughtful, tailored, and speaks to why you belong there. And if you’re looking for a little inspiration, we’ve got a whole blog full of guidance and examples to help you get started.

Step Two: Revisit Your Common App

With some distance from your original submission, now is a smart time to return to your Common App essay and take a fresh, honest look. Ask yourself: does this sound like you, or like what you think admissions officers want to hear? Is it grounded in specific experiences, or could it easily be swapped with another student’s?

A lot of essays fall into the trap of being polished but generic. They’re fine, even well-written, but they’re not memorable. And during Regular Decision, when the volume of applications spikes, you need to stand out. Strong essays aren’t necessarily dramatic or extraordinary; they’re personal, thoughtful, and revealing.

Prompt #7 can be especially flexible, and it’s our favorite. However, some students are overwhelmed by the total freedom it offers. Thankfully, any prompt can work as long as your voice is clear and you’re telling an engaging and unique story. If your current draft feels like it’s missing something, it might be worth reworking entirely. It’s not too late to revise or rewrite, and a strong rework can make a huge difference in RD and ED2 apps.

Need to completely revamp your Common App essay? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Step Three: Other Applications

Late December and early January are the most hectic weeks in the admissions process. If you’ve processed the deferral, it’s time to pivot.

After revising your Common App, scan your activities list. Did you take on a new role, publish something, or hit a new milestone since submitting to Pomona? Make sure those updates are reflected across your future applications. Next, look at the additional info section. Use it only if necessary, to explain context, not to restate what’s already listed.

Then comes the big one: the supplements. These short-answer responses aren’t optional filler; they’re a window into how well you’ve researched each school and how you’ll contribute. Specificity is everything. If you’re writing about Grinnell or Santa Clara, don’t reuse your Pomona essays and just swap names. Schools can tell.

Finish and submit your RD apps before circling back to Pomona. You want to approach your update with a clear head and polished materials.

Step Four: Update

Here’s what Pomona says about deferrals on their website:

“We typically defer 10-15 percent of our early applicants’ candidacies. If you were deferred, it means that the Admissions Committee found strong potential in your early application and would like to consider your application again among those in the regular decision round. We will notify you of our final decision before April 1. Deferred students are either admitted or denied. Meanwhile, you should send us your most recent grades and are invited to update us by February 10 with any new activities or endeavors. Feel welcome to contact us at admissions@pomona.edu or use the self-service tool in your applicant portal (just above the application checklist).”

From experience, here are some things you may need to compile:

• Mid-Year Report & Transcript

  • Your school counselor should send this once grades are finalized.

• New Test Scores

  • If you’ve taken the ACT or SAT again and improved, go ahead and share.

• Letter of Continued Interest (LOCI)

  • Probably the most crucial piece!

The Deferral Letter - Letter of Continued Interest

This is your chance to reconnect with Pomona’s admissions team and reaffirm that your interest in the school hasn’t faded. Your letter should be direct, sincere, and strategic, and ideally in the 350–400 word range.

Open with a respectful greeting. If you’ve been in touch with your regional rep before, address it to them. If not, “Dear Pomona Admissions Committee” works perfectly.

In your first few lines, be clear: Pomona remains your top choice, and if offered admission, you would accept. That level of commitment still matters, even if your application has been moved into the Regular Decision pool. Schools want to admit students who are likely to enroll, and being upfront about your intentions can work in your favor. So be explicit that you plan to go there.

From there, share two or three meaningful updates since your application. Did you receive an academic award? Launch something impactful? Take on a leadership role or complete a project that ties back to your academic goals? Be specific, and explain why these updates matter and, even better, connect them to how they fit with Pomona’s community and offerings.

Resist the urge to repeat what they already know. This letter isn’t a recap, it’s to give them updates to show that you haven’t flamed out of your senior year.

End with a short but genuine thank-you and one last expression of excitement and hope. Upload the letter to your applicant portal once your mid-year materials are ready, and if you’ve connected with your rep, it’s okay to send them a quick, professional note letting them know it’s been submitted.

Step Five: Wait

Once your LOCI is in and your RD apps are out, it’s time to shift your energy. Pomona doesn’t want ongoing emails, surprise updates, or extra recommendations. One strong letter is enough.

Trust the process. You’ve done everything you can, from building a thoughtful list to polishing your applications to sending a mature, grounded update. That’s what success looks like in this moment.

We know it’s hard to wait, but we also know you’re going to land somewhere great. And if you’d like help making sure of that, we’re always here.

We can help you bounce back from a deferral or rejection. Reach out to us today to learn more.

It is true that past trends can inform present realities, but what’s happened before aren’t actually rules that Brown has to follow into the future (nor in the ‘right now’ you are experiencing in this moment).  

For the 2025-2026 application cycle, we expect that the Brown ED acceptance rate will be between 15% and 19%. However, you need to remember that the ED cycle that you were a part of included a bunch of applicants who are quite a bit, well, different. There are athletes, children of Brown employees, faculty, and donors, and other who knew that, as long as they applied ED, they had a pretty good chance of being accepted. There is also a (statistically) of Questbridge students admitted ED by Brown annually. This means that the elevated acceptance rate is real, but it’s really not as high as it looks for most applicants.

Knowing the real acceptance rate was lower isn’t super helpful when the rejection still stings. You may be wondering, instead, “but why?!” Unfortunately, you can’t know exactly why you didn’t get into Brown. But there are a few common possibilities. for the Class of 2029 had an SAT well above 1500. Most admitted students also had an ACT above 32, and 95% were in the top 10% of their graduating class. If you don’t measure up to any of these stats, that could help explain the rejection. If you did check those boxes, though, there is something else that made them feel that you weren’t a fit for Brown.

There is nothing we can do to fix that now, of course, but we can move forward from this moment with a set of tools and a plan of action that will ensure that subsequent colleges don’t make that same mistake. Below, we break down your next steps for your best possible college application outcomes from this point forward.

We help driven students bounce back from rejection and get into a dream school. Learn how.

Step One: Take a Break

First, you need to give yourself a moment to grieve. Something unpleasant happened, and it’s important that you process that before you rush to move on. By letting yourself be bummed, you also speed up the timeline for doing even better work on the rest of your applications. So, watch a guilty-pleasure movie, eat a bowl of ice cream, go for a few long walks with a good friend, and get a really good night of sleep (or two).

Being kind to yourself with help you write stronger essays and tell deeper stories, so recharging is a super important step that absolutely should not be skipped.

Step Two: Strategize

Once you feel rested, even if not relaxed, it’s time to create a new strategy for your college application process. If you were accepted to a school (or more than one) Early Action, you may not have to rethink your college list too much. You have options, and so you can use the next round of applications to take some big swings. Being rejected from one Ivy caliber school does not mean that you cannot get into another — if you have the grades and scores, of course.

If you do not have an EA acceptance in your pocket, though, you need to move forward a bit more carefully. You have one more go of this, and you need to have options in the spring that you’d be excited, or at least happy, to attend. That means having 2 or 3 foundation, or safety, schools that you are very unlikely to be rejected from based on past data, not only a gut ‘feeling’. Then you need 4-5 schools that are a strong fit, but that you can’t assume that you’ll get into. For these schools, your grades and scores align with previously accepted students, and your area of demonstrated interest speaks to something that they emphasize. For example, if you are applying to a strong research university it really helps if you have previous research experience that you can talk up in your application.

But what about the big dream schools that are a bit out of reach? There is no reason to give up on a reach school yet. We advise students in this position to focus on 2-3 reach schools that they can invest time into the applications for. Even better if one of these is a close reach and offers an Early Decision II option.

Applying Early Decision II is the most powerful tool you have right now in your tool kit. We don’t advise students to pick a first-choice school solely based on the EDII option, but if a school that you are excited about has EDII it’s worth seriously considering.

As you assess what schools to keep on your list, and which to add, try to be open to different places and even different types of schools than you previously considered. Don’t apply to anywhere that you feel really wouldn’t work for you, but take the time to consider some new cities, vibes, and structures.

Step Three: Essays

If you have the grades and scores for Brown, it is possible that the reason you were rejected is that the stories that you told didn’t resonate with the application readers. And even if your grades and scores are slightly lower than the Brown targets, your essays definitely didn’t convince the application readers otherwise.

Either way, it’s time for a rewrite. Yes, we mean everything. We work with students who were rejected ED to start their applications over from scratch, leading to exceptional outcomes in the Regular Decision round — including acceptances to Brown and other Ivies. How do we do this? We work with students to write essays that make it hard for application readers to say no, and easy to say yes.

A great essay tells a personal story that is focused, that uses compelling storytelling tools like dialog, imagery, and dynamic structure, and that communicates who you are and what you value. A strong college essay is not a narrative resume. It connects to the reader on a personal level, and makes them feel invested in who you are. Trying to pack a ton in with some sort of cheesy “this is what I learned”-type ending does not work. Those type of essays hurt an applicant’s chances of getting in rather than helping.

When we are working with students, it’s all about making each piece of the application a useful addition that pushes the readers toward an enthusiastic acceptance. This is possible even on a tight timeline, so don’t throw in the towel and work with what you have because of impending due dates. Give each application the time it needs to get the best possible outcomes.

Step Four: Ask For Help

Perhaps unsurprisingly, step four is to ask for help. We can help, obviously, but if you don’t have access to an expert counselor, you should be speaking with your most trusted teachers, mentors, or a grown-up in your life who tells stories in some way as part of their career. Doing college essays in a vacuum is not a good idea, and your parents and siblings are extremely biased. Getting an outside eye can be critical to achieving your best possible outcomes.

We work with strong students to create impressive applications that lead to outstanding outcomes — even after an early rejection. A dream school is still possible, but you need to take bold moves to make it happen.

Strong application outcomes result from impressive writing. Learn more.

Remember, this isn’t a judgment of your talent or character. Northwestern’s ED pool is filled with incredibly strong applicants, and their acceptance rate in this round usually sits in the low 20% range. Regular Decision drops much lower, around 7%. What percentage of deferred students make it through isn’t published, but it happens every year, and it can absolutely happen for you. You still have a chance to make your case, and that’s what matters.

You applied early because you saw yourself thriving at Northwestern. That dream is still alive. If they didn’t like you, you would have been outright rejected. Now it’s time to refocus, plan carefully, and give yourself the best shot possible.

Step One: Double-Check Your College List

If you poured everything into Northwestern and left your other applications out in the cold, it’s time to expand. Don’t panic, but do act fast. Between now and early January, your priority is to make sure you’ve built a balanced set of reaches, targets, and safeties. Aim for 8–12 schools, and make sure each one is a place you could genuinely see yourself attending.

