Facing deferral from University of Miami? It can feel a bit overwhelming for both parents and students to get that kind of news. Does that mean you’ll be stuck in a state of anxiety forever? 

The answer is unfortunately, yes, your student’s admissions decision is now postponed until April 1st. Ironic date, isn’t it? 

However, instead of wringing your hands for six months, there are certain things students should and should not be doing once they hear back that they’ve been deferred. And students who have been rejected can spring into action with renewed vigor now that they’ve been given the signal to reassess their approach for Regular Decision schools.

What Percentage of Early Action, ED I, and ED II Applicants Does University of Miami Typically Defer?

University of Miami does not release the percentage of students they relegate to Regular Decision for any of their Early application options. However, for students who have received that decision, it’s important to note that they must opt in to be considered for RD admission.

It’s also important to note that while 10% of the students on the waitlist were admitted to the University of Miami in the Class of 2029, this is totally different from being deferred. Curious about the differences? We’ve broken it down thoroughly here. 

University of Miami Acceptance Rate

For the Class of 2029, the acceptance rate to University of Miami was just 18%. Of the 58,139 students who applied, only 10,205 were admitted. 

Admissions Cycle	UMiami Class Year	ED I and ED II Admission Rate	Early Action Admission Rate	Regular Decision Admission Rate
2025-2026	Class of 2030	Not Yet Released	Not Yet Released	Not Yet Released
2024-2025	Class of 2029	Not Yet Released	Not Yet Released	18%
2023-2024	Class of 2028	47.6%	Not Reported	18.9%
2022-2023	Class of 2027	60%	Not Reported	18.5%
2021-2022	Class of 2026	56.7%	Not Reported	18.9%
2020-2021	Class of 2025	64.7%	Not Reported	28.5%
2019-2020	Class of 2024	61.2%	Not Reported	33.1%
2018-2019	Class of 2023	48.3%	Not Reported	27.1%
2017-2018	Class of 2022	55.6%	Not Reported	32.1%
2016-2017	Class of 2021	63.8%	Not Reported	27%
2015-2016	Class of 2020	29.2%	Not Reported	37.7%
2014-2015	Class of 2019	38.9%	Not Reported	37.8%
2013-2014	Class of 2018	28.9%	Not Reported	37.2%
2012-2013	Class of 2017	24%	Not Reported	40.4%
2011-2012	Class of 2016	26.6%	Not Reported	39.7%
2010-2011	Class of 2015	32.5%	Not Reported	38.3%
2009-2010	Class of 2014	18.4%	Not Reported	39.2%
2008-2009	Class of 2013	48.3%	Not Reported	27.1%
2007-2008	Class of 2012	22.2%	Not Reported	38.6%
2006-2007	Class of 2011	26.6%	Not Reported	38%
2005-2006	Class of 2010	33%	Not Reported	40.1%
2004-2005	Class of 2009	38.5%	Not Reported	46.1%
2003-2004	Class of 2008	46.9%	Not Reported	42.1%
2002-2003	Class of 2007	30.9%	Not Reported	44.4%
2001-2002	Class of 2006	36.8%	Not Reported	43.8%
2000-2001	Class of 2005	43.2%	Not Reported	46.2%
1999-2000	Class of 2004	49.7%	Not Reported	52.5%

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

The University of Miami does not differentiate between their ED I applicants and ED II applicants in the statistics they report within their Common Data Set. They also do not release statistics for any Early Action applications, so there is no way to pinpoint how many EA students applied and were accepted. 

For the Class of 2028, the students who began at University of Miami in the fall of 2024, the school received 2,260 Early Decision I and II applicants. Out of these applicants, they admitted 1,075. That’s a whopping 47.6% acceptance rate for all those who applied Early Decision, whether in the first or second round. 

The Class of 2027 saw an even higher acceptance rate for their ED applications: 60%. That’s right, of the 1,645 students who applied Early Decision I or Early Decision II to University of Miami to join the Class of 2027, 986 of them were accepted. Pretty good odds!

What Should Applicants Do After Being Deferred by UMiami?

PostMortem Application Review

The best course of action after receiving a deferral from University of Miami that we would recommend is to sign up for Ivy Coach’s PostMortem application review. 

