Deferrals and rejections are an unfortunate reality of the college admissions process, even for the student who has straight As and top test scores. These factors are no longer enough for success in the competitive applicant pool. 

For students who were deferred from the Rutgers University Class of 2030, they’ll now hear back about their application by no later than the end of February. 

That can feel like a long time to wait, especially for students who eagerly applied early in the hope of putting the admissions process behind them to enjoy their senior year. In the meantime, though, there are steps students can be taking to put themselves in a good spot for the rest of the college admissions process. 

What Percentage of Early Action Applicants Does Rutgers Typically Defer?

Rutgers University doesn’t offer a binding Early application option; they only offer Early Action. This means that students who apply Early will not have to commit to the school if they are accepted. The school doesn’t release information about how many students from the Early Action pool they defer each year. 

Rutgers University Acceptance Rate

Rutgers University has not released their acceptance rate for any class later than the Class of 2027, so for that year, they had a 65.3% acceptance rate.

Admissions Cycle	Rutgers University Class Year	Early Action Admission Rate	Regular Decision Admission Rate
2025-2026	Class of 2030	Not Reported	Not Reported
2024-2025	Class of 2029	Not Reported	Not Reported
2023-2024	Class of 2028	Not Reported	Not Reported
2022-2023	Class of 2027	Not Reported	65.3%
2021-2022	Class of 2026	Not Reported	66.3%
2020-2021	Class of 2025	Not Reported	68.2%
2019-2020	Class of 2024	Not Reported	59.7%
2018-2019	Class of 2023	Not Reported	61.2%
2017-2018	Class of 2022	Not Reported	60.1%
2016-2017	Class of 2021	Not Reported	57.8%
2015-2016	Class of 2020	Not Reported	56.9%
2014-2015	Class of 2019	Not Reported	58.5%
2013-2014	Class of 2018	Not Reported	60.5%
2012-2013	Class of 2017	Not Reported	59.5%
2011-2012	Class of 2016	Not Reported	60.9%

What Percentage of Early Action Applicants Does Rutgers Typically Accept?

There are no statistics available for the number of students who are admitted Early Action to Rutgers University released by the school. However, at Ivy Coach, we always encourage students to apply Early to a school, especially if it’s at the top of their list. 

What Should Applicants Do After Being Deferred by Rutgers University

PostMortem Application Review

After being deferred from Rutgers University, the best step forward is to set up Ivy Coach’s PostMortem application review. 

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

• Provide in-depth feedback on up to three college applications. Ivy Coach’s counselor will review both essay and non-essay portions of each application.
• Brainstorm a compelling extracurricular hook to place a student in the most advantageous spot for their admissions case. That hook needs to thread through the rest of a student’s application, providing them a unique perspective to showcase to admissions officers that helps differentiate them from every other student (both friends next door and strangers across the world) that they’re competing against.
• Fix mistakes that we catch. No student’s application is completely mistake-free. In fact, most contain multiple errors. Even something seemingly insignificant can have a negative effect on the admissions game, especially the lower a school’s acceptance rate drops.
• Craft a new and improved Regular Decision school list. We’re very good at spotting missing schools from a student’s list that we know they would be a competitive applicant to, so we make sure those are added for the Regular Decision round. 

Common Mistakes Caught During Ivy Coach’s PostMortem

Students typically make the same mistakes in their applications. Sometimes they do things based on outdated advice that worked 30 years ago. Sometimes they might’ve gotten bad advice. We’re here to correct those misconceptions. Of course, the errors below aren’t an exhaustive list, but these are some of the most common ones we catch. Check out your child’s application and make sure they didn’t include any of these.

• A Personal Statement focusing on sports, music, community service, grandparents, or travel. These are our five topics that are never allowed for the essay. 
• A Why College essay that’s an identical copy of their Why College essay for a different school. Even if a student swapped out the names of classes and professors, admissions officers can tell when they’re just playing Mad Libs. That doesn’t show genuine excitement about a school at all, now does it?
• They included a dollar amount that they fundraised for a charitable cause. Dollar signs make the student instantly come across as unlikable to admissions officers.
• Your child listed out every single activity, honor, and community service hour they’ve ever done all in one essay, trying to impress admissions officers. Ivy Coach’s students don’t have to try to impress admissions officers. They just naturally do.
• Your child came across as well-rounded. As we said before, that’s a pretty outdated application strategy. The crucial part of a successful application is its uniqueness and the singularity of a student’s hook. Not that they look like an exact copy of every other applicant.
• They applied for a school that they weren’t competitive enough for as an applicant. At Ivy Coach, we tell it like it is. If a student’s Early Action or Early Decision choice wasn’t the right one, we’ll let them know.

Write a Letter of Continued Interest

The Letter of Continued Interest is a key aspect of turning a deferral into an offer of admission in the next few months. That’s why it’s important to make certain your child is only writing a letter that will help their case, not hinder them incidentally.