Think about what drew you to Northwestern. Was it the freedom of the quarter system, the integration between disciplines, the Chicago-area location, or access to research? Use those qualities as a framework to build your list. If flexibility is what you love, consider places like Brown, WashU, or Tufts. If you’re looking for urban access, consider NYU, BU, or Emory. If it’s strong pre-professional pathways combined with robust academics, consider Vanderbilt or Michigan. Prestige alone won’t keep you happy – you need to picture yourself thriving day to day.

Once your list is set, get serious about supplements. This is where most students slip up. Schools can tell when you’ve done your homework versus when you’ve recycled generic lines. Don’t be that applicant. Be specific, be thoughtful, and start writing early. And don’t worry if you’re stuck, we have guides on how to write tons of school-specific supplements and even the more generic questions you’ll encounter on our blog.

Step Two: Revisit Your Common App

Now that you’ve had some time away from it, reread your Common App essay with fresh eyes. Pretend you’re an admissions officer skimming your hundredth essay of the day. Does it grab attention? Does it sound like you? Or could it belong to any other high-achieving student at your school?

A decent essay isn’t enough in Regular Decision – it needs to stand out. And sure, plenty of kids get into good schools with mediocre essays, but now that you’re in the RD pile, you need to make your application have a little more zest. Strong essays are detailed, reflective, and unmistakably personal. They avoid resume-speak, they don’t spend half the word count on someone else’s story, they don’t attempt to connect your life to some grand metaphor, and they don’t just describe events without digging into why those moments matter.

Prompt #7 remains our all-time-fave because of her flexibility, but any prompt can work if you’re using your authentic voice. Some of the biggest pitfalls we see this time of year is over-polishing that strips away personality, or “safe” (read: cliched) topics that never move beyond the surface. If your essay feels flat, this is your signal to rework it. Sometimes that means a deep revision, other times it means starting over – and both are okay and you do have time to make it happen. A powerful rewrite right now could change how your application lands.

Need to completely revamp your Common App essay? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Step Three: Other Applications

If you’re reading this in the stretch between mid-December and early January, you’re in the crunch period. Every day matters. Start by tightening up your Common App essay, then move quickly to the rest of your application.

Review your activities list – is everything clear, well-ordered, and impactful? Update anything that’s changed since November. The additional info section, if you use it, should clarify meaningful context, not just add in a bunch of stuff you couldn’t fit elsewhere.

From there, dive into supplements. These short essays aren’t busywork; they’re designed to see if you’re truly a fit. Schools want to know if you understand their culture and can see yourself contributing. Treat them seriously, write early, and do not risk submitting at the last minute. Too many students lose essays to tech glitches or bad Wi-Fi. Don’t let that be you!

Once all your Regular Decision apps are in, then, and only then, you can circle back to Northwestern with a strategic update.

Step Four: Update

Northwestern has no information on their website about deferrals, but we did find that has some information after doing a bunch of searches.

“Early Decision candidates whose applications were deferred for further consideration should ensure we receive a midyear transcript as soon as it is available, and no later than mid-February. You may upload those on Slate.org or via the Common Application or Coalition with Scoir platforms, or send directly to ug-admission@northwestern.edu. We anticipate admitting a small number of deferred candidates through our Regular Decision round. While we neither require nor expect deferred candidates to submit additional information or letters of support, students who wish to send updates may submit those via their applicant portal.”

Hey, Northwestern, you have a FAQ page. Use it! Anyways, here’s what you need to compile/gather/prepare:

• Mid-Year Report/Mid-Year Transcript

  • Your counselor should send this once grades are finalized – confirm it happens.

• Updated Test Scores

  • Submit only if you’ve improved meaningfully.

• Additional letters of rec (optional!)

  • Only if they add brand-new insight, and we mean brand new. This is truly optional and we don’t expect you to do this.

• Letter of Continued Interest (LOCI)

  • The most important piece; more on this below.

The Deferral Letter - Letter of Continued Interest

Your LOCI is your opportunity to reintroduce yourself to Northwestern and show them you’re still serious. This isn’t a copy-paste of your original application, nor is it a place to pour out desperation. Instead, it’s a sharp, confident update that makes three things clear:

1. Northwestern is still your first choice.

2. You will enroll if admitted.

3. You’ve continued to grow since submitting your application.

Keep your letter focused and professional. Around 350 words is ideal; concise enough to respect their time, but long enough to show substance. You do not need to go longer, unless you have done something so impressive that you simply need more space, by which we mean curing cancer or winning a Nobel Prize.

Start with a formal greeting. If you know, and have communicated with, your regional officer, you can use their name. If not, “Dear Northwestern Admissions Committee” works perfectly. In the opening lines, state clearly that Northwestern remains your top choice and that you would enroll without hesitation if admitted. Say it explicitly. Now that your binding ED status has shifted into the Regular Decision pool, this is no time to dance around the subject.

The body of the letter should highlight two or three significant academic or extracurricular updates since you applied. Maybe you earned a major academic honor, launched a new initiative, took on a leadership role, advanced in research or the arts, or achieved something huge that adds to your application. Don’t list everything (improved grades don’t need to be mentioned, they’ll see your transcript), just pick the updates with the most impact and frame them as proof you’re continuing to grow and contribute.

If you don’t have big new achievements, that’s okay. You can also use this space to connect your ongoing work to Northwestern’s offerings. For example, if you’re deepening a research project in economics, tie that to opportunities at Kellogg. If you’re developing a creative portfolio, point to student arts groups in Evanston where you’d contribute. Show continuity between who you are now and what you’d do on their campus.

Close with gratitude for their time and a final, confident reaffirmation of your interest. Then upload it to your applicant portal. If you’ve already been in touch with your regional officer, you can send them a polite note letting them know you’ve submitted. That’s it – no need to overdo it with extra emails or follow-ups.

Step Five: Wait

This is the hardest part, the waiting. Once your apps are in and your LOCI is submitted, you’ve done everything you can. Don’t send more updates. Don’t email every few weeks. Don’t show up in Evanston uninvited. Know that you’ve done everything you can do at this point and have faith in your hard work.

Regular Decision decisions typically come out in late March or early April. Until then, stay focused on finishing senior year strong, taking care of yourself, and stay positive. You’ve made your case, and that’s all you can do.

We can help you bounce back from a deferral or rejection. Reach out to us today to learn more.

This can mean navigating the minutia of business, but also the big stuff, like raising Venture Capital and putting together a cap table. And, while you can approximate learning that stuff through overconfident podcasters, the real place to begin to master what it takes build the kind of career as an entrepreneur you want is in a structured learning environment. Namely, college.

We support top students in attaining admission to exceptional colleges for future entrepreneurs, like Wharton, MIT, NYU, and UT Austin, and in this post, we’ll give you a peek into our playbook for supporting students as they proceed towards working on their college applications. We start with our students as early as they are ready, often in the first year or two of their high school careers. While this may sound early, it’s actually super impactful to be a guiding force as students refine their interests and develop their passions.

But you are a junior, so what is your best plan of action? Well, it’s the same game. You need to be refining your interests and developing your passions around entrepreneurship to strengthen your applications. In this post, we’ll break down exactly how you need to be going about that as a junior to achieve the most impressive outcomes come senior year.  

Getting into a dream school requires a superior strategy. Get yours.

You’ve been in high school for at least two years, and may even be well into your junior year. You are driven, accomplished, and likely have been doing a lot. But now you’re nearing application season, and it is your time to really put the pedal to the floor and do the work that makes a massive difference. Below, we break down exactly what you need to be doing for your activities to truly make a difference.

CLUB LEADERSHIP

The first step is close to ‘home’, and by home we mean your school. You’ve probably been involved with a business or entrepreneurship club at school already, and if you have that is awesome. Now it is time to take the next step towards leadership. Schedule a meeting with the current club heads to ask them how you can best support them in their goals. This will help position you to step into their shoes as a senior. You should also meet with the faculty advisor and make it clear that becoming a head is a goal of yours.

If there is no business or entrepreneurship club at your school, now is the moment to start one. Seriously, now. You are a junior, you have leadership credentials, and you have almost certainly cultivated strong relationships with your teachers. Recruit an initial cohort of club members, secure a faculty advisor, and start planning one or two key activities that you can see through by the end of senior year. For example, this could be a series of business speakers sourced through the high school alumni network, a business simulation immersion, or a pitch competition judged by local business leaders.

But if there is a business or entrepreneurship club at your school and you are not in it, now is not the time to join. Joining as a junior won’t tell a strong story on your application, especially as it won’t set you up for leadership senior year. Instead, focus your attention on the other things on this list.

INTERNSHIP

As a prospective entrepreneurship student, you absolutely must complete an internship before you press submit on your applications senior year. This isn’t required by the colleges you are applying to, but we encourage students to treat it like it is.

Your best internship as a student interested in business and entrepreneurship is with a small, local business, and close to leadership. We want to see you in the meetings where decisions are being made — no, you won’t have a voice, but you will learn a lot. If you intern with a big name company that may sound impressive on its face, but it’s typically quite shallow. They have tons of interns doing lots of busy work, and so you most likely won’t actually have a lot of stories to tell from your experience. Compare this to a small company that needs your help. There, you’d be learning in the trenches of businesses, and that makes for some amazing stories.

INDEPENDENT ENTREPRENEURSHIP

When advising students younger than junior year, we don’t emphasize (or even, often, encourage) students to put a ton of energy into starting their own entrepreneurial endeavors. This doesn’t mean that they can’t start a business, and it doesn’t mean that they couldn’t be successful, but it’s much more important — and more likely to strengthen your applications — to put your time and attention into your grades and more structured activities.

But now you are a junior, and you want to be taking big swings. So, let’s bring it. You want to start a small business that generates some amount of revenue, but the point isn’t actually making money. Often students think that saying that they’ve made X amount of dollars will help them get into college. Notice: it won’t. What gets you into college, outside of your academics, are the stories you tell. For this, the most important thing is making stories. Focus on working with other people, building relationships, and providing a meaningful product or service. For example, this could be a craft or cottage industry food business that you sell at local farmer’s markets, it could be a service like lawn maintenance that you market to neighbors, or it could be a babysitting network. Notice that these are all low-tech and high-touch. You are off your phone and working with people. That is key.

RESEARCH & WRITING

Finally, we want to see you engaging with entrepreneurship in a more zoomed out way. Pick a sector, subject, vertical, or company to focus on, and go deep. This is a research project, but through a journalistic perspective. You need to have a research question guiding your exploration, and then dig in.

