Every year, seniors at OH wait to hear back from the colleges they applied to hoping they got it. Unfortunately, some seniors don’t get their dream college but are either given a deferral or a rejection from their college.
“My son was deferred from Augstana when he applied in August. This was two years ago or last year,” said Tracy Kroger, the head of the OH College and Career Center.
The deferral and rejection process can be difficult to navigate as colleges are different when it comes to time.
“I wish that all the colleges were more on the same timeline, it would make it a lot easier sometimes that they all said yes,” said Kroger.
If colleges are on time students can also run into roadblocks with the differing information between them.
A lot of college information all at the same time and it’s like different information or it’s information that’s like spam email or promotional email so it gets all lost together, said Olivia Blasyznki, an intern at the College and Career Center.
As the process is likely new for all seniors, it is helpful to have the assistance of the Student Services and College and Career Center when navigating the college application and acceptance, deferral, and rejection process. Terminology is part of that.
“A deferral is when a college needs more time to make a decision on the acceptance of a student,” said Stacey Baker, a student counselor at OH.
“They might want to see grades from that year, see how many other students accept their admissions offers, or a student could receive a deferral for a variety of other reasons,” she added. “A rejection is when a college does not accept a student.”
While this can be a setback to those looking for higher education, there are several ways to move forward with finding a college.
“If a student does come to me with a deferral or rejection we look at where else they applied and if they have their admissions decision yet,” said Baker.
“We might look to apply at other schools that would be considered more ‘safety’ schools for that individual student or we might look at community college as an option for next year so that they can transfer at a later time to a 4-year school.”
Looking for more tips on college? Read up on our college article series!
- College application tips for OH Seniors
- Get that cash: Seniors seek scholarships for college
- OH switches from SAT to ACT as required exam
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