Be Prepared: What to do if your early round results are not what you hoped
If you’ve received exciting news at the culmination of the early round, congratulations! But if the results aren’t what you had hoped, look ahead with excitement to all the great opportunities you’re creating for regular decision! Now, it’s about maximizing those opportunities, and perhaps creating new ones, to put yourself in the best position possible for positive regular decision round outcomes.
The first step to stay on track is to take a deep breath! There’s no need to panic or to be discouraged. There are lots of great schools where you can have an enriching and successful college experience. Just think back to those supplemental questions where you described what a successful college experience means to you. When you focus on what you value in an education, you’ll be able to recognize those qualities and values in multiple universities and colleges.
After you take a deep breath, follow these steps to maximize the regular decision opportunities on your list:
Re-evaluate your regular decision list: Do you need ALL of those reaches? Is it worth replacing one or two with a target or safety? Do Columbia and Brown really have that much in common? Remember, the quality of your specific and personal connections (as expressed in your supplement essays) to your reach schools is always paramount.
Re-read your application: Read your full Common Application again from top to bottom. While re-reading, focus on where you can improve while maintaining confidence in your overall message. Avoid the temptation to re-invent the wheel. Instead, look for areas to fine tune!
Review regular decision supplements: After reviewing your Common Application and making any adjustments to your list, carefully go through your supplemental responses. Are the academic areas you’re highlighting connected to your academic strengths and past activities? If not, consider switching them up. Also, have you selected very popular programs at the schools to which you are applying? If so, adjusting your strategy to focus on programs that are less popular and which you’ll stand out more will help!
Consider Early Decision 2. Even if early decision didn’t yield the results you hoped, it is still true that one of the best ways to help your chances is to commit to attend a school at the time of application. Some schools offer a binding early decision 2 round (usually due in the first week of January); if it works out, you’ll hear back in February as opposed to later in the spring. Not every college offers it, but if they do, they look favorably upon those candidates.
If you’re deferred by your early decision or early action school, good job…you’re still in the mix! But before you focus on that school and maximizing your chances there in regular decision, focus on submitting your regular decision (or early decision 2!) applications FIRST. Then, in mid to late January, you need to revisit your deferred application and provide new, relevant information in a LOCI (Letter of Continued Interest). Check out our blog on how to manage that! At Arthur Smith Advising, guiding students through the key notes to hit in the LOCI is a big part of what we do.
Overall, a healthy perspective is one of the most important things that you can maintain as you transition from the early round to regular decision. You invest your heart and time into your applications, especially for those early decision schools on your list, but don’t forget that there are many schools out there to get excited about. Take confidence in knowing that you can still put your best foot forward so you can step into the regular decision round with purpose!