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Colleges Still Accepting Applications: Class of 2028

As the academic year marches on, with most college application deadlines behind us, some high school seniors still find themselves in “college admissions purgatory.” Are you faced with deferrals from your early schools? Want to throw your hat into one or two more rings for the regular round?

Your future is waiting. These colleges offer another chance for motivated students; don’t miss out!

Pssstttt… Check out our Exploring Colleges with Late Application Deadlines for even more options!

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COLLEGES STILL ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

# = U.S. News & World Report ranking

School|Ranking|LocationDeadline
Belmont University: #22 in Undergraduate Teaching (Nashville, TN)Rolling
Clemson University: #86 in National Universities (Clemson, SC)May 1
Colby-Sawyer College: #12 in Regional Colleges North (New London, NH)April 1
Colorado School of Mines: #76 in National Universities (Golden, CO)April 1
Loyola University New Orleans: #260 in National Universities (New Orleans, LA)April 15
Michigan State University: #60 in National Universities (East Lansing, MI)Rolling after February 1
Pennsylvania State University –University Park: #60 in National Universities (University Park, PA)Rolling
Roanoke College: #130 in National Liberal Arts Colleges (Salem, VA)March 15
Rutgers University –New Brunswick: #40 in National Universities (Piscataway, NJ)Rolling
St. John’s College: #75 in National Liberal Arts Colleges (Annapolis, MD)Rolling after February 15
The American University of Paris: unranked (Paris, France)March 15 (late after April 1)
The American University of Rome: unranked (Rome, Italy)April 1
Trinity College Dublin: unranked (Dublin, Ireland)June 30
University of Cincinnati:142 in National Universities (Cincinnati, OH)Rolling until March 1
University of Edinburgh: unranked (Scotland, U.K.)Rolling after January 31
University of Kentucky: #159 in National Universities (Lexington, KY)February 15
University of Maryland @ Shady Grove: unranked (Rockville, MD)June 1
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CLASS OF 2029 INSTEAD?

If being a member of the Class of 2028 simply isn’t in the cards; that’s okay! Consider taking a gap year or work with us one-on-one in our one-year private counseling program and apply for the Class of 2029. We work with a limited number of students to provide unlimited expert guidance.

Follow us on Instagram @toptieradmissions for more tips and the latest admissions news!

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From Deferral to Acceptance: Success Stories and Strategies

Being deferred by your first-choice school in the early decision (ED) or early action (EA) round is frustrating: you came close to being accepted, but are now in a state of limbo and you don’t know why. Meanwhile, you don’t have much time before the next round of applications are due.

DEFERRAL TO ACCEPTANCE: THREE CRITICAL (AND IMMEDIATE) STEPS

1) Follow up with a compelling deferral letter.

Don’t give up on the school where you were deferred. Depending on the school, up to 15% of deferred students are ultimately accepted in the regular decision (RD) round. The key is to maximize whatever chance you have. Start by watching our video on what goes into an impactful deferral letter. In this communication you must remain positive, emphasize your continuing deep interest in that school, and highlight the special attributes you would contribute to their academic community. Above all, follow your specific school’s instructions, for example MIT and Stanford request updates in a specific short form whereas others allow more substantial communication.

Demonstrated interest can also be important at this stage.

2) Assess the most likely reason why you were deferred.

This will determine your next steps as well as the content of your deferral letter. Colleges rarely offer feedback on an application, yet it is critical to get perspective from someone with insight into the admissions process to help with this evaluation rather than a well-meaning relative or the unfounded and anonymous feedback of an internet “Chance Me.” Your school counselor or an admissions expert who has evaluated applications firsthand can determine whether the school is legitimately waiting for your senior mid-year grades, or to see who else applies from your school or region, or whether it is a “courtesy deferral” meant to soften the blow of negative admissions news.

In our experience evaluating unsuccessful Early Decision applications in our Deferral Analysis & Guidance program each December, however, the most common reason for an early decision deferral is that a student with otherwise strong academic and extracurricular credentials did not leverage their application materials to present themselves as strategically as needed for competitive schools.

Max’s Story

Max, a prospective pre-med student and Eagle Scout, contacted Top Tier Admissions the day after being deferred from Northwestern in Early Decision. Our Deferral Analysis & Guidance Program allowed Max to better emphasize his strengths and take advantage of the Early Decision 2 application round. Max scored a 790/800 on the SAT, had 8 APs, and was a straight-A student in the top 6% of his large Texas class of 600+ students. However, our analysis of Max’s application identified many key places where his inexperience with this process led him to make poor application decisions, including careless typos and a cliché main essay topic. Implementing our suggestions and rewriting essays allowed Max to pursue his pre-med dreams at WashU, a top research institution.

