If you’ve been deferred from your dream college, you’re not alone.
I know from first-hand experience that this feeling SUCKS!
Luckily, you’ve come to the right place: stick around for this video to learn how I
beat out 95% of Princeton applicants and went from being deferred to getting accepted.
Hey!
I’m Greg Smith, and today we’re going to talk about getting deferred from college.
If you’re watching this video, you’ve probably gotten deferred from your dream school,
whether that be, you know, an Ivy League, Stanford, University of Michigan, wherever
you're trying to go.
You're also feeling pretty bummed because you think your chances of getting in are pretty
low.
You might feel like you’ve ‘wasted’ your early action or early decision opportunity.
You’re probably trying to figure out what was “wrong” with your application.
I want you to listen to me right now-- there is NOTHING wrong with you.
The top colleges, okay, ivy leagues, MIT, Stanford.
They all report that the amount of people that are qualified to get in way surpasses
the amount of people that they can fit in their class.
So, remember that getting deferred from a college does not mean that you are not good
enough to get in-- in fact, this school wants to give you another chance!
They want to compare you to the regular decision pool.
They're interested in you!
Now, believe it or not, after watching this video, you will actually have an advantage
over the people who just applied regular decision, as I'll show once I break down the letter
that I wrote to the Princeton college admissions office after being deferred.
Yeah, you heard me right.
I am going to read the actual letter that I wrote to the Princeton college admissions
office when I got deferred.
I'm going to break it down and tell you why it was so effective, and why I believe that
it got me into the school regular decision.
Oh, and, now that I have your attention, why don't you take the 3/60ths of a second that
it takes to drop a like on this video.
Also, if you are interested in more videos about college admissions, college life, college
comparisons, everything college, just hit subscribe and you will be updated whenever
I post a new video.
Now, enough talk.
Let's get into how I turned my Princeton deferral into an acceptance.
Step 1: Meet with your college guidance counselor.
I cannot highlight enough how important it is that you schedule a meeting with your college
guidance counselor.
From personal experience, getting deferred from your dream school can feel like the end
of the world.
But your college counselor has been through this multiple times.
They'll stop you from making rash decisions, they'll help you to look at things a little
more rationally, and also, they'll know exactly what your school is looking for in deferred
applicants.
Come to your college guidance counselor with these three questions prepared.
What extra materials can I send to this college to show that I am a super qualified applicant?
Usually, you will get a letter when you are deferred.
You should read that letter and see whether they say specify not to send extra materials.
Generally, if they say that, you want to back off, but otherwise, by all means, go and send
them everything you got.
But the reason I'm telling you to ask your college guidance counselor, is because they've
likely had experience with the school or with other schools in the past, and they know exactly
what the school is looking for, how much material is appropriate to send, so you don't annoy
the heck out of them.
Number two.
When are you available to meet with me and work on my letter of continued interest?
Just so you know, a letter of continued interest is a letter that you write to the school that
you got deferred to.
It shows that you're still very interested in the school despite being deferred.
We have a little bit of work to do before we start writing this.
I'll explain what I mean in a sec.
And, the third question.
How does my college list look like?
Are there any holes or gaps or schools that I haven't really looked at that I might want
to add for the regular decision round, considering that I've been deferred?
While you might hate to ask a question like this, it’s actually very important that
you do.
When you have this mindset that there's only one school you can go to and one school that
you'll be happy at, it causes a lot of stress, especially once you've been deferred.
Step two: This is the most important step, so listen up.
Make meaningful contact with someone at the university OUTSIDE of the admissions office.
The letter of continued interest is something that you brought up in your meeting.
But basically everyone who gets deferred writes one of those, right?
So, how are you going to stand out?
How is your letter going to be special among the sea of deferred applicants?
Well, you’re going to put in some extra work to show that you’re super dedicated
and connected to the college in a way that a lot of people are not.
Now all I did to get this meaningful contact was reach out to a professor whose work I
found interesting, and she responded, very thankful for my interest in her work.
Then, I wrote about that experience and interchange in my letter of continued interest, and talked
about how I wanted to continue to meet with professors and study their work at Princeton.
My grades dropped senior year!
I was having a lot of fun.
But, I did this, and I got accepted guys, so it kind of seems like this letter is what
made the difference between my acceptance and rejection.
Now, what are some of the ways that you can make contact with a professor or student at
the school that you were deferred from?
If you live nearby, just do a campus tour.
Stick around after the tour to get the tour guide’s name and email address.
If they are a junior or a senior, they are likely doing some sort of research or project
with some sort of professor; you could even probably ask the professor who's advising
them on their research.
Bam!
You're done.
If you don’t have the resources to do a campus tour of the school that you're interested
in, you can also do some online sleuthing to find out what kind of research is being
done at the school that you're interested in.
It's really as easy as googling “research at stanford.”
Their research page shows up, you can see different articles about different studies
that are being done, and usually there's authors at the bottom.
They have emails on the faculty page, and boom, you're in.
Now it might seem pretty intimidating to reach out to a college professor about their research
when you're just a high school student, but don’t worry!
I'm not asking you to critique their experiments or offer some alternate theory or something
like that.
All I'm asking you to do is to write a quick email or letter saying "Hey, I really think
this research is interesting, I'd love to learn more.
Also, what are the research opportunities like in your field at x or y school?"
Professors love to talk about their research, and they love to talk about their school as
well, so, hopefully you will get a response!
