What To Do If You've Been Deferred (2026)

Last updated on September 16, 2026.

If you're a high school senior who applied Early Action or Early Decision to a college, you may be admitted, denied, or deferred.  A deferral is a college’s way of saying “maybe.” But what should a student do next?

What to Do If You're Deferred

1. Read the deferral letter carefully. Some colleges automatically place you in the Regular Decision pool, while others require you to fill out a form to opt in.

2. Don't reach out right away. Give it time before contacting the admissions office.

3. Stay focused on your other applications. Don't let one "maybe" distract you. 

4. Update your counselor. Once you've been deferred, let your high school counselor know so they can send an updated transcript to the college. 

5. Send a thoughtful update, if the college allows it. Share new grades, improved test scores, meaningful new activities, and an honest statement of your level of interest. 

6. Skip anything a college didn't ask for. Unless a school explicitly requests something, don't send extra information. 

7. Keep your grades up. A strong finish to senior year is one of the most concrete things you can control. 

We'll walk through each of these in more detail below. And if you're getting your bearings on how Early Action and Early Decision timelines work in the first place, our full guide to EA, ED, and Regular Decision is a good place to start. 

What is a Deferral?

Students who apply to college during Early Action or Early Decision can receive three responses from admissions offices: acceptance, rejection, or deferral.  A deferral means they couldn’t say “yes” yet, but they weren’t ready to tell you “no” either. They want to review your first-semester senior year grades and accomplishments and evaluate you again in comparison to the regular decision applicant pool.  You’re not in, but it’s not over yet, either.

At Collegewise, monitoring admissions trends is part of our daily routine (while sipping on our morning coffee). As we continue to hear back from colleges, students are being deferred more than any other generation. 

This piece from Rick Clark at Georgia Tech speaks to the many (and often conflicting) institutional priorities at play in why someone is deferred (if you prefer audio, check out this podcast interview he did on the topic). Some places either admit or defer everyone (MIT, Georgetown). Some defer very few. No matter what, trying to play the guessing game over why you were deferred isn’t energy well spent. Ultimately, it means the door is still open to you. So, what do you do about it?

Deferral vs. Waitlisted: What's the Difference?

It's easy to mix these up, but they happen at different points in the process. A deferral happens when you apply Early Action or Early Decision, and a college moves your application into the Regular Decision round instead of deciding right away if they should accept or deny you. 

A waitlist offer happens after Regular Decision when a college has finished evaluating its applicant pool and is holding your name in reserve once admitted students confirm their enrollment. In short, a deferral delays a decision, while a waitlist follows one. Both mean the college hasn't ruled you out, but the steps you take (and the timeline you're working with) look different. 

For more information on waitlists, consider reading our full guide on what to do if you've been waitlisted. 

Why Was I Deferred?

If you were deferred, admissions officers found you to be a qualified candidate but may need more information about your application before making a final decision.

The important thing to remember is that there is never just one thing that leads colleges to their decision. It's not because a student didn't take a specific AP course, or they didn't include an additional extracurricular, or they had a spelling mistake in their Common App essay. So the last thing students should do right now is dwell on the unknown and beat themselves up. 

At the end of the day, deferred applicants are qualified applicants.

Deferrals: Next Steps 

We've broken this down into what to do right away, and what you can wait on. It’s tempting to immediately dive into “what do I do now?” And the honest answer is: the most impactful things you can do are best done weeks after the deferral. Here’s our recommendation.

Right After You've Been Deferred

Dos

The only immediate to-do is to read the deferral letter carefully. Some colleges automatically place you in the Regular Decision pool, while others require you to fill out a form or click on a link to do so. Make sure to fill out the form or click a link if the college is asking you to opt in, and if you’d like to remain in the regular pool. Some schools will also ask if you’d like to be considered or shift into the Early Decision II pool; make sure to discuss with your family and school counselor if this option makes sense for you.

Don'ts

For the love of all things, please, oh please, don’t bother the admissions office the day after you were deferred. And frankly, if you were deferred at any point in the month of December, don’t bother them until the new year. Reaching out so closely to receiving your decision oftentimes in a more emotional response. Waiting lets you demonstrate that you thought through your outreach.

Otherwise, it’s important to stay focused (and excited!) about the other colleges you’ve applied to, or maybe even been admitted to. Don’t let this “maybe” distract you from the “yes” offers you do have, or the work that remains.

In Late January

Dos

At this point, you’ll want to make sure you’ve updated your high school counselor that you’ve been deferred, so they know to send an updated transcript (called a Mid-Year Report) to the college. This is how the admissions office will see your academic progress.

