Blog

By now, you’ve probably heard back from most, if not all, of the colleges you applied to. You may not have been offered admission everywhere, but you’ve probably got a few acceptances under your belt. As May 1 approaches, here is our advice for how to handle your college acceptances.

1) Celebrate! You worked hard, and deserve all of your success.  

2) Prepare to be recruited. When a college admits you, they want you to enroll, and they will do their best to make you feel wanted. Expect invitations to visit campus and phone calls or letters from current students; some schools will even send you t-shirts, scarves, or posters. Take advantage of opportunities to meet with students, spend the night in a dormitory, and don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions.

3) Visit campus. Many colleges have programs just for admitted students. These programs often include specialized facilities tours, opportunities to attend classes, panels with current students, faculty, and administrators, an overnight stay in the dorms, and the chance to meet hundreds of your potential future classmates. Even if you can’t go to an admitted student event (or don’t want to), you can still have a productive visit. Be sure to let the admissions office know you’re an admitted student, and ask what you can do while you’re on campus. 

4) Focus on the schools to which you were admitted. You may have been offered a spot on a waitlist or two, and they may be schools that you’re really excited about. That’s okay. Let those schools know you’re still interested, and accept the spot on the waitlist. However, you most likely won’t be hearing back from them until after May 1, and you’ll have to submit an enrollment deposit somewhere by then, so focus your energy on the schools that admitted you. Those schools are excited about you, and would love for you to attend! Boost your ego and spend some time with people who think you’re awesome. 

5) Keep up with your schoolwork! Don’t think that just because you’ve been admitted to college that you can stop doing well in school. Colleges still need to see your final transcript, and they can rescind admission offers if your academic performance drops significantly.

6) You can change your mind. You may have had your heart set on College X since fall of junior year, and thrilled to have been offered admission, but maybe you developed a great rapport with a current student at another college, or College X’s admitted student program was less than thrilling. It’s really okay! You have until May 1 to submit an enrollment deposit, so feel free to take that time to figure out where you’ll be happiest. Remember – you want to make the best decision for you and your family, and not necessarily the decision everyone expects you to make.

Congratulations on your acceptances, and best of luck in making your decision!

You may have recently received a defer decision from one of your early application colleges, and you might be wondering what that means, and what you can do about it. This blog post should clear up a few things, and help you plan for the future.

What does it mean that my application was deferred? If your application was deferred it means that the college didn’t deny your application, but that for any number of reasons, they were not prepared to give you a final decision in December. The college will re-review your application, and send you a final decision in the spring, along with the rest of the Regular Decision applicant pool.

So what should I do next? The first thing you should do is send a friendly and polite email to your area admissions counselor telling him or her that you’re still very interested in the school, and would like to know if there’s anything that would be helpful for you to send them. Sometimes, they might have a very specific request, so it’s important to ask. For example, they might just want to see how your fall semester grades turned out. They might also have specific advice about what you should and shouldn’t do to increase your chances of admission. If there’s nothing specific that they need from you, here are a couple of things you may want to consider to strengthen your application.

• Send a short, sincere, and specific letter or email of interest to your area admissions counselor.

• Ask the admissions office if you can sign up for an interview (if you haven’t already had one). Some colleges don’t allow deferred applicants to interview, so don’t be discouraged if this option is not available to you.

• Ask the admissions office if they think paying them a visit would be a good idea (if you haven’t already visited). Some schools care about demonstrated interest, and a visit could be something they care about.

If you feel the need to do anything beyond these suggestions, we recommend holding off, or asking the college if it would be okay. You want them to know that you’re still interested, but you don’t want to do too much. A few well-written lines can have more impact than an overload of information. Remember – there’s no guarantee you’ll be admitted, even if you follow the admissions office’s instructions to the letter, so you can be optimistic, but it’s best not to focus on it too much.

Then, you should look forward to the admissions decisions you’ll be getting in the spring from all of the colleges you applied to.  

You've put a lot of effort into your early applications, and hopefully you’ll hear good news from colleges.  That said, you could also get a deny or defer decision, and you want to be prepared.  Here’s some advice on how to get through the coming weeks, as you hear back from colleges about your early applications.