Your child’s Letter of Continued Interest needs to be a love letter to the university. Think about it: you wouldn’t want a generic, fill-in-the-blank love letter that could apply to anyone else, right? And you could tell if a love letter wasn’t specific to you, couldn’t you? Admissions officers are the same way. They want to read a letter filled to the brim with details that show a student is really excited about contributing to the school via their singular hook. They should be learning something new about their own institution from that letter!

The Letter of Continued Interest also needs to catch the attention of an admissions officer right away. Otherwise, your child’s application will blend in with everyone else. A student’s hook should be present throughout the letter and should demonstrate how they’re in a unique position to benefit the school. They have to make it clear and easy for admissions officers to understand.

What a Letter of Continued Interest Should Not Do

Obviously, there are also things the Letter of Continued Interest should never do. Under no circumstances should there be academic updates included. We don’t care if your child got an A+ on their AP Physics C Midterm. Admissions officers won’t care either. It sounds like bragging. And what is bragging? Say it with us: bragging is unlikable. 

The Letter of Continued Interest needs to keep an admissions officer engaged in a creative way. It needs to be enjoyable and genuinely interesting to read. Here’s a clue: it shouldn’t start with their name. It should paint a clear picture of that singular unique hook, showcasing how they’ll contribute their hook to the specific aspects of the school, like its programs, institutes, culture, traditions, and activities.

If this advice is different from anything else you’ve heard (and it may very well be), we’re sorry about that. We know there’s a lot of bad advice floating around in the ether. Hopefully, there’s still time to correct those mistakes before your child submits a letter which would hurt their case for admission rather than help. 

When Applicants Should Submit Their Letters of Continued Interest

We recommend students submit their Letter of Continued Interest ASAP, ideally within a few days of receiving a deferral. For example, if a student hears that they are deferred on December 15th, we like students to send in their Letters of Continued Interest before December 20th.

However, the one time we will tell a student to definitely NOT send that letter is if it’s the day or two leading up to Christmas or between Christmas and New Year’s. Admissions officers deserve a holiday, too, right? Then we’ll have students wait to send the letter in until a few days into the New Year. 

It’s important to note that we only said wait to send, NOT wait to write. That letter is going to be exactly how we’d encourage a student to reposition their Regular Decision applications, many of which will be due in the first few weeks of January. They should draft that letter and then use it as a guide moving forward.

Chances of Getting into Rutgers After Being Deferred

Rutgers University doesn’t give the exact percentage of students who are accepted after receiving a deferral. However, a pretty universal statistic we have at Ivy Coach is that about 10% of deferred candidates ultimately earn admission to the school that kicked the can on their acceptance decision. Although the percentage can vary year to year and school to school, it serves as a fairly consistent benchmark.  

That 10% rate rises to about 40% for students who come to Ivy Coach after being deferred. We work closely with a student to create a compelling Letter of Interest and boost their chances of admission after a deferral, as well as greatly improve their odds for the Regular Decision application process.

A Deferred Student’s Chances Improve Dramatically with Ivy Coach

If they play their cards right, students who come to work with Ivy Coach right after being deferred still have a genuine shot at admission. 

However, we’re also very realistic at Ivy Coach. We tell it like it is. Honesty is the best policy, after all. Because of this, we can only take on students after a deferral if they fully understand that their chances simply aren’t as strong as when they first applied. All we do is give them the best possible chance to gain admissions. If quadrupling a student’s chances post-deferral is not enough, happy applying!

What To Do After Being Rejected By Rutgers

Rutgers University has a moderately competitive application process, but by no means is every student gaining acceptance. Not by a long shot. They still rejected about one third of the applicants who submitted to join the Class of 2027. So if your child received a rejection from Rutgers University, they’re not alone.

Despite that rejection, there’s still time for a student to move forward and end up successful in the admissions process. All your child has to do is be willing to fix their initial mistakes and reframe their application narrative in the way that we suggest, following that singular extracurricular hook that we determine.

Are you and your child ready to move forward and take the next step in the admissions journey with confidence? Then the next thing to do is to sign up for Ivy Coach’s PostMortem. One of our former elite university admissions officers will work with you to develop a competitive strategy for Regular Decision admission.

Students come to Ivy Coach after rejection because we’ll ensure that they don’t make any of the same mistakes over and over again in their Regular Decision applications. We like to say we dare admissions officers not to give a student a spot at their school, and that’s what we do even for students who have already faced an early rejection.

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

If you’re interested in Ivy Coach’s plan to optimize your child’s Regular Decision case for admission to Rutgers University’s Class of 2030 in the event of a deferral, or if you need help planning for Regular Decision applications after a deferral or rejection, we advise you fill out our complimentary consultation form. We’ll reach out to let you know how we can move forward together.