As you are researching, don’t stick to web searches for sources. Respectfully request phone, email, or in-person interviews with business leaders, journalists, and academics to learn as much as you can about your research question. But to what end?

The ultimate goal here is publication. You want to be able to turn your research into an article or editorial that will be published by your school paper, or another publication open to high school students. We regularly help our students navigate this process, but the first step you take should be to meet with the student or faculty leaders of your school paper to see how you can fit your research into their editorial plans.

Throughout this project, you need to be exploring, researching, and then re-interpreting, taking what you learn and crafting it into a narrative that is both compelling and educational for readers.

As an entrepreneurship-minded student, you are a driven self-starter. Now is the time to harness that energy and turn it into actions with outcomes. Let’s make it happen.

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The best colleges in the country for chemical engineering include Stanford, MIT, Cal Tech, UC Berkeley, UT Austin, Princeton, Georgia Tech, and the University of Michigan. Students with a chemical engineering degree go on to work for the largest companies in the world, guiding and furthering innovation. To get to that future, you need to get the degree. And identifying your dream school is the first step.

Of course, you need to be getting outstanding grades in the hardest courses that you have access to, especially in the STEM fields, all through high school. And if your standardized test scores are the second leg of the stool, your activities are the third. You can begin prepping for the SAT or ACT as a sophomore, but that isn’t where we really want you putting your time and energy into outside of classwork. Instead, we want you focusing on your extracurricular activities. This means the clubs, teams, and other activities that you are doing.

In this post, we’re going to help you figure out how to allocate your efforts by breaking down what activities will be most impactful for you when it comes to college admissions. Again, that may feel far away but it truly is coming up quick — so, let’s get to work.

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As a sophomore, you have a lot of opportunities and time. Maybe you don’t have many free hours in the day, but when we zoom out you have a great amount of time to take actions and make moves that truly shape the narrative for your future.  

ENGINEERING CLUB OR TEAM

It is extremely important that you are a member of an engineering-focused club at school. This could be a robotics team, a STEM-focused club, or an engineering club. And, if you have options, it could be more than one. But you shouldn’t be in three. At three STEM-themed clubs or teams, you actually undercut the power of what you are a part of. In additional, very few high schools will let a student become head of more than two clubs (in an effort to fairly distribute leadership positions). Instead, focus on one or two clubs and aim for leadership junior or senior year.

To do this, do three things:

1. Schedule a meeting with the current club heads, and ask them how you can best support them in their goals. Helping the club leaders accomplish what they are aiming for will be an amazing opportunity to practice leadership now on a small scale, and set yourself up for future leadership.

2. Meet with the faculty advisor. Ask what you need to be doing to be on a track towards leadership. They probably won’t tell you anything surprising or supremely actionable at this moment, but simply expressing your interest is important.

3. Find a leadership niche. As a sophomore, you can have a leadership role without being the club head (yet). Work with the current leadership to identify an initiative, event, or committee within the club that you can lead now. This gives you an opportunity to learn and grow, while adding meaningful leadership experience to your resume that will help you with some of your other activity goals.

RESEARCH

Next, you need to pursue an independent science research project solo or with a small team. This should be directly related to your interest in chemical engineering.

We advise our students who are closer to the start of their high school career, namely freshman and sophomores, to aim for something big like the iconic Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair. Now, the odds of winning this are slim and most projects take more than one year so you have to estimate that whatever you pursue will continue into junior year. If Regeneron feels too big to aim for right now, there are myriad smaller science fairs and competitions ranging from the school district-level to county, state, and region. You don’t need to invent a new compound or save the world, but you need to show true and deep curiosity and pursue a project with enthusiasm.

SERVICE

We also want to see you pursuing service with a STEM bend. Look for opportunities at school and through your local library for tutoring students on subjects that you are a whiz at. There may even be local nonprofits that you can partner with. Tutoring plays to your strengths and illustrates so many things for colleges. It shows how you care for others, how you show up for your community, how you work to pass along your skills and talents, and it’s a bonus that working with younger kids is cute.

SUMMER PROGRAMS

Summer programs typically cost money, and some people use this as a way to discredit their validity as part of a student’s activities in high school. We don’t buy this argument, because private school isn’t devalued simply due to cost, and the same goes for things like travel sports. You do not need to do a summer program to be a strong applicant, much like you don’t need to go to private school. However, you should be open to the idea of a summer program that is a perfect interest fit for you, within your means, and an outstanding way of strengthening your profile as a STEM applicant with a chemical engineering focus.

We advise our sophomores to seriously consider a summer program with two key caveats. First, it must be STEM not summer camp. Bonfires are great, but this is about learning engineering not marshmallow toasting techniques. Next, it needs to be directly related to what you are most interested in and allow you to truly focus on what you care about academically.

And don’t bet that doing a summer program at a dream school will increase your chances of acceptance. Typically, it doesn’t. Instead, you need to use any summer program as a launch pad into future successes and achievements that will capture the attention of your dream schools.

As a sophomore, you are in a powerful position. You can truly make or break your college applications for ultra-selective schools in this moment. If you take advantage of the time you have, lean into your passions, and push yourself beyond perceived limitations, you can set yourself on a trajectory towards a dream school. Activities are a core piece of this process. So, let’s make it happen.

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A deferral isn’t a statement about your worth or your potential. NYU admits thousands of talented students every year, but their ED pool is enormous and hyper-competitive. The ED admit rate hovers higher than Regular Decision, but it still leaves out plenty of excellent candidates. But, good news, NYU defers only 5% of applicants, which means if you weren’t outright accepted, you would have been outright denied. And that means they still really like you! As for how many deferred applicants eventually get in? NYU doesn’t publish those numbers, but in our experience, you can make it through. The point is, you’re still in the running. So let’s talk about the steps you can take to strengthen your position.

Step One: Double-Check Your College List

If your strategy started and ended with NYU, now’s the time to expand. A smart list typically includes a variety of schools, including reaches, targets, and safeties, with a total of about 8–12 schools. Look at your GPA, test scores (if submitted), and extracurriculars alongside each school’s admitted student profile to make sure the balance is right.

And think critically about why you chose NYU. Was it the urban energy? Access to internships across industries? The global network of campuses? Use those factors to find other schools that could be a fit. Places like GW, American, USC, BU, or Northeastern share elements of NYU’s vibe. If Tisch drew you in, consider liberal arts schools with strong arts programs like Wesleyan or Vassar, or if you were all in on Gallatin, try schools with open curricula and lots of interdisciplinary options.

Let’s be real: this is not the time to drag your feet. Supplements carry weight, sometimes even more than the personal statement, yet so many students push them off until the very last second. If you need support, we’ve already broken down dozens of prompts on our blog with strategies and examples that can help. Use those resources, plan ahead, and give your supplements the energy they deserve. Future-you will be glad you did.

Step Two: Revisit Your Common App

With deadlines fast approaching, your Common App essay deserves another close read. Ask yourself, does this essay sound like me? Does it capture something that wouldn’t show up anywhere else in my application? Or is it polished but generic, a piece that lots of other high school students could have written? If you find yourself waffling, then it’s time to go back to the drawing board.

The most memorable essays aren’t necessarily dramatic. They’re specific, reflective, and unmistakably personal. They don’t summarize achievements, they reveal who you are through a vivid story. If your draft feels stiff or impersonal, consider revising it – or even taking a brand-new direction.

We’ve seen students succeed with every prompt, though Prompt #7 offers the most flexibility and is our personal fave. What matters most is authenticity. Avoid essays that retell your resume, spotlight someone else instead of you, or feel over-edited to the point where your real voice is gone. If your essay needs more warmth, depth, or originality, there’s still time to fix it before RD submissions.

Need to completely revamp your Common App essay? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Step Three: Other Applications

It’s crunch time. If you’re staring down a pile of unfinished applications in late December or early January, you’re in good company (well, not good per se, but not alone). Don’t spiral! Start by locking in your Common App essay, since that gets sent to almost every school. From there, turn to your activities section. It should be sharp, intentional, and ranked in order of importance. And if you’re using the additional information section, remember its purpose: clarifying context (i.e. are there unanswered questions in your application?), not just rehashing and expanding your resume.

Next up are your supplements. Too many applicants treat supplements like an afterthought, and it shows. The rushed, copy-and-paste answers are obvious to admissions officers, and they’re the first to hurt your chances. Don’t fall into that trap. Put real time into tailoring each response so it feels personal, specific, and connected to the opportunities that actually excite you. When they ask “Why here?” or “Why this program?” what they’re really asking is, will you take advantage of what we offer?

And one more thing – don’t flirt with disaster by hitting submit at the last possible second. We’ve seen it all: portals freeze, Wi-Fi drops, computers crash. Save yourself the panic and aim to finish early. Nothing feels better than walking into January knowing your apps are done and dusted.

Only after your Regular Decision applications are safely in should you return to your deferral strategy for NYU.

Step Four: Update

NYU has some guidance on deferrals on for applicants, and some other information for . Here are the highlights:

“Why are applicants deferred?

NYU aims to provide a final decision to students who apply for Early Decision admission, but in some cases, we defer candidates to a later round of admission to determine how such candidates compare in a larger applicant pool. From year to year, depending on the applicant pool, the number of students who will be deferred varies. This year, of the candidates who applied for Early Decision, less than 5% were deferred to a later round of admission. This means that these students will be considered alongside our applicant pool at large - and not just our Early Decision candidates. We only defer students who are viable candidates for admission.

What else can students send to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions for consideration?

Deferred applicants can upload a copy of their mid-year grades when they become available and should request that their counselor submits the Common Application Mid-Year Report. If you have any new tests that you would like us to review, you can upload an unofficial copy of your score report to your applicant portal or send official scores directly from the testing agency.

Deferral

We may defer a small number of Early Decision I or II students to a later application round. Students who are deferred from Early Decision I must complete our Deferral Response Form online to confirm that they are still interested in being considered for admission. In their deferral email they will receive a custom link to this form. On the Deferral Response Form students can indicate any additional campuses or programs of interest that they did not indicate on their initial application, as well as provide any updates on any accomplishments or awards they have received. Deferred students should send their mid-year reports to us, but should not send additional letters of recommendation, artistic materials, etc.”

More thorough than most schools! Here’s the TL;DR of what you need to gather/prepare:

• Mid-Year Report and Transcript

  • Your counselor should handle this, but follow up to make sure it’s sent.

• Updated Test Scores

  • Submit only if they’ve improved since your initial application.

• The LOCI (Letter of Continued Interest)

  • The most critical piece!