In the holistic admissions process of highly selective colleges, every individual component of your application matters. But these pieces must also come together to tell a broader yet cohesive story about you as a person and scholar.

3) Revisit your overall college strategy. Identify and upgrade any components of your application that held you back.

These two steps are related, because the strategy of where you should apply and whether you should take advantage of the ED2 round now depends partly on how much you can upgrade your application materials. Deferral from your target school should be a wake-up call that something is not as strong as it should be in your application presentation. You now have the opportunity to reevaluate your application and fix any weaknesses before you submit your other applications, but only if you gain a clear-eyed assessment of what these weaknesses are.

With just two weeks between early round decisions (mid-December) and RD application deadlines (early January), you can strengthen your application, BUT you need to act quickly. It is equally as important to have someone in your corner who can constructively review your application materials from the perspective of an admissions officer.

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DEFERRAL TO ACCEPTANCE: WE CAN HELP

At Top Tier Admissions we use our decades of expertise to analyze what went amiss and how best to fix any strategy or application issues. Students who take action with our Deferral Analysis & Guidance program are able to completely rework their applications and revise their essays strategically. We devote ourselves to working with only a few select students during this critical time.

Over the last three years, all students who we have worked with after being deferred were able to completely transform their admissions prospects, including:

  • a student who was initially deferred from Stanford and then admitted into Stanford’s Class of 2025 in Regular Decision
  • a student who was deferred from Notre Dame in the Restrictive Early Action round and then accepted to NYU in ED2
  • a student who was deferred from Princeton in the Single Choice Early Action round and is now at Harvard

DEFERRAL TO ACCEPTANCE: SILVER LINING

Good news: being deferred rather than denied means that you were roughly in the right zone of selectivity, at least for the early round. Working with us to upgrade your application materials is likely to create strong opportunities for you at other schools, although you will now be in a much larger applicant pool. While a deferral can feel like a setback in the moment, it can be a catalyst for ultimate success in the college application process, IF you take strategic action.

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UCLA’s Supplemental Essay Prompts

The University of California — Los Angeles receives the most applications of any college in the nation. As one of the most prestigious universities in California, with an acceptance rate of 8.8% in 2023, it is frequently referred to as a “public Ivy.” As part of the sprawling UC system, students interested in UCLA must fill out the standardized UC application. Included in this application are eight short “personal insight questions” in lieu of one longer personal statement. Out of these eight questions, students must answer four.

TTA Top Tip: Avoid the common pitfalls of the UC application and learn how to maximize the UC activity list with our UC App 911 program!
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While these eight questions are the same for every UC school, understanding the unique characteristics of UCLA will help you effectively answer these prompts. UCLA is looking specifically for “intellectual curiosity” and “personal development” in your responses to these essay prompts. Remember, the school aims to foster the shared values of “a creative, ambitious and diverse student body.”

When responding to these prompts, consider how to frame your growth and your commitment to creativity, ambition, and diversity through specific examples. Personal development is a continuous process—make it clear that you intend to contribute to the UCLA community and take advantage of its opportunities while you pursue your own unique path.

TTA Top Tip: The UC application makes use of an extensive activity list, so don’t repeat yourself in these supplemental essay questions. Allow these essays to speak for themselves by introducing new information about your experiences to the admissions committee or diving deeper into anecdotes that show your engagement in action. This is the place where your unique perspective can shine through.
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UCLA’S SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAY PROMPTS

Choose four of the eight “personal insight questions” to answer (350 words each):

  1. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.
  2. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side.
  3. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?
  4. Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.
  5. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?
  6. Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom.
  7. What have you done to make your school or your community a better place?
  8. Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?

EXPERT GUIDANCE FOR AN ACADEMIC EDGE

Like the Common Application, the UC application gives you space to showcase your talents, passions and potential. If you’re aiming for UCLA and want more support filling out the UC application, we’ve got you covered in our Common App/UC App 911 Program.

Seeking expert essay guidance as well? Consider our Essay Guidance Program or bundle them for a complete, maximized UC application!

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Get Your College Applications Done in 4 Days

Earlier this month, the Top Tier Admissions team held our 19th annual Application Boot Camp®. Our students came in prepared and finished the ABC program on a high note. You see, ABC isn’t JUST four days. We work with most of our students 1-2 years ahead of our Boot Camp days so they can hit the ground running, having already implemented our strategic advice!

During these intensive four days, our students completed their Common Application, worked one-on-one with mentors to prepare multiple essays, received essay review from our admissions committee, confirmed their application strategy, created a high-impact presentation of their activities, and learned interview techniques.

And you can, too with our Personal Boot Camp (PBC)! More on that below…

But first:

TOP ESSAY TIPS FROM OUR SENIOR PRIVATE COUNSELORS

Every year, the Top Tier Admissions team tracks essay trends and best practices. Coming off of Application Boot Camp, our Senior Private Counselors share their top tips and common pitfalls when it comes to your college essays.

Dr. Michele Hernandez, Co-President/Founder
Don’t use the essay as a running resume (first I did x, then I did Y) – just zoom in on ONE important aspect of a narrow subject -think narrow scope, not wide scope.

Mimi Doe, Co-President/Founder
Don’t aim for high literary style – keep it spare, simple and personal – be revealing by telling a story, showing the reader a scene from your life.

Dr. Kristen Wilmott, Senior Private Counselor
Things to AVOID:

  • Suddenly I realized
  • I was able to (just say what you did – I jumped, I swam)
  • No adverbs or too many adjectives
  • No sweating, trembling, facial expressions (I grinned, I grimaced, I furrowed my eyebrows)
  • No historical present (I walk in the room, I see my friend, I scream)
  • No dialogue
  • No listing of timed things (Then, I did X, then, I did Y)
  • No self-insults
    • There’s a difference between describing an obstacle or challenge and straight up not putting yourself in a good light. As I often say to students, no taglines in college essays and no self insults in college essays! 

Dr. Eliza Fox, Senior Private Counselor
Once you have brainstormed ideas for your essay, take a moment to consider how you want admissions officers to feel about you after they read it. Do you want them to view you as an insightful scholar who is going to do amazing research? As an engaged community member who is going to support the wellbeing of other students on campus? As a social activist who is going to create meaningful change? Then ask yourself if the essay you are about to write highlights that side of you. If it doesn’t, that could be a sign that you need to adjust your planned essay to tell a more compelling story about yourself.

Maria Laskaris, Senior Private Counselor
Resist the urge to “overwrite,” thinking that makes you appear smarter. Admissions officers have lots of essays to read, so keep your prose clear and concise and let your actions showcase why you are the perfect candidate for each school on your list.

Dr. Elizabeth Doe Stone, Senior Private Counselor
Your curiosity is contagious! If your essays successfully convey your enthusiasm (your deep dive into neuroscience research, your mastery of an eccentric hobby, your obsession with medieval history, etc.) they will be much more engaging to an admissions officer. The best essays teach your reader how you think and what makes you tick. If you can teach them something new in the process, even better!

Anita Doar, Senior Private Counselor
It’s hard to be distinctive when you’re writing about “feelings” and “qualities.” Everyone wants colleges to know how determined, driven, resilient, and passionate they are—join the club! Trust us when we say you want to focus on action and impact instead. 

Heidi Steinmetz Lovette, Senior Private Counselor
Share your own perspective, interests, or introspection from your high school years; colleges want to hear about your teenage self and not about your grandparents or your years in middle school.

Nellie Brennan Hall, Senior Private Counselor
Revise! Revise! Revise! Don’t become married to your first draft- it’s going to change a lot before the final version.

Personal Boot Camp

Personal Boot Camp

Three days of one-on-one work with a Senior Counselor from the Application Boot Camp® team.

COLLEGE APPLICATIONS DONE IN 4 DAYS WITH OUR PBC

Spend 4 days of your choosing working directly with one of our Personal Boot Camp Senior Counselors and put your college application stress behind you. No other program in the world brings the expertise of Application Boot Camp® directly to your (virtual) doorstep.

Don’t take our word for it. Hear what a few of this year’s Application Boot Camp families had to say:

“Without ABC I would have had a strictly mediocre application” –R.V., Application Boot Camp 2022 student

“I hope you are enjoying some extremely well-deserved R&R after the intensity of Bootcamp! We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for offering R and I your warmth, encouragement, expertise, and seasoned insight. ABC was certainly rigorous but it was wonderful to see R’s pride and relief when she was done.” –C.W., Application Boot Camp 2022 parent

“We are enormously grateful for your nurturing presence in our lives and we can’t thank you enough for the gift of your extraordinary experience and expert advice into this nerve-racking process. I still can’t get over the collective brain power in the room at ABC. I’m not sure how you do it with the pace and intensity of ABC but T felt truly seen, deeply respected, pushed in the best way possible, and overjoyed about the results. We appreciate your help more than words can express.” –H.B., Application Boot Camp 2022 parent

“I can’t thank you enough for all your guidance and encouragement during ABC! I’m still exhausted but also really happy about my essays. It’s a huge relief to have my common app in such good shape. I’ll never forget how much you and the rest of the amazing TTA team helped me.” –K.R., Application Boot Camp 2022 student

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Top 10 Things to Do After Submitting Your College Application

Submitting a college application is a moment to celebrate. Yet your work is not quite over. Here are TTA’s top 10 things you should be doing after you hit submit.

1. ENJOY THE SATISFACTION OF YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENT

There is a reason the Common App showers you with virtual confetti after you hit the ‘submit’ button. Continue the celebration by doing something fun for yourself, perhaps something that you put on hold as you worked towards deadlines: you might treat a friend to ice cream, call a relative you haven’t had time for recently, or visit your favorite spot in your hometown, the one you will miss most once you are away at college.

2. DOUBLE-CHECK YOUR APPLICATION

Although the Common App does not allow you to make changes once you’ve submitted (their analogy is that hitting the submit button is like dropping it into a mailbox), it is a good idea to double-check your submission (and an even better idea to triple-check your application beforehand!). You can still make changes before applying to the remaining colleges on your list. And if you’ve missed something important or made a major error, most universities allow you to email additions or changes directly to their admissions office.

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You should also check whether the college has a separate writing supplement. Most schools embed their college-specific questions within the ‘Writing,’ ‘Other,’ or “Questions’ sections of the Common App, but some such as Harvard and Johns Hopkins house them under the ‘Writing Supplement’ proper, and these essays must be submitted separately after you have completed and submitted your main application.

3. NOTE YOUR PORTAL LOG-IN AND PASSWORD

Most colleges now use student portals to communicate with applicants. Within 1-5 days of applying, the school you have applied to will likely email you information about how to set up your student portal. Each school you apply to will have a separate portal system, and you need to keep track of them. The portal is a convenient place to check the status of your application and required documents. You also may be able to upload additional documents such as application updates and award notifications, art portfolios, or extra recommendation letters; self-report standardized testing or request a change in test optional preference; or update your contact/personal information and application options such as choice of major or start term.

Importantly, many schools also notify students of their admission decisions through their portal rather than through separate mailings. The days of running to the mailbox to find a ‘thick letter’ indicating an acceptance package are largely over – instead, most of the action will be in your portals, so keep track of your log-in credentials.

4. AVOID SENIORITIS – KEEP UP YOUR GRADES

Even though your application has been submitted, admissions officers will still see your grades from your current coursework. They will often wait to see either first-term or first-semester grades from senior year before making a final decision on an application.

For the current Class of 2021 seniors, we believe senior grades are going to be more important than ever. Admissions officers fully acknowledge the disruption that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on your cohort. At the same time, many students were in remote, on-line learning environments for almost 1.5 years, including all or most of junior year. The overall trend was for high schools to be a bit more lenient in their grading, with many offering the option for Pass/Fail or Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grading. Overall GPAs have thereby risen. We anticipate that many schools will wait to have senior grades in hand before making decisions, and that they will have higher deferral rates from the Early Action/Early Decision rounds. In these deferral cases, senior grades are the first component that admissions officers will be looking at. If you are deferred or denied admission in the Early Round and would like to improve your chances in the Regular Round, consider calling Top Tier for an intensive admissions overhaul that will set you up to maximize your chances of success.

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5. MAINTAIN THE RIGOR OF YOUR COURSEWORK

Highly selective schools look carefully at the rigor of your selected courses. Attentive admissions officers will check that the coursework on your semester transcript matches the self-reported courses listed in your application. Switching out of Calculus BC for AB, dropping Spanish 4 because it’s not a graduation requirement, or substituting an Anatomy elective instead of taking a year-long lab science course will be noted, and it won’t be in your favor.

Also, keep in mind that if you apply and are successfully admitted in the Early Round, it is with the understanding that you will take the courses you indicated on your application. If you do plan to change your core course line-up, you or your School Counselor should contact the admissions office at the school where you were accepted early. While they will try to be reasonable in approving schedule conflicts and changes, the officers who admitted you might not look favorably on a diminution of rigor. Your job is not only to get admitted to college, but to succeed once you get there; completing a rigorous senior year of courses is the best way to set yourself up for future success.

6. SUBMIT YOUR REMAINING APPLICATIONS

Although you now have at least one application completed, you undoubtedly have additional application deadlines. While it is tempting to focus on the schools where you have already submitted applications and to start envisioning what it will be like enroll there, you should finish applying to all the schools in your application strategy. A well-considered application strategy encompasses an optimal mix of reach, target, and likely schools, and is one of the components that TTA helps students to craft at its highly praised Application Boot Camp. If you applied under the Early Round, you also need to be prepared for a possible deferral or a denial, and may want to have an Early Decision II application ready to go. You will be in a better mindset to complete additional applications now rather than after you receive disappointing news.

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7. PRACTICE GRATITUDE

Extend your gratitude beyond the Thanksgiving feast by letting those who have supported you in your journey towards college know that you appreciate their efforts and advocacy. Despite your motivation and accomplishments, you have not gotten here by yourself, and recognizing the contribution of others only strengthens you. Your support team may include family, teachers, counselors, employers, religious leaders, and coaches. Think broadly, beyond the teachers who wrote your letters of recommendation (even though for most teachers writing reference letters is not a part of their job description), or your parents who have been there every step of the way. Maybe there was a relative whose probing question about your future made you bristle in the moment, but that you have thought back on multiple times? Or a school official who agreed to advise that club you started even though it met during their lunch hour? Or a coach who believed in you and pushed you to excel?            

Practicing gratitude helps you too. The benefits include a proven increase in happiness, fulfillment, and strengthened relationships. These are the same reasons that the Common App introduced its new ‘gratitude’ prompt for the 2021-2022 cycle: “Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?” Even if you didn’t respond to this prompt, you can still benefit from showing appreciation in your college process. One of the highest honors at Cornell is the designation of Merrill Scholar, the top 1% of Cornell’s graduating college seniors. In recognition of their success and to honor the importance of high school mentors, each Merrill Presidential Scholar invites an inspirational high school teacher to the awards banquet, travel expenses paid, in addition to a Cornell professor. There is no reason to wait until you become the equivalent of a Merrill scholar – reach out now to let those who have been inspirational to you know how they have been impactful and appreciated.

8. MAINTAIN A LIST OF YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

In addition to keeping up your academic rigor and grades, you should also continue excelling in your extracurriculars. Keep an on-going list of your most significant achievements, any awards you receive, and the work you are most proud of from your capstone year of high school. This list will set you up to be well prepared to craft a compelling ‘Letter of Continued Interest’ to colleges if you are deferred or waitlisted.

As mentioned, we anticipate high levels of deferred applicants in the Early Round this year as well as high numbers of waitlisted applicants in the Regular Round. One reason is that the widespread continuation of Test Optional policies has led to a surge of applications to the top schools. To cushion themselves against the unknown, some universities will be more hesitant to commit to students in the Early Action round, and so they will make more final decisions in the Regular Round once senior grades are in hand and the full applicant pool is known. Once students matriculate in the spring, schools will also want the flexibility of filling their classes from the waitlist if needed. Contact TTA to take advantage of our track record of successful advice in crafting an impactful LOCI that will increase your odds if you are deferred or waitlisted.

9. CONTINUE TO RESEARCH THE SCHOOLS THAT INTEREST YOU

After your ‘why’ essays have been turned in, there are multiple reasons to continue researching schools. Many schools track demonstrated interest and note if you open their emails, attend their webinars, or visit campus. Schools that don’t officially track demonstrated interest will still be pleased that you have a firm foundation for your interest in attending. You may have occasion to highlight that knowledge in an interview or in a follow-up Letter of Continued Interest. During the pandemic, schools invested in their virtual materials, and they will be happy to know that you took advantage of them. Even without setting foot on campus, you can get a keen sense of a school from its social media, virtual tours, information sessions, student ambassadors, and department websites. Finally, unless you are admitted by a binding Early Decision agreement, you will ultimately need to decide where to spend your undergraduate years, so good research is in your own self-interest.

10. COMPLETE HIGH SCHOOL IN STYLE

While it is tempting to look ahead, as you must, don’t forget to take advantage of where you are now. As a senior, you have made an impact on your school and will be missed. Become a mentor to the underclassmen, setting them up for success to take over the leadership positions of the clubs, teams, and organizations where you were instrumental. You want the endeavors you care about to continue after you graduate. Senior events such as prom, class trips and picnics, group pictures, your graduation ceremony and other traditions only happen once. Don’t pass up on opportunities that you might regret later. Regardless of whether you post them to social media, take photos to document these classic moments of high school. Studies show that landmark events are an important step in moving forward successfully … and this is the goal: you are college-bound!

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