You’ll also want to let the college know about any important updates to your application since you submitted it. Some schools have specific instructions about how they want to be updated and with what information. Make sure you follow their guidelines and requirements here. For some, there’s a dedicated place to share updates in the applicant portal. Either way, we still recommend writing an additional email to your admission officer (or the admission office’s general email, if you can’t track down your AO’s contact information). 

Be thoughtful about what to share. Remember that colleges will still have your application on file, so they’ll have everything that you submitted the first time. There are a few pieces, though, that will be new information that colleges will want to consider:

1. Grades. Once your first semester/second trimester/quarter grades are available, you’ll want to share those. Your counselor will handle sharing the actual transcript, but if there’s any grade or progress you’re particularly proud of, that’s worth sharing in the email.
2. Test scores. If you retook the SAT or ACT and scores have improved since you submitted your application, you’ll want to update those as well.
3. New, important information about activities and/or involvements. For example, if you were recently elected captain of the basketball team or if your research paper was accepted for publication, those are things that you may want to include.
4. Level of interest. At this phase in the process, it’s incredibly helpful to hear an (honest!) show of interest. If this is truly your top-choice school, say that. And, make sure you tell that to your school counselor as well. 
5. Unless a college explicitly asks for one, don’t send additional letters of recommendation or essays. If they want to read extra writing, they will ask for it.

Don'ts

Don't give up and lose faith in the college admissions process. This is an exciting time for students and it shouldn't take away from other college acceptances.

How to Email an Admissions Officer for an Update

Here’s a sample email for you to draw inspiration from. Of course, make sure to write it in
your own voice and style. Letting them see you as an individual here is important!

Hello, Mr. Ross –
My name is Gillian Cummings, and I’m writing to follow up on my application to Santa Clara.
While I was disappointed to be deferred during Early Action, I’m still very excited about the
possibility of attending this fall.

I’ve requested that my counselor send in my Mid-Year Report, which she did last week. In
addition, I have a few updates to share:

1. I switched from AP Biology to AP Environmental Science. Our Biology class didn’t meet the
   minimum enrollment it needed to run this semester, so I enrolled in APES instead.
2. I am really proud of the B I earned in my AP Economics class. The course is fast-paced, and the material is unlike anything I’ve encountered thus far in my high school curriculum, but I find the real-world applications of what we are learning fascinating.
3. My basketball team made it to districts! We’ve been building our team over the last four
   years, so it was pretty exciting to make it that far.

I appreciate your careful consideration of my application to Santa Clara. If there is any other
information you need, please don’t hesitate to email me at gcummings@gmail.com or call me at
425-451-4355. Santa Clara is my top choice for college, and there’s no other place I’d rather be
next fall.

Gillian Cummings
Applicant ID: 8161999
(*If you don’t have an applicant ID, list your birthdate.*

Do Deferred Applicants Get Accepted in the End?

Yes, deferred applicants get accepted each year. While not every deferred student will receive an acceptance, students who demonstrated interest, provided supplemental information, and made improvements during their waiting period can increase their chances of acceptance. 

In fact, we asked Julie Brasseaux, Collegewise counselor and former Regional Senior Assistant Director of Admission at Tulane University, to weigh in on a student's realistic odds of admission once they've been deferred:

"This is a good question! The realistic odds after a deferral are entirely dependent on the school. I would not treat a deferral the same way as a waitlist (which is nearly always a no). A deferral means the college saw something they liked in the application but wasn’t ready to admit the student in the early round. Colleges simply aren’t ready to fill their class from the early pool and want to compare deferred students with the larger Regular Decision pool."

She goes on to say, "Deferral gives the student an opportunity to send a letter of continued interest with meaningful updates (if the school allows it)—new grades, leadership, awards, etc.—and reiterate their interest with specifics if it’s truly a top choice. I wouldn’t tell a student to spend a ton of energy chasing a deferral if they get into other schools they’re more excited about in the early rounds."

"The hard part is that admission after deferral can depend heavily on institutional priorities and what gaps remain in the class. If a school ends up needing more English majors from Minnesota and you’re not one, there may not be much you can do about it. So while admission after deferral is absolutely possible, I’d encourage students to treat it as an uncertain possibility rather than counting on it."

Final Thoughts

Whether you or someone you know has been deferred, don't panic. As we've mentioned in this blog, the door is still open. Be sure to keep up the hard work you've been doing in your classes, finish the academic year on a strong foot, and apply some of the strategies we've listed. Good luck, applicants!

About Us: With more than twenty-seven years of experience, Collegewise counselors and tutors are at the forefront of the ever-evolving admissions landscape. Our work has always centered on you: the student. And just like we’ve always done, we look for ways for you to be your best self - whether it’s in the classroom, in your applications or in the right-fit college environment. Our range of tools include counseling, test prep and academic tutoring, and essay management and more, leading to a 4x higher than average admissions rates.

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