The Deferral Letter – Letter of Continued Interest

Your LOCI is your chance to re-engage with NYU and show them you’re still serious. Think of it as a focused update, not a repeat of your original application. The goal is simple: confirm NYU is still your top choice, share meaningful new updates, and present yourself with confidence.

Keep it around 300–400 words. Respect their time by being concise, but don’t undersell yourself. This isn’t about pleading, it’s about reaffirming your fit and demonstrating momentum since November.

Format it like a professional letter. You’ll upload it to your NYU portal, but if you’ve already corresponded with your regional rep, it’s fine to let them know you’ve submitted it.

Begin with a clear statement: NYU remains your first choice, and you would enroll if admitted. Spell that out directly. Since you’re now in the Regular Decision pool, they need reassurance that you’d say yes. Yield matters, and they want to feel confident that you’re committed.

Then, highlight 2–3 significant updates. That could be an academic award, a leadership change, a new creative project, a research initiative, or standout work outside the classroom. The point is to show growth. Avoid filling space with small updates or repeating what they already know. If your list of updates is short, connect your current activities with opportunities at NYU, but be specific, not generic.

Close with gratitude and one more reaffirmation of your enthusiasm. Keep the tone professional but warm: confident, appreciative, forward-looking. Remember, NYU already saw potential in you, or they wouldn’t have deferred you. Now it’s about proving you’re still a student they should say yes to.

Step Five: Wait

This is the hardest part, no question about it. Once your LOCI and mid-year grades are in, the ball’s out of your court. Don’t send weekly emails, don’t try to add endless updates, and definitely don’t make an unannounced campus visit. You’ve done what you can.

NYU usually releases RD decisions in late March, so until then, focus on finishing senior year strong, keeping your balance, and trusting that you’ve made the best possible case for yourself. You’re still very much in this.

We can help you bounce back from a deferral or rejection. Reach out to us today to learn more.

So let yourself feel the disappointment. You’ve earned that. But once you’ve processed it (go take a walk! Talk to someone! Eat something comforting!), come back ready to focus. A deferral doesn’t define your worth or potential. It’s just the reality of applying to a school with a limited number of Early Decision spots and an intensely competitive pool. Middlebury admits a lot of ED applicants (~45%), and the Regular Decision odds are even slimmer (16%). Still, those are just numbers. They’re not the whole story.

Middlebury doesn’t share exact figures on how many deferred students are later admitted, but it does happen. We know about ~13% of last year's applicants were deferred, and Middlebury typically only accepts a small number of deferred students who have a vested interest in being at Middlebury. It’s hard, but we’ve seen it firsthand. So now the focus shifts to what you can do—strategic, meaningful steps to strengthen your case.

Step One: Double-Check Your College List

If Middlebury was your main focus, or maybe your only school, you may have delayed other applications. That’s understandable. Plenty of students go all-in for their top choice. But now, it’s time to recalibrate.

Start by checking the strength of your list. Do you have a solid balance of reach, target, and safety schools? Eight to twelve is a good range. And just as importantly, do you actually like the schools on your list? If your backup plan includes nothing but Middlebury lookalikes (Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin, etc.), you may want to expand your horizons.

Think about what drew you to Midd in the first place. Was it the close-knit campus? Small classes? The emphasis on the environment and outdoor learning? Whatever it was, use those qualities as your compass. Schools like Carleton, Bates, Colby, Macalester, and Kenyon often offer a similar vibe, but don’t sleep on honors colleges or smaller programs at larger universities either.

Once your list feels balanced, it’s time to get to work. Your supplemental essays are the key to showing fit. Be personal, be detailed, and be deliberate, because these are your chances to stand out.

Step Two: Revisit Your Common App

This is the perfect moment to revisit your Common App essay with a fresh pair of eyes. If you rushed it to meet the ED deadline, there’s probably room to elevate it before Regular Decision.

Ask yourself: does this essay sound like me? Is it telling a story only I could tell? Or could a dozen other high-achieving students have written something similar?

The best essays, whether they’re about your first job, a weird obsession, or a quiet slice of life, are grounded in personal insight. They don’t have to be dramatic. They just have to be true. You don’t need to force a life lesson or narrate your biggest hardship. You just need to reflect.

If you feel like the writing is a little flat, or you relied too much on summarizing events instead of unpacking them, don’t worry. There’s still time for a rewrite, and that rewrite might be what helps you stand out in this next round. We are big fans of Prompt #7 (write an essay of your own design), but any prompt can work if you tell a clear, unique, and engaging story.

Need to completely revamp your Common App essay? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Step Three: Other Applications

Welcome to the most hectic few weeks of senior year. If it’s between mid-December and early January, your priority right now is finishing strong.

Start with your Common App. Make sure your activities section is up to date and easy to skim; this is not the place for describing what tennis is or adding every meaningless club on your list. Focus on the stuff that backs up your academic interests first.

Then move to your supplements. They matter more than you think. Generic or vague answers won’t cut it. Admissions teams can tell when you’ve copied and pasted from another app, especially if you didn’t edit in anything about the school that app is going to. Instead, show you’ve done your homework and can clearly articulate why you’re applying. Be specific about academic programs, professors, campus culture, etc., anything that connects back to your story.

Once your Regular Decision apps are finalized and submitted, then (and only then!) circle back to Middlebury.

Step Four: Update

Middlebury’s website isn’t overflowing with deferral instructions, but here’s what you’ll likely need to send in:

• Mid-Year Report and Transcript

  • Your school counselor usually handles this in January once grades are finalized, but confirm it’s on their radar.

• New Test Scores (optional)

  • If you’ve improved significantly, go ahead and send them. Otherwise, skip it.

• Letter of Continued Interest (required)

  • This is the key. A thoughtful LOCI shows that you’re still invested, still committed, and are excited about Middlebury.

The Deferral Letter - Letter of Continued Interest

Your Letter of Continued Interest should do three things: reaffirm your commitment, show meaningful progress, and keep it tight.

Start with a clear opening. If you know your regional rep (and have talked to them before applying ED), use their name. If not, “Dear Middlebury Admissions Committee” works just fine. In the first paragraph, confirm that Middlebury is still your top choice and that you would absolutely enroll if accepted. This isn’t a place to play it cool – be direct. Say it explicitly.

Then, share 2–3 updates that strengthen your application and prioritize quality over quantity. Think about new leadership roles, academic achievements, research projects, creative work, community impact, whatever helps build your case. You can also frame each update in a way that connects back to your values or academic interests, especially if you don’t have many updates to make.

We also want to reiterate that you should avoid rehashing your full resume. They already have it! This is about what’s new since you applied, and why that progress makes you an even stronger candidate.

And make sure to keep the tone confident and upbeat – not desperate or overly emotional. You’re reminding them that you’re a great fit, not begging for a second chance.

Wrap it up with a thank-you and a final line reinforcing your enthusiasm. Then, you’ll either upload the letter to your applicant portal or send it off to the admissions email for Middlebury. If you’ve been in touch with your regional rep, it’s okay to send them the email, too.

Step Five: Wait

Once your LOCI is submitted and your Regular Decision apps are in, it’s time to… wait. Yes, it’s hard – but resist the temptation to over-communicate. Don’t send multiple follow-ups, don’t email them about random sports awards, and don’t show up on campus offering to plead your case.

Middlebury will revisit your file in the spring during their RD review process. Final decisions usually come out in March. In the meantime, keep doing what you’ve been doing – challenging yourself, showing up, and getting excellent grades.

No matter what happens, this deferral doesn’t define you. And if you want help navigating what comes next, we’re here. You’ve got this!

We can help you bounce back from a deferral or rejection. Reach out to us today to learn more.

But take a moment and breathe. A deferral doesn’t mean your shot is gone, it means you’re still under consideration. The story isn’t over yet.

Hopkins is a tough admit in any round. Their ED acceptance rate typically ranges from 15–20%, while Regular Decision hovers closer to 6–7%. And while they don’t release stats on how many deferred students make it through in the spring, we’ve seen it happen. A deferral means you were competitive, and that’s important to keep in mind. So, once you’ve processed the news, it’s time to come back with a strategy. Let’s walk you through the next steps.

Step One: Double-Check Your College List

If Johns Hopkins was your top choice and the bulk of your energy went into that ED app, you’re not alone. We see many students go all in on their first choice, but now that the outcome is uncertain, your Regular Decision list needs to be a priority.

First, review your schools. Do you have a strong mix of reaches, targets, and safeties? A well-rounded list usually includes 8–12 colleges, with a variety of academic profiles and acceptance rates. Use your GPA, test scores (if you submitted them), course rigor, and extracurricular impact to get a sense of where you stand in the middle 50 data.

Now, go back to the drawing board on school fit. What made you love JHU in the first place? Maybe it was the research-first approach, the interdisciplinary flexibility, or the collaborative energy on campus. Great news: there are other schools that share that ethos! Consider places like Emory, WashU, Rice, CMU, and Tufts, or even reach liberal arts schools like Pomona or Swarthmore if you're drawn to intimate classrooms and undergrad-focused research. You can also look at state schools with top STEM programs or honors colleges at those schools.

Remember, prestige isn’t everything. What matters is where you can thrive. Keep your academic goals, personality, and learning style at the center of your list. And once you have your list, you can check out our guides on how to write tons of different schools’ supplements.

Step Two: Revisit Your Common App

Now’s a perfect moment to re-evaluate the Common App essay that you sent to Hopkins. After a little distance, read it like an admissions officer would. Does it showcase your voice and values? Does it tell a story only you could tell? Or could it have come from any number of other driven, high-achieving students?

We’re not saying it has to be some dramatic narrative or shocking twist. In fact, the most effective essays are often subtle and sincere. We’re huuuge fans of Prompt #7, which lets you write about anything that matters to you, but any prompt can work if you write with clarity and purpose.

Things to watch for as you revise include overused tropes (like scoring the winning goal, the service trip that changed your life, or a sentimental story about someone else), essays that list accomplishments instead of reflecting on them, attempts to turn your life into a big metaphor, or pieces that summarize instead of analyze. If your essay reads more like a resume in paragraph form, it’s worth another pass.

And if you’ve realized your original draft is pretty good, but it just isn’t working, that’s okay. You’ve still got time to revise, and we can help with that.

Need to completely revamp your Common App essay? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Step Three: Other Applications

From now until January 1st (or slightly later for some schools), you’re in the busiest stretch of the admissions cycle. Your next move is to lock down the rest of your applications.

Start by double-checking your activities section. Have any new accomplishments popped up since you applied to JHU? Any awards, leadership roles, or independent projects? If so, be sure to add them. Then shift to the supplements, a.k.a. those questions asking you “Why this school?” or “What will you contribute?” Schools want to see that you’ve done your research and that you genuinely care about joining their community.