During the PostMortem session, we will:

• Provide detailed feedback on up to three college applications. Ivy Coach’s counselor,  a former elite college admissions officer, will review each portion of the application, both essays and non-essay portions.
• Brainstorm an engaging and exciting extracurricular hook to help give your student that necessary spike in their case for admissions, rather than coming across as just another well-rounded, unexciting applicant. 
• Make necessary corrections on mistakes that students and parents wouldn’t even realize are mistakes, things that could have been the very cause of your student’s deferral. This could range from not having the key course requirements to coming off as unlikable by stuffing the Additional Information section with unneeded extra material.   
• Craft an appropriate list of schools for your student to apply to in the Regular Decision round. So frequently, students come to us with a huge omission on their college list, and once we add it, that’s the one they end up attending. We’re matchmakers.

Common Mistakes Caught During Ivy Coach’s PostMortem

If your student made any of the following errors, which are most certainly not an exhaustive list, but just some of the most common that we see, it’s likely that’s why they didn’t get that acceptance letter from their early application. Correcting these before moving into the Regular Decision round of admissions is going to be key:

• In their Personal Statement, they wrote an essay about one of our off-limits topics: sports, music, community service, their grandparents, or travel.
• In their Why College essay, they name-dropped classes or professors. Or, even worse, they wrote fluff sentences that could apply to any school in America. Admissions officers can always tell when students cut and paste, swapping around a few names without actually saying anything specific about their school. It hurts their feelings! Why College essays should not be approached like a game of Mad Libs.
• Your student sounded braggadocious when listing the number of hours they volunteered at each activity in the activities section. Any hours per week for an activity should be on the left-hand column, not in the valuable description. Don’t waste those characters repeating something admissions officers already know! 
• Their activities list is way too well-rounded. Admissions officers never want to see a mix of volunteering, tutoring, and random extracurriculars. They want a specific, comprehensive narrative that threads throughout the entire application. 
• Braggadocious alert: students who try to sell themselves by sticking everything but the kitchen sink into their essays are not likable or memorable to admissions officers. 
• Students applied to a dream school that was too far out of reach. At Ivy Coach, we don’t sugarcoat things. That’s why we have the success rates that we do with our students. Our students apply to reach schools; they don’t apply to impossible reaches.

Write a Letter of Continued Interest

The most important thing to do once you read that deferral decision is to write a Letter of Continued Interest. This should be designed as a love letter to that school. Just like in those Why College essays, the Letter of Continued Interest needs to be chock full of specific aspects of how a student’s singular hook will contribute to the college, whether that’s their culture, traditions, programs, institutes, or activities. 

A common problem we see in the PostMortem review is that a student didn’t frame their narrative powerfully enough. The Letter of Continued Interest is their chance to reframe that narrative, but they only get one shot. Admissions officers need to be able to close their eyes and clearly envision a student on their campus, engaged with all the school has to offer and contributing their singular hook to the environment around them.

Exactly how can they do that? Well, that’s Ivy Coach’s secret sauce. You’ll have to meet with us if you want to learn more. 

What a Letter of Continued Interest Should Not Do

There’s a lot of bad information out there about what a Letter of Continued Interest should do. And it’s all wrong. The last thing a student should include in their letter is a bunch of updates and brags about just how well they’ve been doing since the school deferred them. That makes a student completely unlikable! Plus, that’s what the school counselor’s update is for should they be willing to make an advocacy call on the student’s behalf after the student submits the letter.

If a Letter of Continued Interest is full of brags, the student will come off as, you guessed it, unlikable. Colleges don’t want a campus full of unlikable, self-centered students, no way! Another big don’t in the Letter of Continued Interest is listing off other schools the student gained admission to. That will just make admissions officers say, “Are you trying to impress us? Well, why don’t they go there then?” Students need to get creative in their Letter of Continued Interest. Admissions officers are reading hundreds of them; the last thing you want is for your student’s letter to blur into all those other ones.

When Applicants Should Submit Their Letters of Continued Interest

It’s crucial that students don’t wait around to send in their Letter of Continued Interest. That should be submitted within a few days of receiving their deferral. For example, if a student gets that notification on December 15th, we tell students to ideally submit their Letters of Continued Interest by December 20th.

If your student already missed that window, don’t panic. It’s not ideal to send that letter in right before Christmas or between Christmas and New Year’s. Admissions officers enjoy a holiday too! We recommend students upload their Letter of Continued Interest a few days into the New Year if it hasn’t been submitted right away. 

What Are My Chances of Getting into UMiami After Being Deferred?

There is no available data on the deferred students who get accepted to University of Miami in the Regular Decision pool, unfortunately. Overall, across all highly selective universities, about 10% of deferred applicants get in. That rate jumps up to about 40% for students who first come to Ivy Coach after being deferred.

