Getting deferred from your dream Early school can feel heartbreaking. If that recently happened to you at Brandeis University, there are steps you can take to move forward and take control of your college admissions destiny.

Students deferred from Brandeis University won’t hear from the school until April 1st, when the rest of the Regular Decision applicants hear back. In between now and then, let’s take a look at what deferred students should be doing in order to take the next step in their admissions journey.

What Percentage of Early Action, Early Decision I, and Early Decision II Applicants Does Brandeis University Typically Defer?

Brandeis University has three Early application options for students: Early Action, Early Decision I, and Early Decision II. Early Action is the non-binding option, whereas Early Decision means students will be committed to attend the school if they are accepted.

Brandeis University does not release the number of students who are deferred from the institution each year, however, for the Class of 2028, Brandeis received a total of 765 Early Decision I and Early Decision II applicants. 323 of these students were accepted, giving the ED application rounds an overall acceptance rate of 42%. Out of the remaining 58% of students who were not accepted, it’s unclear how many of them were deferred. Similarly, there is no information available for the number of applicants or their status in the Early Action pool.

Brandeis University Acceptance Rate

The Regular Decision acceptance rate for Brandeis University has remained relatively static for the past few years, hovering between 35% and 40%. However, the Early Decision admission rate has dropped significantly. For the Class of 2026, the rate was up to 64%. Two years later, the Class of 2028 saw an Early Decision I and II acceptance rate of just 42%, only 1.5% higher than the Regular Decision acceptance rate for that year. 

Admissions Cycle	Graduating Class	Early Action Admission Rate	Early Decision (I and II) Admission Rate	Regular Decision Admission Rate
2025-2026	Class of 2030	Not Reported	Not Reported	Not Reported
2024-2025	Class of 2029	Not Reported	Not Reported	Not Reported
2023-2024	Class of 2028	Not Reported	42%	40.5%
2022-2023	Class of 2027	Not Reported	48.7%	35.3%
2021-2022	Class of 2026	Not Reported	64%	39.4%
2020-2021	Class of 2025	Not Reported	56.4%	39.4%

What Should Applicants Do After Being Deferred by Brandeis University?

PostMortem Application Review

The best step forward after receiving a deferral from Brandeis University is to sign up for Ivy Coach’s PostMortem application review.

During the PostMortem session, Ivy Coach’s former elite college admissions officer will:

• Provide exhaustive feedback on up to three college applications. Ivy Coach’s counselor will tell your student exactly what went wrong throughout the application so those mistakes can be corrected ahead of any Regular Decision applications. 
• Brainstorm a powerful extracurricular hook to make your student’s application stand out in a crowd of other well-rounded candidates. 
• Adjust anything we see that would give an admissions officer pause, such as missing critical courses or coming off as unlikable by bragging about accomplishments in an excessive way.
• Craft an appropriate school list for your student’s Regular Decision applications. We’re quite good at knowing where a student should be applying, and frequently when we add a school to a student’s list during the PostMortem session, that’s ultimately where they end up attending.

Common Mistakes Caught During Ivy Coach’s PostMortem

There are certain mistakes Ivy Coach’s counselors see on almost every application. These are sometimes easily fixable, and sometimes they’ll take a little more work than just a quick tweak. Either way, it’s worth every minute your student spends to correct their application. Here are the most common errors (though this is certainly not all of them!):

• Your student wrote a Personal Statement about one of the topics we always say to avoid (sports, music, community service, their grandparents, or travel). These are all so overdone, and they never do a student any favors in the admissions process. 
• Your student turned in a Why College essay that was easily transferable to another school (or multiple other schools). This is always obvious to admissions officers, and they hate when students don’t spend the time that they should be on really personalizing each of these essays. Why College essays should not be approached like a game of Mad Libs.
• Your student came across as too proud of themselves, a.k.a., they sounded like they were bragging. Bragging is a major no. Colleges want students who are likable, and when a student brags, they come across as the opposite of that.
• Your student looked well-rounded. Admissions officers want to see students who have one specific, unique hook, not a collection of disparate activities with no rhyme or reason to them.
• Your student applied to a school that was way too far out of their reach. We tell it like it is at Ivy Coach, and if a student isn’t going to get into a top school on their list, we’ll help them pivot to find the next best most competitive option where they’ll be a strong competitor. 