1) Celebrate your acceptances!  You worked hard, and deserve all of your success. 

2) If you were admitted Early Decision – congratulations!  Remember, Early Decision is a binding agreement, so you need to withdraw all of your applications to other colleges.  Then, be sure send in your enrollment deposit!   

3) If you were admitted Early Action – prepare to be recruited.  When a college admits you, they want you to enroll, and they will do their best to make you feel wanted.  Expect invitations to visit campus and phone calls or letters from current students; some schools will even send you t-shirts, scarves, or posters.  Take advantage of opportunities to meet with students, spend the night in a dormitory, and don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions.

4) Your application might be deferred to the regular admission pool.  This means that later in the year, probably in early spring, the admissions office will re-review your application and consider offering you admission for Regular Decision.  Each college’s deferral policy is unique, so it is important to reach out to your admissions counselor and ask what they recommend you do to strengthen your application for the next round.  In the meantime, you need to continue working on your Regular Decision applications to ensure you have a couple of options when you receive the rest of your decisions in the spring.   

5) Unfortunately, you might also receive a deny letter, maybe even from your first choice school.  It’s OK to be disappointed, but keep in mind -- most students end up having a great time at whatever college they attend, even if it wasn't their first choice.  Remember, when you don’t gain admission to a school, the college didn’t reject you. Your application was denied.  It’s a subtle, but significant, difference.  A college may not have a space for you in the fall, but you’re still the same smart, motivated, and talented student you always were.  Shift your focus to your Regular Decision schools and get excited about the possibilities that await you!

No matter what admissions decisions you receive in the coming weeks -- no admissions decision defines you.  You still have a full semester to go and you want to stay focused on the present, so don’t let admissions decisions throw you off track.

Now that you have some offers of admission under your belt, you’re probably planning to pay some of those colleges a visit.  Many colleges host special programs for admitted students, but you can always visit on your own, as well. Here’s the lowdown on how to figure out if a campus visit program or an independent visit is the best choice for you at this point in the process.

Admitted student programs are designed to give you more access to the college’s resources than you could get during a typical visit. They are busy and exciting, and jam-packed with information and activities. They often offer the opportunity to attend a class or two, go on specific facilities tours, spend the night in the dormitory, meet professors and administrators, and attend sessions on topics such as Student Life and Academic Advising. You can also meet your potential future classmates and see how you get along with them. These programs are programmed and tailored to provide an informative and positive experience – for instance, every student and faculty member you meet is hand-picked for the occasions. If you enjoy lots of activity and excitement, admitted student programs might be a good option for you.

A regular campus visit will probably be less crowded and more laid back. You might get a better sense of what a “normal” day is like on campus because it won’t be packed with prospective students and families. You might still get to spend the night in the dormitory, eat in the dining hall, and attend a class, but you will have to request these options in advance and wait to hear about availability on your visit date(s). A regular campus visit might be best for you if you are a bit more independent, or enjoy a more leisurely experience.

Deciding when and how to visit a campus at this stage is essential.  The good news is that it’s up to you to decide what works best for you.

Getting put on a waitlist feels strange. You put so much effort into your application, all of this pressure and expectation builds up, and after all of that, you're told you still have to wait. If you've been placed a waitlist, you might be wondering, “What’s next?” 

Every college has its own policy, so be sure to check in with colleges you're waiting on. It's perfectly acceptable to call and ask how the waitlist is ordered (if at all) and managed, and to ask what you can do to increase your chances of admission.

Some schools have students arranged numerically, while others have students grouped in tiers. Others have no ranking system at all: if they need to go to their waitlist, they review whoever is on it at the time and go from there. You get the picture...

Regardless of how the waitlist is structured, if you want the best shot at being admitted, be sure to follow-up appropriately with the college(s) you're interested in.

Few colleges are able to make any movement on their waitlists before May 1st, the Universal Reply Date – so patience is key. After getting in touch with the college(s) you’re interested in, try to focus on the schools that have already offered you admission. Remember, you will need to submit an enrollment deposit to one of them by May 1st!