You applied to Wellesley Early Decision, and this wasn the plan. You were going to get in, or you weren. Getting in was definitely the plan, but if you didn at least youd know where you stand. A rejection can feel like an ok thing compared to a deferral, at least in the immediate moment of receiving it. Let get real, though. A deferral is disappointing, but it also much better than a rejection. In this post, well break down what you need to do to increase your chances of turning a deferral into an offer of admission. At the same time, well outline other other important steps you need to be taking to ensure that your entire college experience is a success.
First, let talk about Wellesley Early Decision. The college Early Decision I (EDI) and Early Decision II (EDII) options. The ED acceptance rate for the Class of 2027 was just over 30%, nearly twice the overall acceptance rate for the college. But this can be a little misleading, as the Early Decision pool includes students who were pretty much certain that theyd get in, based on feedback from the college, before even pressing submit, like recruited athletes. So, the functional Early Decision acceptance rate for non-athletes or legacies is probably significantly lower than 30%. It was certainly also higher than the overall acceptance rate, though, which was for the Class of 2028. If you were deferred EDI, you cannot opt into EDII. All deferred candidates, EDI or EDII, are deferred to the Regular Decision round.
Before you can begin strengthening your Wellesley application for a re-read by admissions Regular Decision, though, there are a few key steps you need to take.
If youre stressing over a deferral, contact us. We help students weather storms.
The most important thing you need to be doing right now to ensure that your college application experience is a success overall is to prepare for the battery of applications that youll be completing for the regular decision (or EDII) deadline. Yes, you can apply EDII to another school, now, as youve been deferred to regular decision and released from the restrictive early decision agreement you signed with Wellesley.
Review Your College List
You may have gotten into one or more schools Early Action parallel to your deferral from Wellesley. If so, that amazing that you have a safety net. If you didn though, you are really starting from scratch with nothing below you to catch you if you fall. The best way to mitigate the risks while setting yourself up for success is a well-balanced college list.
We recommend that student submit to 8-10 schools. Why so few? Well, that relies on crafting the perfect college list for you. If youre picking schools without strategy or insight, you may end up submitting to 15 or more, and the hard work writing supplements and juggling deadlines is unlikely to even pay off. Instead, we guide students toward a more tailored list customized to offer security and a reach for the stars mentality.
If you decide to make your own like, you need three types of schools: foundations, targets, and reaches. Foundations, or Safeties, aren actually safe, which is why we don call them that. In a hyper-competitive admissions environment, you count on anything as a given, but there are schools that you are highly likely to get into based on proven statistics (grades and scores) and personal situation (like being in-state for a state school). Aim to have 3-4 foundations on your list.
Next, youll have 3-4 targets. These are schools that align with your grades and scores, but are more competitive than your foundation schools. And, finally, youll have 2-3 reaches one of which is now Wellesley unless you choose to withdraw your application entirely.
Once you have your list set, it time to start (or continue) writing.
Reassess Your Common App Essay
It possible that your Wellesley essay was perfect, that youve been working on RD supplements for months, and that they are all fabulous. It is unlikely, however, that this is the case. Weve yet to meet an essay that be improved, and it normal albeit not advised to have delayed some supplement work in homes that Wellesley comes through.
To kick off an assessment of your writing, we advise reading our 2024-2025 Guide to the Common App Essay. In this post, we break down each prompt and guide you towards your best work. If you see that your essay doesn quite measure up, there work to do. You may not need to scrap the whole essay, though, so look for opportunities for strengthening narrative and simplifying language before you start over entirely.
We also have dozens of college-specific supplement posts that go into what we see as the strongest approach for each question. Even if youve already drafted supplements, it worth reviewing to ensure youve hit the mark.
Submit It, Already
This part should be obvious, but it isn. Once you are done, submit. Stop fiddling, stop asking other people for feedback or advice. Submit, then move on to the next one.
WHAT WELLESLEY WANTS
As weve said, Wellesley accepts early application in both an Early Decision I and Early Decision II cycle. They also defer to Regular Decision from both EDI and EDII, and EDI deferrals are not eligible to opt in to EDII. That means that your application will be re-read with, and compared against, the entirety of the Regular Decision applicant pool thousands of fresh names and applications that they don have preconceptions about. How, then, do you stand outagain?
Unlike many other colleges, Wellesley . So, the most important thing you can do is to let them know that youre still interested, and that youre still working hard. There are three ways we advise you do this: grades, a written update, scores, and maybe an additional recommendation.
Grades
Your school counselor should send an updated set of grades and a school report to Wellesley automatically, but it worth following up to be sure. Set an in-person meeting to talk with them about this, and the bigger picture of your deferral. This is especially important because they could make an advocacy call to Wellesley on your behalf. They don need to make an advocacy call, which is a literal call to the admissions office during which they advocate for your application, but it can certainly help.
Scores
Wellesley doesn require scores for prospective students (as you know), but it worth considering an updated set if you have them. Nearly 60% of accepted and enrolled students for the class of 2027 submitted scores, which tells us that they prioritize high test scores if you have them. Don send scores that would undercut other aspects of your application, though. scores for Wellesley are a 34+ on the ACT, or a 1520+ on the SAT.
Letter of Continued Interest
Next up is the qualitative step whereas grades and scores are numbers and letters, the Letter of Continued Interest (LOCI) is where all the soft stuff can come in. Weve found that a strong LOCI can be a significant difference-maker for deferred Wellesley applicants. They a list of any recent special honors or awards you have received, or any helpful information you may not have provided with your initial application.
We encourage students to send these updates in their LOCI, which should be short (no more than 400 words), formatted as a letter, and broken into three parts.
First, you have your opening. This should include a , opening, and a few sentences reaffirming that Wellesley remains your top choice school and that you will attend if accepted. As youve been released from the ED agreement, this is not binding. However, you want them to feel 100% certain that if they accept you, you will accept them.
Next, you have your update. While they say, a list, we recommend picking 3-5 updates to share, with details from each. Less is more here, and you want them to really understand the importance of the update to you. To accomplish this, give details and context for each of the updates.
Finally, you want to close out your letter by again restating that Wellesley is your first choice and specifying what you want to study, a way you want to engage with or support the community or a tradition you are looking forward to.
Then edit, review one more time, and send to assigned to your region.
Additional Recommendation
The final piece of your deferral decision response is drumming up an additional recommendation letter. As Wellesley invites , you absolutely want one. We recommend asking a coach, mentor, supervisor, or another non-teacher adult who knows you well, but who is not family, to write a one-page letter to support your candidacy. Definitely give them a short list of things you are hoping they could highlight to help them in drafting, and instruct them to send it to Wellesley admissions directly (i.e., not through you).
Before you get back into the college process, it worth noting that you may have been deferred because they aren sure that you are a strong fit for an all-women college. It important to make clear in your LOCI that selecting an all-women institution wasn done on a whim. Also be sure to underline what you feel youll get from (and contribute to) Wellesley, in relation to the unique learning environment they offer.
We help students get into a dream school, even after a deferral. Email us to learn more.