12th Graders Deferred After The Early Round
For families who first come to us when their children are seniors after they’ve been deferred in the Early Action/Early Decision round, the path forward is as follows:
Step 1 15-Minute Consultation
Ivy Coach offers a complimentary 15-minute consultation to parents and students via phone (or Zoom audio for international families) to learn about our college counseling services
Students are not required to join the preliminary call. This consultation is about how Ivy Coach can help navigate the highly selective college admissions process from this gloomy time forward.
Step 2 PostMortem
The one-hour PostMortem is with a former elite college admissions officer.
While there’s nothing your child can change in their applications since we’re past application deadlines, we must fully understand how they presented themselves so the narrative we help them craft in their Letter of Continued Interest isn’t out of left field. While it may hurt to hear, we’ll also point out the mistakes that can’t be corrected at this juncture just in case your child ever wishes to apply as a transfer applicant. In our experience, even if this makes them upset in the moment, they’ll get over it the next day.
Step 3 Letter Of Continued Interest
After we complete the PostMortem, we help students prepare powerful Letters of Continued Interest, which must go in expediently so the school doesn’t suspect your child has sour grapes.
The letters that most students submit after being deferred do them no favor because they’re filled with brags, updates, and generic sentences that can apply to virtually any college. That’s not the approach of Ivy Coach’s letters. In a word, Ivy Coach’s letters are weird — and it’s a big reason why they so often work. And, as importantly, how we structure a deferred student’s Letter of Continued Interest will serve as the foundation for how they should reposition their Personal Statement and Why College essays for their Regular Decision schools.
Step 4 Ivy Coach’s College Admissions Packages
Ivy Coach’s packages, which are based on the number of colleges families work with us on through the remaining weeks of December, include the following college admissions assistance and key deliverables:
Fixing the Regular Decision List
Maybe your child overreached in the Early round. Perhaps their Regular Decision list is filled with more overreaches. If your child didn’t get into Cornell in the Early Decision round, their chances of getting into Harvard in Regular Decision are slim to none. We’ll fine-tune this list and ensure overlooked schools are included. In our experience, it’s the schools we add to students’ lists at this juncture where they so often end up.
Putting Bandaids on Course, Testing, and Extracurricular Mistakes
When families come to us for the first time after their children have been denied Early admission, there will be some mistakes we can’t correct. But there will be other mistakes we can correct — before they jeopardize their child’s case for Regular Decision admission. As such, we’ll brainstorm a few new activities for them to get involved in so they can better showcase a singular hook. And we’ll fix the course and testing mistakes we can. AP Statistics doesn’t count as senior-year math. Stopping or switching a foreign language isn’t good. Students can still enroll in courses outside their schools to address these errors.
Brainstorming and Revising College Essays
Do you think there’s one admissions essay, the Personal Statement? That’s cute. There are tons of college admissions essays, and they’re all equally as important. Most highly selective universities have their own supplemental essays, many of which must be uniquely tailored to the respective institution to demonstrate a student’s commitment to attending. We brainstorm and revise every paragraph of every essay, with each essay serving as a critical puzzle piece in a student’s admissions file.
Assistance with Non-Essay Portions of Applications
There are landmines throughout each college application. Including a social security number implies the student will apply for financial aid. Not listing significant points of contact undercuts a student’s efforts to demonstrate interest in the college to which they’re applying. We make sure that our students don’t make such mistakes.
Interview Prep (after the New Year)
While the alumni interview has become one of the least important components of the elite college admissions process, we prepare students to stand out, impress, and showcase their singular hook.
TOWARD THE CONQUEST OF ADMISSION
If you’re interested in Ivy Coach’s college counseling,
fill out our complimentary consultation form and we’ll be in touch.
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