The quality of these short essays can make or break your application. Start early, get feedback, and resist the urge to reuse your JHU supplements for every other school – it won’t work. Use concrete research (like classes or professors) to back up your case for why you should go to these schools

And don’t wait until the deadline to submit. Things crash. Wi-Fi goes out. Submit with time to spare! Once that’s done, it’s time to pivot to updates.

Step Four: Update

Here’s what JHU officially says about deferrals:

I applied Early Decision I and my application was deferred to Regular Decision. Should I send any additional information to improve my chances?

You’ll be required to send mid-year reports when they are available. Additional materials are not required. However, you can update your application with additional letters of recommendation, an updated resume, standardized test scores (optional through the 2024–2025 application year), or a written statement of interest in Hopkins for review during the Regular Decision selection process. Send any additional materials to applyhelp@jhu.edu.

More info than most! Here’s what you should compile:

• Mid-Year Report/Transcript:

  • Your counselor will handle this once your first semester grades are finalized. Confirm it’s been submitted.

• Updated Test Scores:

  • Only send updated ACT or SAT scores if they reflect a clear improvement.

• Additional Rec Letters (optional):

  • Only submit if they provide new and meaningful insight, not a repeat of what’s already in your file.

• Your Letter of Continued Interest (LOCI):

  • This is the most important piece you’ll send. More on that next.

The Deferral Letter – Letter of Continued Interest

A Letter of Continued Interest, also known as your LOCI, is your opportunity to make a second impression with Johns Hopkins and remind them why you’re still all-in. Think of it as a mini-update, a reaffirmation, and a re-pitch all in one.

There are three key things your LOCI should accomplish: (1) confirm that Hopkins is still your top choice and that you will attend if admitted, (2) provide thoughtful and relevant updates, and (3) strike a tone that’s confident, clear, and enthusiastic, not panicked or beggy.

Keep your letter to 300–400 words. More than that, and it starts to feel like an essay. You want this to be concise, direct, and easy to digest. The more straightforward and brief, the better your chances of getting a close, engaged read of your letter.

Start with a respectful greeting. If you know your regional admissions officer, and have communicated to them prior to submitting an ED app, address them directly. If not, “Dear Johns Hopkins Admissions Committee” works just fine.

Your opening lines should leave no ambiguity – say explicitly that if you’re admitted, you will enroll. This is especially important now that you’re no longer bound by the ED agreement. They need reassurance that you’re still a guaranteed “yes” and will positively contribute to their yield rate.

Next, outline 2–3 significant updates. These could be new academic achievements (like awards, high-level research, or top grades), leadership roles, creative or extracurricular projects, or other meaningful ways you’ve continued growing since you submitted your application. Prioritize quality over quantity – what you choose to include says as much about you as what you leave out. That means you may want to avoid talking about non-academic things like sports or personal life updates about family.

Now, if you’re light on updates, you can also re-emphasize a specific program, professor, or academic interest at JHU that connects directly to your goals, but avoid repeating your original supplement.

Wrap things up with a sincere thank-you and a final reaffirmation of your commitment. Email it to the admissions email they gave you, and if you’ve been in contact with your rep, send them a quick note letting them know you sent it in.

Step Five: Wait

And now…you wait! Once your applications are in and your LOCI has been submitted, there’s nothing more to do. Resist the urge to send extra updates or emails “just to check in.” You’ve done what you can!

JHU typically releases Regular Decision results in late March. Until then, focus on keeping your grades strong, working hard, and staying engaged in your extracurriculars. No matter what happens, you’re on track for great things.

If you need guidance on your LOCI or the rest of your applications? We’re just a message away. You’ve got this.

We can help you bounce back from a deferral or rejection. Reach out to us today to learn more.

First and foremost: a deferral is not a rejection. It doesn’t reflect poorly on your talent, your character, or your effort. It’s a byproduct of how competitive BC has become in recent years. While the Early Decision admit rate (31%) is still more favorable than Regular Decision (11%), it's by no means a sure thing – and with applicant numbers climbing and space limited, plenty of qualified students get deferred.

You chose BC early for a reason. Maybe it was the Jesuit philosophy, the tight-knit academic community, the campus just outside Boston, or the strong emphasis on undergraduate teaching. None of that has changed. But now you’ve got a second chance to make your case – and that means taking action.

Step One: Double-Check Your College List

If your list was built around Boston College being a lock, it’s time to adjust. Do you have a healthy distribution of reaches, targets, and safeties? Are your test scores (if submitted), GPA, and class rigor in line with your schools' admitted student profiles? If your list is too top-heavy or still in draft mode, now’s the time to diversify.

And think about why BC caught your eye. Was it the liberal arts core? Opportunities for meaningful mentorship? A campus culture that values intellectual depth and service? Then find schools with similar offerings. That could mean Notre Dame, Villanova, Wake Forest, or even smaller schools like Holy Cross or Richmond. Prestige isn’t everything, academic fit and community matter more.

Once your list is locked down, head to our blog. We’ve got targeted advice on writing for many popular schools, as well as strategies for tackling broad essay types.

Step Two: Revisit Your Common App

Now that you’ve had some distance, go back to your Common App essay and read it with fresh eyes. Does it still feel authentic to you? Does it add depth to your application, or does it echo what’s already in your activities section? Are you telling a story only you could tell?

We see it all the time – essays that check the boxes, hit the right tone, but feel a little… expected. Maybe it’s about something cliche (sports, grandma, etc.) or it’s too heavy in the “personal growth” genre. And yes, those can still work. But with RD being more competitive, you want to make sure your writing pops. If your essay feels like it could’ve been written by three other kids in your AP Lit class, consider a revision.

Ask yourself: Does this essay offer insight into my values, my motivations, or my worldview? Could someone unfamiliar with me walk away knowing something meaningful? If not, it might be time for a rewrite. Even a pivot to a new story!

We’ll always have a soft spot for Common App Prompt #7, it gives you the freedom to go wherever you need, but all the prompts can work if you make them yours. The most important thing to remember is to tell a story – not a sweeping epic or your entire childhood, but zeroing in on one special moment.

Need to completely revamp your Common App essay? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Step Three: Other Applications

If you're reading this in late December or early January, it’s go-time. This is your last big window to submit RD applications. That means you need to triage: fix the Common App, lock down your activity list, and then focus your attention on supplemental essays.

Begin by reviewing your personal statement one last time. Then comb through your activities – are they clear, prioritized, and typo-free? Once that’s set, dive into your supplements. These shorter pieces often carry just as much weight, especially when they’re asking about academic interests or campus fit.

Whatever you do, don’t cut it close to the deadline. We’ve seen too many kids crash into tech issues at 11:58 p.m. and lose everything. Once an application is ready, submit it.

Only after all of your Regular Decision materials are submitted should you turn your attention back to Boston College. Your deferral letter should be thoughtful and well-crafted – not rushed out of panic.

Step Four: Update

Boston College, unfortunately, isn’t super transparent about their deferral policies. But here’s what we recommend based on what we’ve seen work:

Talk to your school counselor and prepare to submit the following:

• Mid-Year Transcript and Report

  • These should be sent automatically by your counselor, but it’s okay to double-check.

• Updated Test Scores

  • If you’ve retaken the SAT or ACT and scored higher, send them in!

• Your Letter of Continued Interest (LOCI)

  • This is your one shot to remind BC why you’re a great fit – and why you’re still 100% in.

The Deferral Letter – Letter of Continued Interest

Now’s your moment to re-engage with Boston College and send in your update. The deferral letter, also called a LOCI (Letter of Continued Interest), is your final opportunity to directly influence your outcome.

Your main objective is to affirm that BC is still your top choice and to share how your profile has evolved since you applied. This isn’t the time to rehash your entire application or summarize your resume. Instead, highlight what’s new, what matters, and what helps make your case even stronger. Aim for around 300 words – tight, impactful, and to the point. Go longer only if you’ve got a genuinely major update (think: national recognition, published research, a patent, not "got JV captain").

You’ll likely be submitting this letter through the BC applicant portal, or possibly by email. If you’ve already been in touch with your regional admissions rep, and they’ve responded previously, you can send it to them directly. Otherwise, stick to the official channel on your portal.

Begin with a respectful, straightforward greeting. If you know the name of your regional counselor, use it. If not, “Dear Boston College Admissions Committee” works just fine. Within the first few lines, be clear: Boston College is still your number one, and if admitted, you would enthusiastically enroll. Say that directly. Because now that your Early Decision application has rolled into the Regular Decision pool, BC no longer has a guaranteed yield from you, they need to know you're still all in.

The heart of the letter should highlight a few key developments since your original application. Maybe it’s academic, like an award, a big project, a major paper, or maybe it’s something personal that speaks to your growth, leadership, or initiative. Pick 2–3 of the strongest examples. You don’t need to list everything, just what adds the most value.

Close with another direct statement about your commitment to BC, a brief thank-you, and a polished sign-off. Keep the tone positive and professional. You’re not begging – you’re reinforcing enthusiasm and showing continued momentum. You’ve already submitted a strong application. This is just the follow-through.

Step Five: Wait

We know, this is the hardest part. You’ve done everything right, but now all that’s left is…waiting. Resist the urge to send multiple updates or stalk the admissions office. One well-crafted letter is enough.

At this point, you’ve submitted strong RD applications, taken a second look at your essays, and sent BC a smart, well-timed update. That’s all you can control.

Now take a breath. You’ll get your final decision when RD acceptances go out, and until then, keep showing up for your classes, staying engaged in your extracurriculars, and taking care of yourself. You’ve done your part – now it’s up to them. You got this!

We can help you bounce back from a deferral or rejection. Reach out to us today to learn more.

It’s completely normal to take this news personally, but try not to let it shake your confidence. A deferral isn’t a reflection of your abilities or potential – it’s more about just how selective CMU has become. To help make sense of things: while Carnegie Mellon doesn’t release official ED deferral stats, we know their Early Decision admit rate (~20%) is higher than Regular Decision (11%). They also split applications by college, and deferrals can be more common in popular programs like CS or engineering. Still, you’re not out. You just need to recalibrate and make smart moves now.

Step One: Double-Check Your College List

If Carnegie Mellon was the only school you applied to this fall, now’s the time to expand your focus. Don’t panic, but don’t waste time either. Start by taking a second look at your list of potential colleges. Is it diversified enough? You’ll want a healthy mix of reach, match, and safety schools, ideally around 8–12 in total. Use your academic performance and extracurricular background to assess where you’re a good fit.

