Deferred from early decision? What to do this week

What a deferral means

You were neither admitted nor denied. Wisconsin uses those exact words and says it will review midyear grades before making a final decision. Your file goes back into the pile with regular applicants and gets a second read.

You're free of the early decision promise. Barnard says deferred ED applicants admitted later "are no longer bound by the early decision agreement." Florida State and Hamilton say the same. You can apply anywhere and compare offers.

A deferral is still a live chance. Deferred students are "still under active consideration," in Florida State's words. Caltech defers only "a select few" students, the ones it is "very interested in learning more about." Deferred Caltech applicants get only admit or deny in mid-March, never the waitlist.

When you'll hear back

Deferred applicants hear with the regular round:

• UT Austin: by February 15, 2027
• Florida State: February 18
• Rutgers-New Brunswick: by the end of February
• Caltech: mid-March
• Wisconsin: by the end of March
• Purdue: by March 31
• Dartmouth: on or before April 1

Don't wait for that answer to build the rest of your list. Most regular deadlines pass well before it arrives. Still waiting on a December answer? See when each college releases early results.

Step 1: do what the college requires

Some colleges won't keep reading your file unless you act. Read your deferral letter and your portal the same day.

• Florida State requires a Deferral Reply Form in your admissions portal "to remain under consideration."
• Caltech gives deferred students "the option to opt-in to Regular Decision." Opt in.
• Georgia Tech requires deferred students to submit an updated transcript with fall senior grades.
• Wisconsin emails deferred students instructions for self-reporting grades.
• Rutgers asks deferred students to update their self-reported academic record with senior grades by the first week of February.

Step 2: send midyear grades

Your senior grades are the main new information you can give a college. Ask your counselor to send the midyear report as soon as first-semester grades post.

• Harvard asks deferred REA applicants for the midyear report and transcript in February.
• Northeastern strongly encourages deferred ED I and EA applicants to send the midyear report by February 1.
• MIT asks deferred EA students to submit its February Updates & Notes (FUN) Form, with midyear grades if available, in mid-February.
• Middlebury makes no admission decisions without senior grades.

Step 3: send a short update, if the college invites one

Many students call this a letter of continued interest. Few college pages use the phrase. Send one only where the college asks for or welcomes updates. Dartmouth does: it asks deferred ED applicants for "a brief update regarding recent notable academic, extracurricular, and/or personal accomplishments."

Keep it to one page and send it through the portal or the channel the college names. Put in only what's new since you applied:

• grades from this semester, especially in hard classes
• an award, a result, a publication or a finished project
• a new role or more responsibility in an activity
• one or two sentences on why this college is still your first choice, with a specific reason (a program, a professor, a class)

If it's your first choice and you'd enroll if admitted, say so plainly. Don't resend your essay, and don't send weekly emails. One update now and your midyear grades later is plenty.

A sample update:

Dear [Admissions officer's name],

Thank you for considering my application again in the regular round. Here is what's new since I applied in November. I finished the fall semester with an A in AP Calculus BC and an A- in AP Chemistry. In December my robotics team placed second at the state qualifier, where I led the programming subteam. [College] is still my first choice, and if I'm admitted I will enroll. The [specific program] is the reason: I want to [one concrete goal].

Sincerely,
[Full name], [high school], [Common App ID]

Step 4: new test scores, only where the rules allow

Send a new score only if it's higher and the college's own policy accepts it.

• Dartmouth says deferred ED applicants may send "new standardized exam scores and/or an additional letter of recommendation."
• Iowa lets deferred or denied applicants send a new or updated score before its acceptance deadline to be reconsidered under its admission index.
• MIT lets applicants update test scores in the portal.

At a test-optional college, use the rule of thumb from our SAT/ACT guide: send a score only if it's at or above the college's middle 50% range. Check the fall 2027 SAT/ACT rules for 138 colleges before you book a test.

Step 5: rebuild your regular decision list

Treat the deferral as a not-yet, and plan as if the answer will be no. That means a full list with some likely admits and at least one college you'd be glad to attend that your family can afford.

If you were deferred somewhere else and now have a clear first choice, a second early decision round gives you a binding application with an answer by mid-February. Harvard says students deferred in its early round may apply to a binding ED II program at another college. ED II is binding, so run the college's net price calculator with your family first.