We wish there was a magic number we could provide to answer this question, because the mystery of the college admissions process can be the most stressful part. The best way to combat this stress is by making sure your student submits a strong, detailed Letter of Continued Interest to University of Miami to indicate they’re still excited about being considered for admission (and by showing it, not telling it).

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 shot at admissions. However, depending on the school, it’s not always a big shot. 

However, 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. If quadrupling a student’s chances of admission after being deferred is not enough, we’d rather the family seek help elsewhere, because we tell it like it is at Ivy Coach.

What To Do After Being Rejected By University of Miami

Did you receive a rejection from the University of Miami? You’re not alone. For the Class of 2029, the school reported an 18% acceptance rate. That means over 80% of students who applied (8 out of 10!) were ultimately rejected.  

Again, there are no available statistics on how many students UMiami defers versus rejects each year. That doesn’t mean students completely lose out on their chance of attending another dream school. So, what’s next? Ivy Coach has a plan. Are you ready to take the next step in your admissions journey?

If you are, it’s time to sign up for Ivy Coach’s PostMortem. We’ll work with you to develop a competitive strategy for Regular Decision admission with the help of our team of former elite college admissions officers.

Every year, students come to us after rejections, and we help them turn their future around by optimizing their applications for the remaining schools on their list, and adding new schools as we determine a good opportunity for a student to succeed there. We help students boost their case for admission by developing a plan to make the most of their future campus by leveraging all the resources and opportunities it has to offer. 

After a rejection, don’t dwell. Shift your focus to the future and the exciting possibilities still ahead of you. And there’s no time to waste!

University of Miami Early Decision and Early Action Rejection Rates

First, let’s unpack where you stand as a rejected University of Miami applicant. The school does not release any data on how many students they’re deferring between either of their Early admissions rounds. They also have not yet released information on their Early Decision and Early Action acceptance rates for the Class of 2029, but we’ll be keeping an eye out for that data.

If we jump backwards a year to the Class of 2028, we can at least evaluate the Early Decision I and Early Decision II acceptance rate versus the Regular Decision rate. It’s 47.6% for ED I and ED II versus just 18.9% for Regular Decision. That means students who applied for the binding Early Decision round had a way better shot at admission, as we could have predicted. That’s very frequently the case with schools that have a low Regular Decision acceptance rate. Usually, a student’s best shot is in the Early round. Unfortunately, there’s no information about the Early Action acceptance rate, nor has UMiami historically released their EA admissions figures.

What Should Applicants Do After Being Rejected by University of Miami?

PostMortem Application Review

After hearing back about a rejection from the University of Miami, we don’t recommend delaying before contacting Ivy Coach for a PostMortem application review. Step 1: Take a deep breath. It’s all going to work out. Step 2: Dive in with renewed vigor and understand that you’ve been given a blessing in disguise. You have the chance to change your application strategy before you send it off to other schools. And you’re going to want to take that chance. 

During Ivy Coach’s PostMortem, we:

• Help you to reevaluate the current applications you’re in the process of completing. We go through both the essay and non-essay portions of each application, every single section, and offer feedback as we go. The schools you’re prioritizing will likely change now that you’ve been rejected from your top choice. And you may think these applications are pretty much done, but, after receiving a rejection from University of Miami, why double down on the same mistakes? It’s time to course correct before it’s too late.
• Assist in presenting you as a uniquely talented individual rather than as a well-rounded one. Well-rounded is never a successful strategy in elite college admissions. We’ll be the first to tell you that. It’s never good to confuse admissions officers with a bunch of random, disparate activities that don’t thread together. Instead, you need to pivot to a strategy that actually works: the singular hook.
• Correct the seemingly insignificant mistakes that may have contributed to your rejection decision from UMiami. Sometimes, the reason for rejection can be incredibly small, but when colleges have such a surplus of applicants to choose from, they’re allowed to be really, really picky. For instance, students who brag do themselves no favor in the University of Miami admissions process. News flash: no one likes a braggart. Writing about how you raised thousands of dollars for a charity or were selected out of a huge pool of applicants for a seemingly prestigious but actually totally unimpressive summer enrichment program at a highly selective university is indeed bragging!
• Reevaluate your admissions prospects and consider taking advantage of the Early Decision II round for a school that, while perhaps slightly less of a reach than the University of Miami, hits the sweet spot between prestige and realism. Not all students are right for ED II, and not all schools offer an ED II round. So it’s time to buckle down and do your research in order to determine an admissions pathway that works for you.

