Deferred from #UVA21 Early Action? Read This.

Being deferred is tough. I still remember the feeling of limbo that I got when I was deferred in high school. The wait was so long and it suddenly got longer. Back then, we didn't have the internet and schools didn't provide you with much data beyond what was in the view book you got in the mail after taking the SAT. Today, I'm glad we can communicate with our students so they understand some of the reasons why we might defer a student.

There can be many reasons for deferring a student, but in my experience, two cases are most common:

1. The Big Senior Program

Many schools allow students to have more control over course selection as they advance. Senior year is often the year with the most freedom and many students go for the big finale. This is awesome! Senior year should be the finale to your high school career. Your transition to college is going to be smoother when the leap to college-level work isn't a huge one, so a strong senior program is smart.

When we see a student with a wonderful transcript and an ambitious senior program, we sometimes feel that seeing mid-year grades from these top courses can help us make a final decision.

2. The Upward Trend

We try to counsel students about waiting for Regular Decision if they are rebounding from some shaky grades earlier in the high school career. There are other voices pushing students to submit applications early because there is a belief that early rounds are easier. Some schools may have a different process for their early round, but we have the same review style no matter when you apply.

When we see someone who is rebounding from a weak year (whether that's about a grade or program), we often feel it's best to get one more semester of work in the file. If you are rebounding, know that we are rooting for you!

How Do You Respond?

There's a link in the decision letter you received that goes to a Defer FAQs page that covers what you are supposed to do next.

We get plenty of emails/comments that question our advice on that page. You do not need to start a defer campaign. I think there are people out there who insist that you must do this and that might influence the process at other schools. If you look back at the two scenarios I cited above, the issue isn't with supplements or recommendations (remember, we turned off the non-academic recommendation function in Common App). An academic update about how the first semester went will be most helpful.

If you are a senior, you have a lot on your plate. I can't tell you how many essays I've read about sleep deprivation and time management in the last few years. We are trying to help you be smart about how you spend your limited time. If a college tells you not to worry about doing something, don't do it. It's not going to move the needle. Use your energy elsewhere!

I know there are folks out there who will cite the student from another year who sent all sorts of extras. They may be convinced they were offered admission during Regular Decision because of those extras when the admission officers were really just looking for those mid-year grades. Keep it simple.

A Word About Statistics

People inevitably ask me for stats about the defer pool. I don't have data to cite a trend, but I can say that residency will still be a major factor, with more deferred students from Virginia getting offers in Regular Decision. School choice and the size of the pool are also factors.


I know this isn't the decision you wanted to see the other night, but I hope you realize that deferral is not the end of the road. It means we see things we like in your file and we want to see more. Hang in there.

Not loving this situation.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Let's Talk about #UVA21 Early Action: The Defer

Deferred students can use this post to talk.

Your application hasn't finished it's journey yet.

Once your mid-year grades arrive, your file will be reviewed again during the Regular Decision round. At this point, you should simply make sure your mid-year report is sent when the grades are ready. Most of your counselors will do this automatically.

We know the wait is tough, but we think your mid-year grades could help your case. Hang in there! You should see the link to the defer FAQ page in your letter, which answers the most common questions.

Jack hopes you can find a peaceful place to wait.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

What To Do When You're Deferred for #UVA20

Being deferred is tough. I still remember the feeling of limbo that I got when I was deferred in high school. There are different reasons for deferring a student out there, but there are two that come up a lot in our discussions.

1. The Big Senior Program

Many schools allow students to have more control over course selection as they advance. Senior year is often the year with the most freedom and many students go for the big finale. This is awesome! Senior year should be the finale to your high school career. Your transition to college is going to be smoother when the leap to college-level work isn't a huge one, so a strong senior program is smart.

Seeing mid-year grades from these top courses can help us make a final decision on the file.

2. The Upward Trend

We try to counsel students about waiting for Regular Decision if they are rebounding from some shaky grades earlier in the high school career. We know that there are lots of other voices pushing students to submit applications early because there is a belief that early rounds are easier. That might be the case at some schools, but not at UVA.

