Last week, we covered what to do if your applications were accepted or denied. There’s a third category that is a bit of a limbo state: deferrals. This week, we’ll cover your next steps if your application shave been deferred.

WEEK 51 TO-DOS

THIS WEEK
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• Do what you need to do in response to the decisions you receive from the colleges about your early applications.

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• As soon as you’ve heard from your early schools, you will know which, if any, regular applications to submit. Do it now! (Aren’t you glad you had them ready to go?)

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• Continue doing what it takes to finish the term with great grades.

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• Get all your financial aid forms as close to finished as possible.
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THIS WEEK AND EVERY WEEK
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• Check your email, voicemail, texts, and snail mail for any communications that relate to applying to college. Read them and take whatever action is necessary.

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• Update your parents about what you’re doing. This regular communication will work wonders in your relationship with your parents during this stress-filled year.

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TIPS AND TRICKS

1. Treat your deferral as a second chance. Being deferred is a bit disappointing, but you haven’t been denied. Instead, you have a second chance to be admitted! Your deferred application will be reconsidered in the regular round of decision making. Assuming you have continued on a positive course in the first part of your senior year, you have new information that can and will make the application you've already submitted even better.

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2. Update your application in one go. Rather than sending things in dribs and drabs, assemble all your updates into one package of materials and submit them all together with a short and polite cover letter. That way, all the updates together will make a cohesive and persuasive statement about you. (Sending updates individually also makes it more likely that something will be misfiled or lost.) If that college remains your first choice, make sure to reiterate that in your cover letter.

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3. Use good judgment about what to send in your update. Here are the five kinds of updates that can help your deferred application (listed in order from most influential to least influential):

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• New (and good) grades

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• New (and higher) test scores (if you took tests at all, and your test scores stack up favorably, send them even if you didn’t send test scores initially; the schools can decide what they want to do with them)

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• New academic honors or awards

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• Anything that demonstrates your Core Four

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• Anything you have done that demonstrates interest in that college (unless a college expressly tells you they don’t care about demonstrated interest)

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• A positive word from someone who has a deep and influential connection to the university (major donor, board member, alum, tenured faculty, high-level staff); most people won’t have these, so don’t sweat it if you don’t either

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You can, of course, also submit other kinds of updates, like additional essays, recommendations, or supplementary materials. But we're not as enthusiastic about encouraging you to submit those, because those kinds of updates get mixed reviews from admissions officers. They tend to be more of the same, and they usually serve only to make your file fatter and more time-consuming for an already harried admissions officer to get through.

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Anna Ivey is one of the founders of Inline. An experienced admissions consultant and a frequently cited media expert on the topic of college admissions, she is also co-author of the college admissions bible How to Prepare a Standout College Application. Learn more about Anna's background here.