Application Assistance

Following your PostMortem, which is a key first step for us to understand what went wrong and how you need to reposition your narrative, we will:

• Rework your Regular Decision applications with Ivy Coach’s assistance. You have a game plan and it’s time to execute that game plan with confidence. Strip those other applications of classic mistakes and put yourself in the best possible spot for a positive admissions decision. While we can’t correct every mistake you’ve made throughout your past four years at high school, there’s a lot we can still fix in terms of your application narrative and how you hope to sway admissions officers to root for you.

What Not to Do After Being Rejected by University of Miami

Below are five surefire ways to ensure your Regular Decision admission round goes poorly after receiving a University of Miami rejection:

1. Do not submit your remaining applications as is. We mentioned this above. A rejection is very valuable data on your admissions journey, indicating that something is wrong with what you’ve presented. Don’t be like the silly people in horror movies who ignore all the signs! This is your only chance to pivot to a more effective strategy, because there is no second opportunity after Regular Decision deadlines.
2. Do not, under any circumstances, reach out to the University of Miami admissions office asking why you were rejected. They don’t have the time or energy to give you a straightforward answer, and your enthusiasm will only annoy them. The University of Miami does not conduct appeals. Don’t waste your time (or theirs). Your decision is final. You’re not going to UMiami next year! The truth can hurt. We know.
3. Do not be too choosy with your choice of Regular Decision schools and/or omit safety schools from your Regular Decision list. There are certain qualifications that make a school a safety school, and if you’re not sure how to determine this, our team of former elite college admissions officers can help. Considering not applying to Wake Forest because you’d prefer not to go to school in the South? Think again. We do not tolerate such pickiness at this time of year from rejected applicants. It’s important that you let that rejection open your mind because so often, students who come to us after a rejection end up attending a school that Ivy Coach adds to their list at this time of year.
4. Do not blame your school counselor for an admissions decision that ultimately rests on you. Sometimes, high school counselors aren’t perfect at their jobs (i.e., they will refuse to make advocacy calls on behalf of their students), but they are your #1 ally in the fight for your college future. Alienating them is the worst thing you can do right now. Don’t even think about it!

Frequently Asked Questions about University of Miami Deferrals and Rejections

Should my child send in a video instead of a Letter of Continued Interest after being deferred? Would that be more creative?

No, the University of Miami does not want to see a video. No school wants to see a video. Also, don’t take out advertisements on buses either. The letter is the only way to proceed. Your child can demonstrate creativity in their approach to the letter, and they should! After all, just because a student submits a letter doesn’t mean that letter is any good. It’s all about the quality of that letter.

Beyond submitting the Letter of Continued Interest, should my deferred child wage a campaign to the University of Miami admissions committee to stand out further?

No, your child should not annoy the University of Miami’s admissions committee. Instead, they should use their one opportunity to speak through the Letter of Continued Interest and use it wisely, as it’s their only chance. Turning a deferral into an acceptance has nothing to do with the frequency of contact. Do not, under any circumstances, bombard admissions officers with bi-weekly emails or regularly scheduled updates to your child’s portal. We’re all for the school counselor calling the University of Miami’s admissions office to lobby on your child’s behalf, but we’re not for your child pestering admissions officers. It will only hurt their case for admission.

Should my deferred child have realistic expectations and focus their attention on the Regular Decision schools?

It’s really a twofold answer: yes and no. There’s no choice to be made here. Your child should focus on submitting the best applications possible to their Regular Decision schools. Still, they should also focus on submitting a powerful Letter of Continued Interest to the University of Miami. Why bail prematurely after your child applied to University of Miami Early Decision or Action over other schools?

Can my child appeal their rejection from the University of Miami?

No. The University of Miami does not allow appeals of admissions decisions. The word from the UMiami admissions office is final. If your child received a rejection, your child will not be attending the University of Miami next year as a member of the Class of 2030. That doesn’t mean they can’t reapply next year or apply as a transfer candidate. But they will not be attending UMiami this next academic year. Like Bart Simpson, shall we write this 25 times on a chalkboard so our message hits home?

Getting Started with Ivy Coach After a University of Miami Deferral or Rejection

If you’re interested in Ivy Coach’s help optimizing your child’s case for admission in Regular Decision to University of Miami’s Class of 2030 after receiving a deferral, or with pivoting to Regular Decision applications after a rejection, fill out our complimentary consultation form. We’ll then be in touch with the next steps. Don’t delay in taking charge of your college admissions destiny!