And let’s not build your list purely on prestige. Think about what drew you to CMU in the first place. Was it the focus on interdisciplinary learning? The project-based coursework? A vibrant city campus? Many other universities have similar characteristics – think Northeastern, Harvey Mudd, Rice, UChicago, Tufts, or even honors colleges at state universities or public schools with fantastic engineering, business, or CS programs. Prioritize schools that align with your interests and learning style, not just name recognition.

Once your list is refined, it's time to dive into the work. Supplemental essays give you the chance to show fit, personality, and purpose. And we’ve got guides to help you make them great.

Step Two: Revisit Your Common App

Now’s a great moment to revisit your Common App essay with fresh eyes. Read it detached from the hard work you’ve put into it, and ask yourself, does it really tell your story, or could it sound like someone else with a similar GPA and resume? Our most successful students tend to submit essays that are genuine, specific, and unmistakably them, not just “good on paper.”

And look, cliched essays work for lots of students, we get it, but now that you’re competing in the RD/ED2 arena, you need an essay that stands out to give you the best shot possible. Red flags to check for include essays that read like a list of your achievements, pieces that spend too much time talking about another person, drafts that summarize events without giving us your perspective, essays that wax poetic about lessons learned, or ones that try to connect your life to some big metaphor. They’ve seen all those before, we want you to stand out and be different. Prompt #7 (write an essay of your own design) is always popular with us, but any prompt can work if your voice shines through.

Like your essay overall, but just feel like something’s missing? That’s okay. Revisions, big or small, can make a real difference in this round.

Need to completely revamp your Common App essay? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Step Three: Other Applications

Mid-December through early January is when the college application calendar really speeds up. If you’re reading this right now, you’re deep in crunch time, and your main job is to finalize your Regular Decision materials.

Make sure your Common App is ready to go. Then, double-check your activities list – clarity, conciseness, and impact are key. Next up are your supplemental essays. You’ve got to give every school your best shot. And yes, submitting on New Year’s Eve at 11:59 p.m. is technically allowed, but we absolutely don’t recommend it. Submit early, reduce the risk of tech hiccups, and breathe easier.

Once all your RD apps are done, then it’s time to update CMU.

Step Four: Update

CMU doesn’t post much about deferrals publicly:

            “Three decisions can be given: admit, deny or defer to Regular Decision.”

Go on, girl, give us nothing! Anyways, here's what we recommend compiling based on experience:

• Mid-Year Grades

  • Your school counselor will likely submit this automatically, but check to make sure it’s happening.

• New Test Scores (optional)

  • Only submit these if you’ve retaken and seen improvement.

• Deferral Letter or Letter of Continued Interest

  • CMU has, in the past, taken a creative approach to LOCIs, so be mindful of any instructions they send you directly.

The Deferral Letter – Letter of Continued Interest

The letter of continued interest (LOCI) is your way of letting Carnegie Mellon know that you’re still 100% in, and that since your first application, you’ve only gotten stronger.

A strong LOCI should do three things: 1) reaffirm that CMU is still your top choice, 2) express your intention to enroll if admitted, and 3) highlight two or three significant updates that bolster your application. Don’t repeat your resume. Don’t rehash your application. Focus on what’s new.

Keep it brief – around 300 words. Go up to 400 only if you’ve had major developments since November, like if you cured a disease or got a Nobel Prize-level major. Be thoughtful, direct, and confident. This isn’t the place for flattery or desperation. It’s a professional follow-up.

Begin with a formal greeting. If you’ve previously spoken with your regional rep, address them by name. If not, “Dear Carnegie Mellon Admissions” is totally fine. Right off the bat, say it clearly: if admitted, you would attend. This matters. When you were ED, they counted on you enrolling. Now that you’re part of the RD pool, you want to reassure them that hasn’t changed.

Then move into your updates. Prioritize accomplishments or growth that strengthen your candidacy, academic awards, independent projects, leadership roles, or creative work. Essentially, something that shows you’ve maintained momentum since your application. If you don’t have much in the way of updates, you can connect what you do have to things at CMU you’re excited to be a part of, but don’t rehash anything that was in your OG application.

End with a thank-you and another clear statement of intent. Upload the letter to your applicant portal, and if you have your rep’s email, you can also send it there with a quick note letting them know you’ve submitted the update and are happy to provide more if needed.

Now, one caveat to this. Last cycle, CMU changed their waitlist policy, specifically shouting out waitlist letters. “Well, that’s waitlist and this is deferral!” you might be saying, but we’re here to tell you that a waitlist letter and a deferral letter are pretty similar, and since CMU likes to be ~GrOuNdBrEaKiNg~, there’s a chance they may do the same with deferrals. Last year, they specifically shouted out that they do not want LOCIs for waitlist students, but instead gave this vague direction: “Our waiting list process is designed to give everyone who is interested in remaining on our waiting list the opportunity to respond about their uniqueness by sending us a paragraph at the appropriate time, only when we know there are additional places to fill”.

Of course, the paragraph ended up being a prompt that was eerily close to the standard LOCI, but know that if they do throw a wrench into the plan, we can still help.

Step Five: Wait

Once you’ve submitted your updates, the best move is to be patient.

Now is not the time to send more emails, ask for more rec letters, or show up on campus hoping for a face-to-face meeting. Your application is back in their hands, and they’ll revisit it during the Regular Decision review process.

CMU decisions typically roll out with the rest of their RD notifications, usually in mid-to-late March. Until then, the best thing you can do is focus on school, keep your grades up, and finish senior year strong.

You’re not out of the running. Not even close. You’ve still got a shot, and we’re here to help you take it. You’ve got this.

We can help you bounce back from a deferral or rejection. Reach out to us today to learn more.

So give yourself a minute. Be sad. Be mad. Go for a walk, vent to a friend, do whatever helps. Then, when you’re ready, come back and remember this: a deferral isn’t a commentary on your talent or your potential. It’s a result of an incredibly competitive process at a school that admits a very small percentage of early applicants. Amherst’s Early Decision admit rate is low, under 30%, and Regular Decision is even more selective. But numbers don’t define you, and this is far from over.

Unlike some other schools, Amherst doesn’t release specific statistics about how many deferred ED applicants are later accepted, but we’ve seen it happen. Many times. So let’s make sure you’re taking smart, well-timed steps from here.

Step One: Double-Check Your College List

If Amherst was your main focus, and especially if it was your only Early Decision school, you may have pushed other apps to the back burner. That’s okay. A lot of students go all-in on their top choice. But now that the situation has shifted, it’s time to regroup and approach Regular Decision with a clear strategy.

Take a fresh look at your list. Do you have a healthy spread of reach, target, and safety schools? A good rule of thumb is around 8–12 total. And most importantly, are they schools you’d actually want to attend? If you’ve only applied to Amherst, Williams, and Brown, you need to make the list a little more diverse.

Think about what drew you to Amherst: maybe it was the open curriculum, the tight-knit community, the commitment to undergraduate teaching, or the chance to dive into your academic interests right away. Use that as your guide. Schools like Carleton, Davidson, Grinnell, Wesleyan, or even research institutions with strong undergrad focus like Pomona or Tufts might also be a good fit. Consider honors programs at larger schools, too. Look for places that support your goals, not just ones with familiar names.

Once your list feels right, shift your attention to the supplements. This is where you show schools that you’ve done your research and can explain exactly why you belong there. Be personal. Be specific. Be proactive. These essays matter more than people realize, and the earlier you start, the better you’ll do.

Step Two: Revisit Your Common App

Now that you’ve got a little space from your original submission, it’s a great time to look at your Common App essay with new eyes. Imagine you’re reading it for the first time. Does it sound like you? Does it say something meaningful? Or does it blend into the thousands of other well-written but ultimately forgettable essays?

Schools read thousands of essays each cycle, and most of them are solid. But the ones that stick? They have heart. They’re detailed. They’re unmistakably personal. You don’t need a shocking story. You just need to be honest and specific.

Prompt #7 often gives students the most creative freedom, but any prompt can work if your voice is strong and the reflection is clear. Watch out for common missteps: listing your résumé, writing about someone else more than yourself, or summarizing events without showing how they shaped you.

If something feels off, trust that instinct. It’s not too late to revise, and a powerful rewrite can make all the difference for RD and ED2 applications.

Need to completely revamp your Common App essay? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Step Three: Other Applications

Mid-December to early January is no joke; it’s one of the most intense parts of this whole process. But now that you’ve had time to process your Amherst deferral, you’ve got to shift gears fast.

Start by reviewing your activities list. Has anything changed since you submitted your Early Decision application? If so, update it. Did you take on a new leadership role? Win an award? Launch a new project? Add those accomplishments before you hit submit on your next round of schools.

Then, it’s all about the supplements. Be thoughtful. Be thorough. Schools want to know why you’re applying to them now that your early plan didn’t go as expected. This is where being specific really matters. If a school asks, “Why us?” you better have a clear answer – and no, you can’t just copy-paste what you wrote for Amherst. Use the foundation, sure, but build something new for each school that actually reflects their offerings and your fit.

Once your Regular Decision applications are polished and submitted, then, and only then, should you return to Amherst with an update. But we’ll get to that in a second.

Step Four: Update

Amherst doesn’t offer a ton of clarity about what to do after a deferral. But here’s what we recommend based on years of experience:

From experience, here are some things you may need to compile:

• Mid-Year Report and Mid-Year Transcript

  • Your school counselor should submit this once first-semester grades are finalized. Double-check that they do.

• Updated Test Scores

  • If you’ve taken the SAT or ACT again and your scores improved, send them along.

• Letter of Continued Interest

  • This is your moment to re-engage with Amherst and show that you’re still serious.

Now, let’s get into the letter!

The Deferral Letter - Letter of Continued Interest

Your LOCI is not a place to repeat what’s already in your application. It’s a concise, confident, well-written letter that says: I’m still in, and here’s what I’ve been up to since I applied.

Keep it under 300 words, unless you’ve had a truly standout development that warrants a little extra space. The tone should be respectful, enthusiastic, and clear – not desperate. You want to show maturity and focus, not panic.

Start with a formal greeting. If you’ve been in contact with your regional rep, use their name. Otherwise, “Dear Amherst Admissions Committee” is perfectly fine.

In the opening lines, reaffirm that Amherst remains your top choice, and that you would immediately accept an offer of admission if extended. Be direct. They need to know that your interest hasn’t wavered, even after the deferral.

Then, offer 2–3 meaningful updates. These might include academic achievements, new leadership positions, creative work, research, or advanced coursework. Highlight what’s new, why it matters, and how it makes you an even better fit for Amherst.