Colleges with early decision II for fall 2027

43 colleges confirmed an ED II deadline on their own pages:

• Friday, January 1: Bryn Mawr, Emory, Macalester, Northeastern, NYU, Richmond, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest.
• Saturday, January 2: Johns Hopkins.
• Monday, January 4: Babson, Boston College, Davidson, Hamilton, Middlebury, Rice, Swarthmore, Tufts, UChicago, WashU.
• Tuesday, January 5: Boston University, Bowdoin, Grinnell, Harvey Mudd, Miami, University of San Diego, Washington and Lee, Wellesley.
• Wednesday, January 6: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
• Friday, January 8: Skidmore.
• Sunday, January 10: Bates, Bucknell, Claremont McKenna.
• Friday, January 15: Chapman University, Colgate, Colorado College, Connecticut College, Denison, Holy Cross, Reed, Trinity College (CT), Tulane, University of Vermont, Villanova.

Allegheny College, Carleton, DePauw University, Franklin & Marshall, George Washington University, Gettysburg College, Lafayette College, Lehigh, Pitzer, Rollins College, Smith, St Lawrence University, Stevens Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, Texas Christian University, The University of the South, Trinity University (TX), Vassar, Wesleyan and William & Mary also list ED II, but their pages show the date without a year, so confirm it on the college's site. Check Haverford's site for its ED II date. The early decision II deadlines page shows the same list with days left.

Switching to ED II without a new application

Some colleges let you convert a regular application to ED II by signing the ED agreement later. That gives you time to see your December results first.

• Villanova: deferred early action and regular decision applicants can switch to ED II until January 31.
• Hamilton: regular decision applicants can convert to ED II until 11:59 p.m. on February 1, 2027.
• Bates: regular decision applicants can convert to ED II until February 1.
• Trinity College (CT): regular decision applicants can convert to ED II by February 1.
• Skidmore: ED conversion deadline February 1.
• Franklin & Marshall: switch from regular decision to ED II until February 3.

Deadlines still open after January 1

Regular decision deadlines from January 2 to May 1, 2027, each from the college's own page:

• Saturday, January 2: Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Yale.
• Monday, January 4: Babson, Boston College, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon, Duke, Hamilton, Middlebury, MIT, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Rice, Swarthmore, Tufts, UChicago, WashU, Williams.
• Tuesday, January 5: Amherst, Boston University, Bowdoin, Brown, Cooper Union, Harvey Mudd, Illinois, Miami, Minerva, NYU, Penn, Stanford, Tennessee, UVA, Washington and Lee.
• Wednesday, January 6: Georgia Tech.
• Friday, January 8: Skidmore, Wellesley.
• Sunday, January 10: Bates, Bucknell, Claremont McKenna, USC.
• Monday, January 11: Davidson.
• Friday, January 15: Arizona State, Bryn Mawr, Chapman University, Colgate, Colorado College, Connecticut College, CU Boulder, Denison, Florida, Grinnell, Holy Cross, Macalester, Ohio State, Oregon, Purdue, Reed, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Stony Brook, Trinity College (CT), Tulane, UConn, UMass Amherst, UNC-Chapel Hill, University of San Diego, University of Vermont, Villanova, Virginia Tech, Wisconsin.
• Wednesday, January 20: Maryland, RISD.
• Sunday, January 31: Naval Academy, West Point.
• Monday, February 1: Auburn, Howard, Iowa, LSU, Meredith College, Michigan, Spelman, Temple, Texas Lutheran University, UIC.
• Monday, February 15: Kentucky, Pace University.
• Monday, March 1: University of Maine.
• Monday, March 15: Hillsdale.
• Thursday, April 1: Michigan State.

A few colleges keep taking applications on a rolling basis. Clemson reviews applications after January 1 on a rolling basis until May 1. Missouri takes applications until July 1. Pitt has no set deadline. Florida State has a rolling deadline of March 1.

The deadlines after January 1 list also has the few deadlines after May 1, and drops each date once it passes. Shortlist's planner shows every one of these deadlines next to your odds and flags gaps in your list: rebuild your list.