If your child was deferred from Syracuse University, it may feel like the end of the world. But rest assured, their college admissions journey is not over. Regular Decision applicants will hear back from Syracuse University on March 21st.

Don’t be dissuaded! There are still steps a student can take to strengthen the chances of hearing positive news from Syracuse University in the wake of a deferral. 

What Percentage of Early Decision I and II Applicants Does Syracuse University Typically Defer?

Syracuse University offers both Early Decision I and Early Decision II. This is a binding commitment for students who apply and are accepted to the school. They do not offer Early Action, the non-binding early application option. 

Syracuse University also does not release data to the federally-mandated Common Data Set on the number of students they defer each year. For the Class of 2029, almost 47,000 students applied to join a first-year class of about 3,750 students. However, colleges typically accept more students than there are slots when it comes to admissions, so that does not confirm the Syracuse University acceptance rate. 

Syracuse University Acceptance Rate

Last year’s acceptance rate at Syracuse University, according to US News & World Report, was 46%. If they received around 47,000 applications, that would mean just over 21,000 students were accepted to join the university. 

What Percentage of Early Decision I and II Applicants Does Syracuse University Typically Accept?

The Early Decision acceptance rate for Syracuse University is listed as 58% according to US News & World Report. That’s a full 12% higher than the Regular Decision acceptance rate. Although again, there is no publicly available breakdown of just how many students applied for either Early Decision I or Early Decision II, it’s clear that applying in either Early round will give applicants a stronger chance of acceptance than applying in the Regular round. 

What Should Applicants Do After Being Deferred by Syracuse University?

PostMortem Application Review

After receiving a deferral from Syracuse University, we would recommend signing up for Ivy Coach’s PostMortem application review. 

During the PostMortem session, we will:

• Give in-depth feedback on up to three college applications. Ivy Coach’s counselor,  a former elite college admissions officer, will review both essay and non-essay portions of the applications.
• Brainstorm a compelling extracurricular hook to give your child that necessary spike in their case for admissions. This is a crucial piece in the puzzle of success in the elite college admissions process. Elite colleges seek to admit singularly talented students. Together, these singularly talented students form a well-rounded incoming class. Note that we didn’t say elite colleges seek well-rounded students!
• Correct mistakes that we find throughout the applications. No student who comes to work with us after their deferral has a perfect application, so don’t take it personally. But if we see an error like missing key course requirements or filling the Additional information section with superfluous material, we’ll let your child know how to fix it. 
• Create a list of schools for your child to apply to via Regular Decision. Our counselors are experts at spotting gaps in student college lists. So often, students end up at the college that was omitted from the original college list, an omission we spotted.

Common Mistakes Caught During Ivy Coach’s PostMortem

Of course, it would take way too long for us to list every single possible mistake a student can make in their application on this page. However, these are some of the most common ones that our counselors find. How many of these did your child make on their application? 

• In their Personal Statement, they wrote an essay about sports, music, community service, their grandparents, or travel, the six most boring and overdone essay topics.
• In their Why College essay, they copied and pasted the same answer for multiple schools, just swapping out certain names of classes or professors like a game of Mad Libs. College admissions officers know when students do this, and they really don’t like it! After all, it doesn’t exactly demonstrate interest in a college.
• A student listed the amount that they fundraised for a charitable cause. Admissions officers see dollar signs and it automatically makes students come off as unlikable and boastful. 
• Speaking of boastfulness, a student who tries to jam every activity, honor, and volunteering service they did all into one essay will come off as a braggart, and this is another unlikable quality. 
• A student’s activities are too well-rounded. Did they do the same myriad ten activities as the 50 other students applying to an elite college from the same high school? That’ll put a student in hot water instantly. 
• Finally, did your child apply to a school they didn’t have a good shot at to begin with? This may be a key reason behind the deferral or even a straight up rejection. We tell it like it is at Ivy Coach, whether or not parents and students want to hear it. 

Write a Letter of Continued Interest

A student’s best friend after facing deferral is that Letter of Continued Interest, or a love letter to the school, as we like to call it. The Letter of Continued Interest is a student’s final chance to demonstrate why they’re a strong candidate and an even stronger fit for a school. They need to make clear exactly how their singular hook will allow them to contribute to campus life. 