Close with a sincere thank-you and a final note reinforcing your continued excitement about joining the Amherst community. Upload the letter to your portal, and if you’ve corresponded with your rep, you can send a quick heads-up email letting them know it’s been submitted.

Step Five: Wait

This is where it gets tough again. Once your LOCI is in and your RD apps are done, you have to step back and trust the process. Amherst doesn’t want extra emails, surprise updates, or frequent check-ins. More isn’t more, it’s just annoying.

Your application will be reviewed again during the Regular Decision process in the spring. Until then, focus on your schoolwork, stay involved in your activities, and keep being the awesome human who put together that impressive application in the first place.

Whether Amherst comes through in the end or not, you’re going to land somewhere great. And if you want help making sure that happens – we’re here.

We can help you bounce back from a deferral or rejection. Reach out to us today to learn more.

There’s a reason you chose Boston University as your ED school. Maybe you were drawn to the global focus, the access to major internships, or the chance to study across disciplines at a major research institution in the heart of a big city. Take a second to sit with the disappointment, eat a comfort snack, go for a walk – then let’s talk strategy. You’ve got another chance to make your case, and we’re here to walk you through it.

Step One: Double-Check Your College List

If your college strategy leaned heavily toward BU, it’s time for a reality check. Some students go all in on their ED school and leave the rest of their list fuzzy. That’s a problem we can fix. With deadlines around the corner, your next move should be reevaluating your college list. Is it balanced, with a mix of targets, reaches, and safeties? Do you have schools where your GPA and test scores (if submitted) line up well with their admitted averages? Do you actually want to go to every school you’re applying to?

And think about why BU felt like the right fit. Was it the urban setting? The strong internship programs? The interdisciplinary approach? Find other schools that share those traits – Northeastern, NYU, GW, American, maybe even some UCs or top state flagships. Build a list that’s not just “prestigious” but personal and practical.

And yes, we’re going to say it: now’s not the time to procrastinate. Supplements matter. Most students underestimate how important the school-specific essays are, and most students leave them until the last minute. Don’t be most students. We've got a mountain of guidance on our blog to help you write sharp, tailored supplements – use it.

Step Two: Revisit Your Common App

Now that you’re getting back into application mode, it’s time for a brutal self-edit. Pull up your Common App essay and give it a fresh read. Does it actually sound like you? Or does it sound like what you think colleges want to hear? Be honest with yourself – if the essay is polished but impersonal, or impressive but generic, you’re not doing yourself any favors.

The strongest essays are the ones only you could have written. They’re detailed, reflective, honest, maybe even a little weird. They don’t just describe what you did, they show it through an engaging story. If your essay is reading a little stiff or surface-level, consider revising or even starting fresh. This is your chance to stand out in the Regular Decision pool.

We still love Prompt #7 for its open-endedness, but you can write a fantastic essay with any prompt if the story’s right. Just avoid the usual pitfalls: rewriting your resume in prose, writing about someone else’s journey, or sounding so edited that you lose your voice. If your essay’s serving robot, take another pass. If you need help with a total rewrite, we’ve got you.

Need to completely revamp your Common App essay? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Step Three: Other Applications

It’s go time. If it’s late December or early January and you’re still staring at a long to-do list, welcome to the club – but don’t panic! Start with the personal statement, then move quickly to the rest of your app. Your activities list needs to be tight, clear, and in order of impact. If you need to use the additional info section, it should be for explaining important circumstances, not just restating anything from your resume or activities.

Then come the supplements. They’re not just filler, they’re a test of fit. Schools want to know: have you done your research? Are you going to contribute to our campus community? Can you take advantage of what we offer? That’s what these prompts are really asking.

And please, for the love of all things digital, do not wait until 11:59 PM to submit. We’ve heard it all, servers crash, Wi-Fi cuts out, someone’s laptop dies at the worst moment. Don’t let that be your story. Get your apps done early and give yourself the gift of a stress-free January.

Once all of your Regular Decision apps are squared away, then, and only then, circle back to BU.

Step Four: Update

BU’s deferral instructions are vague at best:

“If you are an Early Decision applicant who is not admitted, your application may be deferred for consideration during the regular admissions cycle. In that case, you will be considered for admission only after submitting your mid-year grades. You will be notified of a final admission decision in late March.”

Annoyingly vague, but we’ve been here before and know what to do. You’ll want to prepare a few key materials:

• Mid-Year Report and Mid-Year Transcript

  • Your school counselor should automatically send this, but it never hurts to check in.

• Updated Test Scores

  • If you’ve improved your SAT or ACT, go ahead and report it.

• Additional letters of rec (optional!)

  • Only include one if it’s deeply personal and adds something new. A generic rec from someone tangentially connected to BU? Probably not worth it.

• The LOCI (Letter of Continued Interest)

  • This is the big one.

The Deferral Letter – Letter of Continued Interest

A deferral letter, often called a LOCI, or Letter of Continued Interest, is your chance to reconnect with Boston University and reiterate your enthusiasm. This isn’t about restating your entire application or trying to cram in everything you’ve ever accomplished. It’s about giving BU a thoughtful, timely update: “I’m still here, I’m still interested, and here’s what’s new.”

Your letter should be clear, concise, and sincere. No grand speeches, no pleading, and definitely no extended “why BU” essay, you already told them that. This is your follow-up, and it should feel like a strategic continuation of your story. Keep it to around 300 words unless you’ve had truly exceptional developments to share since applying – think publication-level projects, major awards, or standout new leadership roles.

Format it like a formal letter. You’ll most likely upload it via your applicant portal, but if you’ve previously been in touch with your regional admissions officer, it’s okay to send a copy to them telling them you uploaded it to the portal.

Begin your letter with a clear and direct statement: Boston University remains your top choice, and you would immediately accept an offer if admitted. This is crucial. Your ED commitment no longer guarantees enrollment, so you want BU to know your intentions haven’t changed.

The main body should include two or three meaningful updates. Focus on standout achievements, academic recognition, new responsibilities, artistic or professional milestones, or anything else significant. Don’t waste space on minor grade changes or repetitive accomplishments. Choose the updates that help move your application forward. If you don’t have a ton of updates, find opportunities at BU that match your current activities and talk about how you’re excited to continue doing XYZ at their school.

Wrap it up with a genuine thank-you for their time and consideration, reiterate your continued interest in BU, and close with a respectful sign-off. Keep your tone confident and appreciative. You’re not starting from scratch – BU already saw promise in your application. Show them that you're still the kind of student they’d be lucky to have.

Step Five: Wait

This part is rough. You did everything right, and now it’s out of your hands. This is not the time to panic-send another email, beg for an interview, or casually plan a “surprise” campus visit. That will not help. It might actually hurt.

What you can do is rest in the knowledge that you’ve submitted a thoughtful application, put together a strategic college list, and followed up with a professional and compelling LOCI. That’s your job. You’ve done it.

BU usually releases decisions in late March, so for now, shift your focus. Put energy into your remaining classes. Take care of yourself. Celebrate the work you’ve already done. And remember: a deferral is not the end – it’s just a longer wait for a potentially great outcome. You’ve got this!

We can help you bounce back from a deferral or rejection. Reach out to us today to learn more.

Try not to internalize this. A deferral from Georgetown doesn’t mean you’re not good enough. It doesn’t erase your accomplishments or your drive. This is more about the nature of Georgetown’s highly competitive admissions process than anything you did wrong. To put it in perspective, acceptance rates for REA hover in the low double digits (~10%), and the Regular Decision round is even more selective. We know that no one gets rejected EA from Georgetown, but the university doesn’t publish exact stats for deferred applicants or the number of deferred students who get admitted. We wish they did. We, however, do know from experience that you can get admitted from a deferral, and we see it every year!

You applied early because you saw something in Georgetown, something that felt like it fit. That’s still valid. But now it’s time to shift gears and make your next moves count. Let’s walk through what happens next.

Step One: Double-Check Your College List

If Georgetown was your main focus this fall and the rest of your applications have been collecting dust (or don’t exist), it’s time to recalibrate. This doesn’t mean hitting the panic button, but it does mean being proactive. Revisit your college list. Is it realistic? Balanced? Do you have a healthy mix of reaches, targets, and safeties? If not, now is the moment to round it out. Aim for 8–12 schools total, and make sure each one is a fit for you academically and personally.

And yes, we know, it’s easy to chase prestige, but that shouldn’t be the only factor. Think about what attracted you to Georgetown in the first place: maybe the global focus, strong programs in government and policy, or the Jesuit values. Look for schools that offer similar vibes and strengths, whether that’s Boston College, Notre Dame, Emory, or an honors program within a larger state university, like UNC, UT Austin, or your state university.

Once your list is ready, focus on those supplements. Every school wants to know why you belong there. That’s where your essays come in, and we have guides for tons of supplements on our blog. Start now, revise thoughtfully, and show them who you are.

Step Two: Revisit (Or Start) Your Common App

If Georgetown was your only Early Action school and you haven’t touched the Common App yet, don’t panic, but do get moving. Most Regular Decision schools will expect a personal statement, and Georgetown’s application doesn’t include the true Common App essay that other schools do. That means you may be starting from scratch while everyone else is polishing. But here’s the upside: you get to write with more perspective. With a few more months of life experience behind you, you may be in a better place to tell a story that really lands! Silver linings!

If you do already have a Common App essay, maybe you drafted one for another school but didn’t submit it, or submitted to some other EA schools, it’s time to give it a second look. Read it again, but this time, imagine you’re an admissions officer. Does it feel like an authentic reflection of your personality, values, and curiosity? Or could it have been written by any other high-achieving student?

The strongest essays are specific, reflective, and emotionally grounded. They sound like the writer. The most common traps we see are essays that list accomplishments instead of telling a story, essays that try to prove you learned some grand lesson, or ones that turn life into one big metaphor for something.

If your essay falls flat – or if you haven’t started one at all – it’s not too late. A powerful essay can absolutely reshape your narrative and help you stand out in a crowded Regular Decision pool. Personally, we love Prompt #7, writing an essay of your own design, because it gives you the most freedom to tell a truly personal, unique, and compelling story, but any prompt can turn into a good essay if you tell a story.

Need to completely revamp your Common App essay? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Step Three: Other Applications

If you’re reading this in mid-to-late December, the clock is ticking. These next few weeks are critical. First, finalize your Common App essay. Then go through your activities section with a fine-toothed comb, make sure everything is clean, accurate, and prioritized well. Since Georgetown is not yet in the Common App (next year!), you may have to really go through the Common App and make sure you’ve filled everything out correctly.