If you have gotten a reply or even a nice back and forth conversation with a student
or a professor about their research or what they've been doing at the school, why their
research is interesting to them, then you're ready to move on to step three.
Step threeis to write and send your letter of continued interest.
Now, if you’ve done all the work, writing this letter is relatively simple.
It's not like your college essays where you have to really make sure you're telling a
unique story and things like that.
It's simply a letter showing that you are still interested in the school.
Now, I am going to read you my real-life letter of continued interest from when I applied
to Princeton.
Please do not copy it verbatim.
I have talked in a number of my videos about how plagiarism works, how easy it is for them
to catch you, and how negative and awful the consequences are if they do, so just don't
risk it, write this in your own words, just use the idea as a jumping off point.
Okay, so let’s get reading it.
“Dear Dean Rapelye, Thank you for giving me the opportunity of a second review of my
application.
While I was disappointed in the deferral, it has not changed my belief that Princeton
is a terrific fit for me.
I understand you see many outstanding candidates, so I thought I’d take a moment to highlight
what I feel differentiates me from other applicants.”
So, all I basically did here was mention that Princeton is still my first choice school
despite being deferred, and I sorta outlined what I was going to do in the rest of the
letter as well.
So.
“As the recipient of my high school’s Confucius Scholar Award (given to the top
Mandarin student in the school), I feel prepared and excited to take advantage of Princeton’s
intensive East Asian Studies program, which will open a terrific career path in the fastest
growing nation in the world.
I am not afraid to take on challenges, studying ahead to take the Physics SAT subject test
two weeks into my AP Physics class, and scoring a 780.
Finally, my community service work will support the informal motto of the school “Princeton
in the Nation's Service and the Service of Humanity”, and serve the community well,
both as a student and an alum.”
So in the second paragraph, I'm really just reminding the admissions officer about some
of the key highlights of my application, sort of like a "sparknotes of Greg Smith's Common
app."
And I also show how the things that I'm doing relate specifically to Princeton, so you know,
I talk about my Chinese proficiency which really ties in well with Princeton because
Princeton's Chinese department is one of its finest *oops cut this out*.
Also, I talked about community service because Princeton's motto is "Princeton in the nation's
service."
“When I went on a campus tour of Princeton, I was offered the unique opportunity to explore
what Princeton has to offer in terms of arts.
It was an excellent and energizing experience that showcased to me the great academic offerings
at Princeton and helped me to see the many ways I could contribute to the community.
Since visiting, I have stayed in contact with Professor *bleep* in the history department
and Professor *bleep* in the theater department to further discuss topics covered during my
visit.”
Now this is the paragraph that separates me from a lot of other applicants.
In this paragraph, you're sort of going to 'name drop' a few professors at the school,
or students, or whoever you know at the school, and whoever has inspired you to really want
to go to that school.
Admissions officers want proof that this is your number one school so that when they accept
you, you'll actually accept their offer of admission.
“Since I submitted my application in October, I haven’t taken my foot off the gas.
I was recently accepted into the 2017 NAfME All-Eastern Honors Chorus, and am auditioning
for our school production of Chicago.
Our mock trial team has advanced through the first round of competition and I was named
‘Best Witness'.
I spent two weeks in January building a stratocaster guitar, and have since been songwriting in
my free time.
Finally, the street performing charitable club that I founded has had another successful
performance in Philadelphia.”
So, in this paragraph, I'm sort of just updating them on what's going on in my life, a lot
of these are not super impressive things but just sort of showing the college that I'm
still involved in life, still engaging, still interested, still learning, even though I've
submitted my college application.
Alright, last paragraph.
“There is nothing I want more than to call myself a Tiger next fall, and I am willing
to go the extra mile to make it happen!
I’m ready and excited to continue to demonstrate my interest and capabilities-- I’m happy
to schedule a second alumni interview, submit another Arts Supplement, or answer any questions
directly.
I can be reached by phone or email.
Thank you once again for continuing to consider me for admission to Princeton University’s
Class of 2021.
Warm regards, Gregory Smith."
So, in this last paragraph, I mention a second alumni interview, I say "Hey, you can reach
out to me by phone or email"-- Don't worry about this.
This is just to show that you are dedicated to the school.
The admissions office will not have any time to go and call you up, and if they do, that's
great for you, that means really good news.
Step four: Focus on applications to other colleges.
Once you have sent your letter of continued interest, there’s nothing else you can really
do that will help your applications-- in fact, a lot of thinks that you might think of doing
will actually hurt your chances.
Now that you've differentiated yourself from the sea of other deferred applicants, all
you can do is wait and focus on other colleges that might be really exciting to you.
Well guys, if you stuck with this video, then you are the person that every college, every
employer is looking for-- you're proactive, motivated, and excited.
And even if you don't get in to your dream college, those qualities are much more important
than which college you went to, so stick with it, you guys rock!
I just want to remind you guys that if you enjoyed the video it helps me so much if you
DROP a like and subscribe, share with your friends if they're going through a deferral
and you want them to see this video and help them get in, it would be really nice of you.
And, I have a question for you guys.
I am currently thinking about what my next video should be, and generally what the direction
of this channel should be.
So just let me know if you guys want more college admissions, SAT-based videos, or more
videos about my life at Princeton.
That might be interesting, since a lot of people I know are now sort of just deciding
between colleges or figuring out which one they're going to choose, so just let me know!
I'm happy to do videos on anything.
As you can see, I got this new recording equipment which I'm super excited about, and I'll see
you guys next week.
Bye!