When we see someone who is rebounding, we often feel it's best to get one more semester of work in the file. If you are rebounding, know that we are rooting for you!

How Do I Respond?

There's a link in the decision letter you received that goes to a Defer FAQs page that covers what you are supposed to do next.

We get plenty of emails/comments that start with an acknowledgement of those FAQs, but then a question about sending the things we tell students not to send. You do not need to start a defer campaign. I think there are people out there who insist that you must do this and that might influence the process at other schools. If you look back at the two scenarios I cited above, the issue isn't with supplements or recommendations (remember, we turned off the non-academic recommendation function in Common App). An academic update about how the first semester went will be most helpful.

If you are a senior, you have a lot on your plate. I can't tell you how many essays I've read about sleep deprivation and time management in the last few weeks. You are all obviously busy and you have to be smart about how you spend your limited time. If a college tells you not to worry about doing something, don't do it. Use your energy elsewhere!

A Word About Statistics

People inevitably ask me for stats about the defer pool. I haven't been able to run reports off multiple years, so it wouldn't be appropriate to cite a trend. Suffice it to say that residency is still a factor, with more deferred students from Virginia getting offers. School choice and the size of the pool are also factors.

Waiting is so hard.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

Let's Talk about #UVA20 Early Action: The Defer

Deferred students can use this post to talk.

Your application hasn't finished it's journey yet.

Once your mid-year grades arrive, your file will be reviewed again during the Regular Decision round. At this point, you should simply make sure your mid-year report is sent when the grades are ready. Most of your counselors will do this automatically.

We know the wait is tough, but we think your mid-year grades could help your case. Hang in there! You should have already seen the link to the defer FAQ page, which answers the most common questions.

Jack hopes you can find a peaceful place to wait.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

The Impact of Snow Days (and Snail Mail Submissions)

Did you know that admission officers tend to dislike snow days?

We had a pretty quiet winter in Virginia up until about a week ago. Mother Nature decided to finally let us have a taste of what our friends up north are experiencing and sent us some snow. Schools around the Commonwealth were closed and we know that other regions have been experiencing snow closings away well.

We don't have many snow days at UVa (there was a stretch were we were convinced that UVa just didn't close at all!). CavDog never understands why people complain about going out in the fluffy stuff, but he doesn't have to shovel or commute. He also doesn't know that snow days affect when we release admission decisions.

When schools are closed, that means your counseling staff isn't in the office. When the counseling office is closed, that means mid-year reports aren't being sent to us. So we become stuck. Without mid-year grades, we don't have any new information when we review deferred applications that were moved from Early Action to Regular Decision. Without mid-year grades, we can't finalize a Regular Decision application.

In a couple weeks, when people start asking when we'll be done with the process, I'll probably refer them back to this point.

What's more, many districts still don't allow or have the capacity for the online submission of mid-year reports. We asked for mid-year grades to be sent to us by February 15th and we imagine that some of them are sitting in bins of mail that couldn't be transported due to the snow. Our staff has resorted to calling counselors to ask them to read grades to us over the phone so we could move forward with reading a file.

Please enjoy your snow days and bear with us as we work through all of your applications. As always, we aim to release early, but April 1st is the official notification day.

reade more... Résuméabuiyad

It's EA Flip Time!

We are starting to roll the applications of those we deferred during the Early Action round over to Regular Decision. If you are an EA Defer, your decision is disappearing so we can put you into the RD pool. If you were admitted or denied during Early Action, you shouldn't notice any changes.

Mid-year reports have been rolling in for the last week or so and we know this will continue for a while. If you were offered admission during EA or have an active application right now (which covers EA defers and RD applicants), we need your mid-year reports. Applicants, remember that these are sent by your counselor, so keep focusing on your school work.

RD folks, we've emailed you several times if you are missing a mandatory component of your application. If we don't have the testing, transcript, or teacher rec about which we emailed you by Thursday, we're moving on.


By the way, some amazing work is happening at the Rotunda this week. The carrara marble capitals that were made to replace the ones that have been crumbling are being installed! There's a great slideshow on the UVA Today website.

Flip!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad