Tumbr Question: Deferred advice?

Today on the CollegeApp-Chick Tumblr I was asked the following


This was my answer:
Deferral is a really rough decision. You are put back into limbo, and lose the advantage of an early decision applicant.

Lets start with some of the positives of this situation first:
1. You have expressed interest in the school, so they know that if they let you in you will likely attend. This gives you a huge positive, as you will increase that ever important “yield” statistic.
2. You will now get the chance to compare financial aid packages if you’re admitted.

So now lets start on the bad news,

A deferral is not necessarily a rejection, but the regular decision pool is likely to be tougher than the early decision applicant pool. You are now competing with people who are using the school as a safety or a low match…

So how can you increase your chances?

1. Mid year grades. Hopefully you’ve been working hard and have a stellar mid year report. This can really increase your chances because A: Senior classes are often more challenging. B: This can increase your GPA. and C: It shows you haven’t fallen victim to senior-itis. This demonstrates that you are hardworking, committed, and have success in rigorous classes.
2. New awards. I don’t mean “math student of the month” but if you have, for example, made it in another round of national merit (from semi to finalist, for example) this can really help. Maybe you’ve gotten a school wide or state wide award (those AP Scholar awards may have not been out by the time you applied ED/EA) since applying. 
3. New information. This can be anything that has changed dramatically in the last month. Maybe you are a theatre/music/dance angled kid who didn’t make an arts supplement before, but had the lead in the fall play/cabaret/recital? You now can make an awesome supplement, which can be a great tip factor. Or maybe you got a huge promotion at work, and your new boss is an alumni who would be happy to write a recommendation about how brilliant and hardworking you are. Or maybe you’ve now signed up for an interview, and it went really well!
   Anything new and impressive could help.

Unfortunately, the best advice I can give about being deferred is to start looking and dreaming of other schools. It’s not a rejection, you still have a chance, but don’t get your hopes up too high. There are thousands of amazing schools. Just because the one you thought you wanted doesn’t want you, doesn’t mean you’re not going to end up in the place you really belong!