Write a Letter of Continued Interest

The Letter of Continued Interest is what we at Ivy Coach like to refer to as a love letter to the school. These will be like a longer version of a student’s Why College essay, full of more of those specific details that tell admissions officers exactly how a student will be an asset to the school’s community, extracurriculars, programs, institutes, and more. 

The most crucial part of the Letter of Continued Interest is a singular hook that’s represented throughout the entire letter, making it clear to admissions officers what a student has to offer. The hook should be clearly expressed and connected to specific offerings that the school has, demonstrating how a student will achieve success if they’re accepted. 

We call the trick to crafting that singular hook Ivy Coach’s “secret sauce.” Our secret sauce is delicious, and more importantly, it works. Take a look at our track record and see for yourself. Yum, right?

What a Letter of Continued Interest Should Not Do

As much as there are dos of a successful Letter of Continued Interest, there are also some key don’ts. It would not be a good idea, for example, for a student to include academic updates in these letters. They’re not the best use of the space; everyone applying to these schools will have a strong academic record. Instead, students should focus on that singular hook that we mentioned. 

Students also shouldn’t try to make the school want to accept them by listing off other places they were accepted. It’s more likely than not that an admissions officer will just throw their hands up and send your student into the rejection pile so they’re free to attend one of those other schools.

Both of these things we listed above contribute to making a student seem overall unlikable. The key to the college admissions process is to make admissions officers like your child. That’s how our students get such good admissions results. Admissions officers don’t just like Ivy Coach’s students, they love them and root for them to succeed!

When Applicants Should Submit Their Letters of Continued Interest

We recommend that the Letter of Continued Interest is sent in as soon as possible after receiving a deferral notification. We don’t want the institution to think a student has lost hope or lost interest because of that initial rejection. For example, if a student gets that notification on December 15th, we tell students to ideally submit their Letters of Continued Interest before December 20th.

We do also recommend that students avoid a holiday submission. Instead of sending a letter immediately before Christmas or between Christmas and New Year’s, we suggest students upload their Letter of Continued Interest a few days into the New Year if it hasn’t already been submitted before then (a submission well before Christmas would have been better).

Chances of Getting into Brandeis University After Being Deferred

There is no data publicly available about how many students who are first deferred from Brandeis ultimately get accepted in the Regular Decision round. We find that a pretty solid general benchmark across all highly selective universities is that about 10% of deferred applicants get in. That rate quadruples to around 40% for students who come to work with Ivy Coach after being deferred.

A Deferred Student’s Chances Improve Dramatically with Ivy Coach

Ivy Coach helps students craft that compelling Letter of Continued Interest, which gives them the strongest chance possible for admission. But, we know that once a student is deferred, their chance of admission is far lower in the Regular Decision round. Depending on the school, it can be a very low chance of admission. 

That’s why we only take on students after a deferral if they fully understand that their chances are not as strong as when they applied. All we can do is give them that best possible shot. If quadrupling a student’s chances of admission after deferral isn’t enough, we’d rather the family seek help elsewhere, because as we mentioned, we don’t sugarcoat at Ivy Coach.

What To Do After Being Rejected By Brandeis University

Was your student rejected from Brandeis University? We know that can be hard to bounce back from. But there’s still time for them to take control of their admissions journey and empower themselves to gain admission to the most selective school possible. Plus, they’re not alone. Last year, 58% of students who applied to Brandeis University were not accepted. That’s more than half!

If you and your student are feeling stuck after a Brandeis University rejection, Ivy Coach has a plan. Are you and your student ready to forge ahead in the admissions process? 

Sign up for Ivy Coach’s PostMortem session. Our team of former elite university admissions officers will work with you to develop a competitive strategy for Regular Decision admission.

When students come to Ivy Coach after a rejection, we help them turn that around in the Regular Decision admissions process. Ivy Coach will optimize your student’s applications for the remaining schools on their list, as well as add new schools that would be a good opportunity for your student competitively. 

Don’t give up after one Early rejection. There are plenty of fish in the college admissions sea.

Getting Started with Ivy Coach After a Brandeis University Deferral or Rejection

If you’re interested in Ivy Coach’s help optimizing your child’s case for admission in Regular Decision to Brandeis University’s Class of 2030 after receiving a deferral, or with any of their Regular Decision applications post deferral or rejection, we recommend you fill out our complimentary consultation form. We’ll then be in touch to work our magic.