Deferred? It’s time to think about that Letter of Continued Interest (LOCI). Yayyyyy! More writing to do.

African-American teenage boy with headphones using laptop at table in room

Wow, when I say a ton of kids were deferred this year, I mean A. Ton. Of. Kids. Were. Deferred. This. Year. So, maybe it helps to know that you’re not alone?

Now, what do you do with that deferral? For starters, it's important to focus on your regular decisions schools right now. Be prepared to mentally move on from the school where you are deferred. There are lots of amazing schools where you can find and be your awesome self. Remember you have you wherever you are.

However if you are, indeed, still interested — and the school doesn’t specifically ask you not to, start thinking about your letter of continued interest (LOCI). Some amazing advice from u/ScholarGrade: “it's hard to take the time and energy to actually send something. So many students don't bother because they see the stats on how few students get in off waitlists and just give up. Don't let this be you. I also once heard a Cornell AO say that they don't really bother looking at deferred applications where no update was received because they figure that if you really want to go there, you'll send something. TL;DR - Send something. Actually do it. You have nothing to lose and it could change your life.”

And, If you’re still reeling, or even grieving, from the effects of the excitement of December Decisions mutating to becoming December Deferred, you’re not alone. And while you can’t force yourself to feel happy, you can do something fun -- dance, sing, eat ice cream, wear funny clothes. That def does not mean to push bad feelings away. It just means to give those feelings a break. I recently wrote a couple of posts about how to deal with admissions stress : You are a BadAss Applicant even if December Decisions didn’t go your way: A Metaphor about Trees (and Dream Schools). And Emotional Planning. I know y’all rock when it comes to supporting each other, but if you find yourself struggling, you might find something that speaks to you in those posts. And you can always reach out to me too. Here’s a great blog from Rick Clark, Director of Admissions from Georgia Tech; it's about dealing with the stress of admissions and life, not specifically about how to write a LOCI, but some of you might find it helpful. Aside from the fact that he mentions Reddit (I’m sure he must mean A2C ;)), he always has amazing wisdom to share.

I’m also gonna share this recent blog from the Director of Admissions at Tulane about what to do if deferred. And, here are some guidelines from me you might find helpful:

Dos:

Don’ts:

PS — I have recently heard the advice from a high school counselor to send a snail-mail handwritten LOCI addresses to your admissions officer. I haven’t heard from anyone on the college side, but I figured I’d share the advice here. If you decide to do that, I recommend that the handwritten letter be the thank you and continued interest part. Then send an email or upload to the portal with a letter that thanks them, notes your continued interest, and includes updates.

Tl;dr: 1. Send something unless the college specifically tells you not to. 2. Follow their directions. 3. Like everything else in college admissions, there is no magic formula. All you can do is get advice and then decide what makes most sense for you. Others might have different advice than mine. That’s totally ok. You read it all and learn and then figure out what works best for you.

--

--

College Admissions Consultant. Mindfulness in College Admissions. Author: Hey AdmissionsMom: Real Talk from Reddit. www.admissionsmom.college

Get the Medium app

A button that says 'Download on the App Store', and if clicked it will lead you to the iOS App store
A button that says 'Get it on, Google Play', and if clicked it will lead you to the Google Play store
AdmissionsMom

College Admissions Consultant. Mindfulness in College Admissions. Author: Hey AdmissionsMom: Real Talk from Reddit. www.admissionsmom.college