Then comes the supplemental essays. Don’t treat these as afterthoughts, they’re just as important as your main essay. Each one should be sharp, thoughtful, and specific. Avoid the urge to copy-paste from school to school – and while you can get away with this for some prompts, each one needs to be looked at and edited to reflect the school you’re submitting it to. And don’t wait until 11:59 p.m. on January 1st to submit, we’ve seen too many last-minute tech issues derail great apps!

Once your RD applications are in, then it’s time to turn your attention back to Georgetown with an update.

Step Four: Update

Georgetown’s admissions office has a pretty detailed on their EA process, but not a ton of info on deferrals themselves:

“I was deferred at Early Action. What can I do to increase my chances of being admitted at Regular Decision?

Early Action admission is offered to a limited number of students, those whom the Admissions Committee is certain they would offer admission based on information from freshman, sophomore and junior years only. Deferred students are strongly encouraged to maintain high senior year grades and submit any new information, such as standardized test scores, new honors or awards.”

Fairly minimal information, but gives us enough to go on. Here are some things you should compile and send:

• Updated Grades

  • Your counselor usually submits this automatically, but confirm that it’s been sent

• Updated Test Scores

  • If you’ve tested again and your scores have improved, go ahead and submit them

• A Letter of Continued Interest (Deferral letter)

  • This is where you wil update them on everything else that’s been going on since you hit submit.

The Deferral Letter - Letter of Continued Interest

This letter is your chance to reconnect with Georgetown and affirm your continued enthusiasm. It’s not about rehashing your whole application; it’s about offering new context, clear updates, and a reaffirmed commitment.

Start your letter with a respectful greeting. If you’ve had any prior contact with your regional admissions officer, you can address them by name. If not, a general salutation to the admissions committee is perfectly appropriate. In the first few lines, you’ll want to be direct: confirm that Georgetown is still your top choice and that you would attend if admitted. Be explicit. Since you applied under a (semi) restrictive early action policy, they already know you were serious – now you’re showing that your commitment hasn’t wavered, even after the deferral.

The body of your letter should focus on the new. What’s changed since you submitted your application? Highlight two to three meaningful developments. These could be academic achievements, new responsibilities, notable awards, or personal or creative accomplishments that add depth to your file. Avoid listing minor updates; prioritize quality over quantity. Keep your tone confident and professional, and avoid sounding overly emotional or pleading.

Wrap up with a thank-you and another clear statement of your continued interest. Then, you will typically upload your letter to the applicant portal. If you have a regional rep’s contact info, and you’ve already had contact with them prior to applying EA, it’s okay to email a short note letting them know you’ve submitted an update, but don’t overdo it. Georgetown is watching how you follow up, so make it count.

Step Five: Wait

This is the most brutal stretch. You’ve done what you can: you applied early, followed up thoughtfully, and finished your Regular Decision applications strong. Now comes the waiting.

Try to avoid obsessing over what’s out of your control. Resist the urge to send more updates, emails, or extras unless something truly significant happens. Trust that your application, and your LOCI, will speak for itself.

Georgetown typically releases RD decisions in late March. Until then, focus on finishing senior year strong, taking care of yourself, and staying grounded in everything you’ve already accomplished. You’ve shown Georgetown your best self. The rest is up to them.

We can help you bounce back from a deferral or rejection. Reach out to us today to learn more.

Here’s the truth: this deferral doesn’t mean you’re not qualified, and it definitely doesn’t cancel out all the hard work you’ve done. It’s a result of how many students apply to Michigan each year, especially through EA. In fact, their EA pool has ballooned to tens of thousands of applicants, with acceptance rates hovering around 20–25%. As of now, Michigan hasn’t published clear numbers on how many EA deferrals get accepted later, but we know it happens. This is also the first year Michigan has offered Early Decision, and we’re definitely interested in digging into their acceptance and deferral stats once this cycle is over. While there’s a lot you can’t control at this point, we’re going to help you maximize what you can.

You chose Michigan early for a reason. Perhaps it was the opportunity to dive into research as a first-year student, or to be part of one of the country’s strongest undergraduate programs in business, engineering, or liberal arts. Whatever your “why,” it still matters, so let’s talk about what to do next.

Step One: Double-Check Your College List

If you put most of your energy into Michigan and didn’t put much thought into other schools, now’s the time to pivot. Pull out your college list and evaluate it critically. Do you have a balanced set of reach, target, and safety schools? Are you happy with all of them? Would you actually be excited to attend each one? If not, time to diversify – and not just by name recognition.

Think about the traits that drew you to Michigan. Was it a large public school with top-tier academics? Was it the blend of research and school spirit? If so, look at schools like Wisconsin, UVA, UT Austin, or even private universities with a similar vibe, like USC or Northeastern. If you were drawn to the business program, schools like Wake Forest, Indiana, or UNC might also interest you.

Once your list is feeling solid, turn your attention to the writing side. If you need guidance on specific school supplements, we’ve got plenty of tips and guides to help you tackle the most common prompts and structure strong, authentic answers.

Step Two: Revisit Your Common App

Now that your early app is behind you, it’s worth revisiting your Common App essay with a more objective lens. Does it still resonate? Is it something that truly reflects you and adds something unique to your application? Is it likable?

Most essays are decent, even if they are super cliched – but decent doesn’t stand out. You want yours to be thoughtful, layered, and specific. A “solid” essay might check the boxes, but one that really shines makes the admissions officer stop and remember who you are. It doesn’t have to be dramatic. It just needs to feel personal and insightful.

Ask yourself these questions: Does this tell a story only I could tell? Is it different from what my activities list already covers? Does it reveal something deeper about how I think or what matters to me? If not, you still have time to rework it. A small tweak might do the trick, or you might find a new angle that fits better for Regular Decision or ED2.

We always recommend answering Prompt #7 (we love her open-mindedness!), but good essays can come from any of the prompts. What’s most important is that you tell us a story through your answer. You don’t need to spell out a period of growth, or connect your life to a big metaphor – instead, bring us into a piece of your life and let that do the talking for you.

Need to completely revamp your Common App essay? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Step Three: Other Applications

Between now and January 1, your calendar is going to fill up fast. If you're still working on your RD applications, now’s the time to put your head down and finish. Recheck your activities section; if you have any updates since your Michigan submission, add them. Then move on to the supplements, because these are where your application really comes to life.

Each school wants to know why they still make sense for you. So if you wrote a compelling Why essay for Michigan, take the same strategy and apply it elsewhere, with fresh examples. What matters is specificity and connection: classes, programs, communities, professors, traditions. Same goes for the other prompt you were asked about community – does the other school want to see a connection from your community story to their school? Make sure not to just copy-paste, but really look at the question and make sure you’re answering all the crucial parts of it.

Once your RD apps are in and polished, then it’s time to circle back to Michigan with an update.

Step Four: Update

The University of Michigan doesn’t tell us much about their internal deferral process, save for some nice from . They also call deferrals “postponements,” which we guess is a nice sentiment, but also, why do you have to be different?? From their website:

What Is Postponement?

Michigan postpones (this is sometimes known as “deferral” at other schools) applicants from the Early Action pool to the Regular Decision pool. This simply means that you will get your response later in the spring. It doesn’t mean that the school doesn’t see you as a strong applicant. It’s a step in the process that you may not have been expecting, but think of it as a chance to further express your interest to the university. You can find more on the Admissions website.

Here are some things, from experience, that you may want to gather:

• Mid-Year Report and Mid-Year Transcript

  • Your school counselor should submit this on your behalf, but don’t be afraid to follow up

• Updated Test Scores

  • Improved scores are always a boon!

• Your deferral letter, a.k.a., the letter of continued interest.

  • They call this the “Expression of Continued Interest (ECI)” form (just haaaad to be different!), more on this next

The Deferral Letter - Letter of Continued Interest

Now that you've been deferred, it's time to reconnect with Michigan and send in your final update. This is where your letter of continued interest, often shortened to LOCI, comes in, and it's one of the last ways you can influence your application. At Michigan, it’s called the Expression of Continued Interest, and it serves the same purpose as a deferral letter or LOCI.

This letter serves a clear purpose: to reaffirm your enthusiasm for Michigan, provide meaningful updates, and strengthen your case for admission. You don’t need to rehash your whole application or repeat what they already know. Instead, focus on what’s new, compelling, and how it reinforces the value you’d bring to campus. Aim to keep it tight – about 300 words is ideal. Only stretch beyond that if you have truly significant updates (think publishing major research, winning a national award, or launching something beyond impressive).

Michigan has students upload materials directly to their applicant portal. If you’ve had previous contact with your regional admissions rep, you can also email them to let them know you’ve submitted, but don’t do this unless you’ve already had contact with the rep before submitting your ED or EA app. Otherwise, it might leave a bad taste in their mouth as a transparent attempt to juice your app.

Start with a professional greeting. If you know the name of your regional officer, use it; otherwise, something like “Dear University of Michigan Admissions” works well. Open the letter by expressing, without hesitation, that Michigan remains your top choice and that you would immediately accept an offer if admitted. This kind of directness matters, because showing that you’re 100% committed plays a role in their decision-making process.

The body of the letter should highlight two or three key updates that improve your candidacy. Maybe you’ve earned an academic honor, taken on a new leadership role, had success in a competition, or made progress in a personal or research project. Be thoughtful in your choices and keep the tone confident and factual, this isn’t the place for fluff. If you don’t have a ton of updates, connect what you can update about to concrete things you’re excited to pursue at Michigan.

Wrap up by thanking them for their time and consideration, reiterating your interest in the university, and signing off with a professional close. Keep the tone optimistic and respectful. You’ve already made a strong first impression, and now you’re reinforcing your interest and showing growth since you applied.

Step Five: Wait

This last part is tough, but it’s also the most important. Once your letter is in and your RD apps are out the door, let it go. Obsessively checking your email or brainstorming reasons to “check in” again with Michigan won’t help you – and it could even hurt your chances. To quote them, “If you would like to submit additional information, our preference is to receive only the ECI form, grade updates, or any specifically requested information. Anything outside of this will not impact your final decision.” See? One thoughtful LOCI is enough.

You’ve done everything right. You built a strong application, followed up with intention, and showed Michigan you’re still serious. That’s all you can do.

Now shift your focus: finish senior year strong, stay engaged, and take care of yourself. Michigan will revisit your application in the spring, and you’ll get their final decision then. Until that happens, keep your momentum going. You’ve got this.

We can help you bounce back from a deferral or rejection. Reach out to us today to learn more.