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An early rejection is a hard thing to read in the middle of December, and it arrives with two or three weeks left before most regular decision deadlines.
It is also a decision about one application at one college in one round. Here is what it means, what you can and cannot do about it, and how to use the weeks you have.
What an early decision rejection means
| Decision | What it means | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Denied | Final for this cycle | Move to your other colleges. Reapply next year or as a transfer if you still want to |
| Deferred | Reviewed again with the regular pool | Send updates if the college accepts them |
| Waitlisted (spring) | Admitted only if places open | Accept the place and deposit elsewhere by May 1 |
A denial in the early round is final for this admissions cycle at that college. You cannot apply again in regular decision or ED II to the same college this year.
It tells you very little about your other applications. Colleges do not share early decisions with each other, and no other admissions office will know. Highly selective colleges deny most of their early applicants, including many whose applications had nothing wrong with them.
Can you appeal an early decision rejection?
Almost never with success. Most private colleges do not accept appeals at all. A few colleges and some public university systems have a formal process, and it is meant for significant new information or an error in your file, such as a wrong transcript, not for a second look at the same application.
If you believe something in your file was factually wrong, ask your counselor to contact the admissions office. Otherwise the time is better spent on applications that are still open.
What to do in the first few days
- 1Take a day off from applications. Decisions made the same night are rarely good ones.
- 2Tell your school counselor. They need to know for your mid-year report, and they have seen this many times.
- 3Open your list and your deadlines. Write down every application still due and the date for each.
- 4Decide about ED II within the week, because counselors and school offices close for the holidays.
- 5Then start on the supplements, earliest deadline first.
Rebalance your college list
An early rejection is useful information about one thing: how your list is weighted. If every remaining college is as selective as the one that said no, add colleges where your grades and scores sit comfortably within the range of admitted students, and that you would be content to attend.
- Keep two or three reaches you care about.
- Make sure you have at least three or four targets where your academic profile matches the middle of the admitted class.
- Have two likely colleges you would actually attend, and that you can afford.
- Check deadlines before adding anything: some colleges and many scholarship deadlines have already passed, while others run into February.
Consider Early Decision II
If there is another college you would choose over everything else left on your list, and it offers ED II, a second binding application in January can be a strong move. It only makes sense if you would be glad to attend and the cost is workable, because an acceptance ends your search.
Should you rewrite your Common App essay?
Not automatically. A rejection is not a verdict on your essay, and admissions decisions depend on grades, courses, recommendations, activities and the size of the pool as much as on writing. Tearing up a good essay in a panic the week before a deadline is a common way to submit a worse one.
Do reread it, though. You have not looked at it for six weeks, which is the best editing condition you will get. Ask three questions: does it sound like you, is there a specific moment in it and not only a summary, and does a reader finish knowing something about how you think?
If the answers are yes, leave the essay alone and put your time into the supplements, which are different for every college and are often where regular decision applications are won. If you are not sure, get an outside read before you decide. Our review scores a Common App essay out of 100 and comments on every sentence, and it never rewrites anything, so the essay stays yours.
If you still want that college
- Transfer admission is a real route. Students apply after one or two years elsewhere, with a college transcript that counts for more than the high school one.
- A gap year followed by a new application is possible, but only worth it if the application will be clearly different: new grades, new work, a new year of experience.
- Many students find that by May the question has gone away, because the college they chose has become theirs.
Questions
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