If students fail to do this, an admissions officer won’t be willing to give them a chance. Admissions officers need to be able to envision exactly how a student will fit on their campus; that’s the secret to the Letter of Continued Interest. 

What a Letter of Continued Interest Should Not Do

There are some pretty obvious things that should not be included in a Letter of Continued Interest. Well, at least, they’re obvious to us. For example, students should never include academic updates in their Letter of Continued Interest. That’s for the school counselor to relay in an advocacy call after the letter goes in.

They should also never list off other schools they’ve gained admission to. This is just plain unlikable behavior, and the key to getting accepted to an elite university is not only being likable, but being lovable.

Finally, it’s important for students to get creative in their Letter of Continued Interest. This letter is not the time to play it safe and boring; that’s a sure-fire way to end up in the rejection pile rather than the accepted pile. But by creative, we don’t mean taking out bus ads imploring Syracuse admissions officers to offer them admission. No, no. A student must reframe their singular narrative and showcase how they’ll contribute their singular hook to the school’s programs, institutes, culture, traditions, and activities.

We know this information is probably contradictory to other information you’ve heard regarding the Letter of Continued Interest. And if it is, we’re sorry you heard that other information first, because your time got wasted. It’s bad advice. But we love when our students compete against their peers who take such advice. Why? Because our students will so often beat them by turning their deferral into an offer of admission.

When Applicants Should Submit Their Letters of Continued Interest

At Ivy Coach, we encourage students to submit their Letter of Continued Interest as soon as possible, ideally within a few days of receiving their deferral. For example, if a student finds out they are deferred on December 15th, we like students to send in their Letters of Continued Interest by December 20th.

The exception to this is if a student already missed this window. You may be thinking it’s advantageous to get it in as fast as possible. However, we caution students against submitting letters right before Christmas or between Christmas and New Year’s. Instead, we recommend students upload their Letter of Continued Interest a few days into the New Year. They should still, however, finish that letter as early as possible. After all, that letter will serve as the foundation for how we’d encourage them to reposition their cases for admission to all of the other schools to which they’ll be applying in Regular Decision.

Chances of Getting into Syracuse University After Being Deferred

Because Syracuse University does not release detailed admissions statistics, there is no concrete number that can help determine a student’s chances of gaining acceptance after being deferred. However, a pretty universal statistic we’ve found is that about 10% of deferred candidates ultimately earn admission to the school that kicked the can on their candidacies. While this percentage can vary yearly and from school to school, it does serve as a relatively consistent general threshold.

That 10% acceptance rate jumps up to about 40% for students who come to Ivy Coach after being deferred. We work with a student to craft a powerful Letter of Interest and greatly boost (in fact, quadruple) their chances of acceptance after that disappointing deferral. 

A Deferred Student’s Chances Improve Dramatically with Ivy Coach

For students who first come to Ivy Coach after a deferral, they still have a chance at gaining admissions. Unfortunately, it’s not always a very big chance. That’s just the realistic side of things. 

At Ivy Coach, we’re very realistic. That’s why we only take on students after a deferral if they fully understand that their chances aren’t as strong as when they applied. All we can do is give them the best chance possible for admission. And if quadrupling the chances of a student is not enough for a family, we’d rather they seek help elsewhere. Good luck!

What To Do After Being Rejected By Syracuse

If you were rejected by Syracuse University, you’re certainly not alone. Think about the number of applicants for the Class of 2029: almost 47,000. With a class of just over 3,000 students, that’s a lot of rejections. 

It doesn’t mean, however, that you’ve missed out on your chance for a bright future or a successful college experience. But what’s the next step to take? Bo may know baseball. But Ivy Coach knows elite college admissions. If you’re ready to take the next step in your admissions journey, it’s time 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 us in droves after being rejected in the Early application round. We help them turn that rejection into something more positive by optimizing their case for admission for the rest of the schools on their Regular Decision list, as well as adding new schools for them to apply to. We work with students to develop a plan to catch the eye of the admissions officer reviewing their application at what will become their future university.

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

If you’re interested in Ivy Coach’s plan to optimize your student’s Regular Decision case for admission to Syracuse University’s Class of 2030 after receiving a deferral (along with the other schools on their Regular Decision list), or with planning for other Regular Decision applications after a rejection, fill out our complimentary consultation form. We’ll then reach out with next steps. You and your child are not alone in this process!