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COLLEGE COUNSELING WITH MARTIN WALSH

Deferrals, and “Deferrals”

By Martin Walsh, TIE Columnist
06-May-14


It happens every year. Just when I have all the regular decision applications ready to go in December, and am starting to day dream about a ski trip to Lake Tahoe, the early results are posted. “So much for a quiet end to the semester,” I think as admitted students dance through the halls, rushing to tell their friends, teachers, and parents, while denied students slump back, the finality of the result both overwhelming and numbing.
Ironically, neither group will rush to my office. No, the first students coming to visit with me sport a more confused look. That is the type of expression that can only come with a deferral decision—their futures left in limbo, the fate of the application still to be determined. In my opinion, counseling these students through the next steps in the application process represents each winter’s toughest challenge.
Deferrals and “deferrals”
Before working with deferred students it is important for international school counselors to understand that undergraduate admission offices can have very different approaches to the early application pool.
Some universities will use the early cycle to weed out a large percentage of the early applicants, while others seem to focus only on admitting, not denying, students. For example, Georgetown University defers all students who are not accepted; Stanford University makes a point of deferring only a small number of early applicants, preferring to “keep alive” those whose skills or credentials show tremendous potential.
And, somewhere in between Stanford and Georgetown, is the early admission model run by Princeton University. As you may already know, Princeton recently offered an early admission option for the first time in nearly five years. Uncertain about the volume and quality of the early applicant pool, Princeton took a fairly safe route and deferred nearly 50 percent of all early applications. The number of students Princeton admits from this group will depend on the quality of the regular decision applications.
The point: there are “Stanford deferrals,” which mean the applicant made it to committee and caught the attention of the admission team; this is a great sign. Then there are “Georgetown deferrals”: fairly meaningless, and certainly not a great indicator that an admission offer will come in the spring. Finally, there are the mysterious “Princeton deferrals,” which could mean just about anything. (I spoke with the Princeton admissions office at this writing, and they really have no clue as to the number of deferred applicants who will be admitted in the regular cycle!)
What should the counselor do?
There are three things a counselor should do when dealing with students who have been deferred.
First, immediately contact the admissions office in question, and ascertain how many students were deferred in the early pool and how many students went from “defer” to “admit” in the regular pool the previous year. This will help you determine whether the student you are working with has a reasonable chance of moving to the admitted group in the regular pool.
Next, clarify what, if anything, the admissions office will need from the applicant. I cannot stress the importance of this step. Many students are so emotional as decisions come out that they fail to understand, or even read, the follow-up directions provided by a university.
Finally, counselors should read through the submitted application to make sure there is nothing glaringly wrong, and for a quick “sanity check.” But, for the most part, applicants do not need to revisit or overhaul their applications to other institutions.
What should the student do?
As for the students, they will undoubtedly feel they are in a hazy middle ground with no control over the decision. That is simply is not the case. There is much a deferred student can do can to increase his or her chances of admission. First, the applicant should at the very least maintain the level of academics shown on her/his transcript from Grades 9 to 11; and if there has been an improvement in scores, so much the better. Additionally, the student must maintain his or her involvement in extracurricular activities—so no second-semester “senioritis.”
Moreover, if the applicant has the time and desire to pursue new interests, he or she should certainly do so. This will give you, the counselor, an opportunity to update colleges with new information. And, the student should certainly write a straightforward letter outlining any new standardized test results, awards, and academic accomplishments.
Finally, a deferred student can also mention why they want to attend that particular university—but the letter must be sincere and honest.
I must stress that there is no rush to get this information to the admissions officer. Unless instructed otherwise, the student should wait until late January or early February; this gives the student more time to generate some new information for the admissions reader. Finally, some universities will also allow students to submit an extra letter of recommendation. Students must choose that letter-writer wisely! It should be someone who will write about qualities or accomplishments that are not already in the application.
Once all updates have gone out, it is time for all parties to wait patiently. We all know that this process is emotionally harrowing and can affect a student’s confidence. But, if the student has built his or her list properly, he/she will certainly get into college.
On mid-year reports
On to another topic. Over the last few years international school counselors have expressed concern that their mid-year reports arrive late, harming their students’ chances of being admitted in the spring.
First, let me attack this concern from the perspective of an admissions officer or dean. Before applications reach the desk of an admissions officer, they must first go through the processing department. The processing of regular decision applications usually begins shortly after the Christmas holiday season is over.
Admission officers will therefore usually begin to read completed applications by the second week of January. Most importantly, an application is not required to have seventh semester grades to be considered complete.
I spoke with admissions officers at Princeton, Stanford, Notre Dame, and Rice regarding this issue, and all stressed that a student’s applications will be given a first read before the seventh semester grades have made it to the admissions office. The fact that senior year grades are not always in the file does not negatively impact the chances of a student being admitted.
If the admissions officer is interested in the applicant—based upon letters of recommendation, grades through Grade 11, personal statements, and SAT scores—then the admissions officer will wait for the next set of grades.
Overall, admissions officers expect the seventh-semester grades by 1 March. At the Harker School, where I have served as a counselor since leaving Stanford, our first semester ends by the second week of January and we get our mid-year reports to admissions offices by the first week of February. This time line has worked well for us.
Finally, as a counselor and former teacher, I try always to avoid situations where “the tail is wagging the dog.” By that I mean that the college admissions calendar should not cut into the time teachers need to effectively cover their curriculum.




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COLLEGE COUNSELING WITH MARTIN WALSH