Were you deferred to the Class of 2030 in the Early Decision round to the University of Virginia? Or are you anticipating a deferral in the Early Action round in late January? If so, know that a deferral isn’t the end of the world. There’s still hope that your deferral can transform into an offer of admission, but only if you play your cards right. 

Facing some different news in that application portal, like a rejection from UVA? It’s okay! Lots of other students are in your same shoes, and there is absolutely still hope on the horizon for your college admissions process. Read on to find out how!

UVA Early Decision/Early Action Admissions Statistics

Below, you’ll find UVA’s Early Decision and Early Action admissions statistics over the last seven years:

UVA Class Year	Number of Early Decision Applications	Number of Early Decision Acceptances	Early Decision Acceptance Rate	Number of Early Action Applications	Number of Early Action Acceptances	Early Action Acceptance Rate
Class of 2030	5,108	1,225	23.98%	Not Yet Available	Not Yet Available	Not Yet Available
Class of 2029	4,971	1,282	25.79%	41,885	6,746	16.11%
Class of 2028	4,465	1,133	25.37%	37,665	6,519	17.31%
Class of 2027	4,243	1,038	24.46%	~36,000	~5,943	~16.51%
Class of 2026	2,462	1,112	45.17%	~31,087	6,243	20.08%
Class of 2025	2,197	960	43.7%	28,897	6,541	22.64%
Class of 2024	2,157	748	34.68%	25,160	5,219	20.74%
Class of 2023	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*	25,126	6,550	26%

* Before the Class of 2024, an Early Decision program was not in place at UVA.

5 Steps to Take After Being Deferred by University of Virginia

After receiving word of a UVA deferral, we at Ivy Coach recommend the following five-step game plan:

1. Take a moment for yourself. Before you take the fight to UVA, pause for a few hours. It’ll be ok!
2. Sign up for a complimentary consultation with Ivy Coach to learn about our go-forward services for deferred UVA candidates.
3. Complete a PostMortem with Ivy Coach so you understand what went right, what went wrong, and what you need to focus on in the Letter of Continued Interest you should submit to UVA imminently.
4. Write and submit a powerful Letter of Continued Interest to UVA with Ivy Coach’s assistance. No brags. No updates. The secret sauce of Ivy Coach’s students’ letters is they’re wonderfully weird and inspire admissions officers to root for them — not against them.
5. After you’ve submitted your Letter of Continued Interest (which you should do in mid-December if you were deferred ED), bring your letter to your school counselor and ask if they’ll make an advocacy call on your behalf. With the letter in hand, they’ll be able to present you as you presented yourself in the letter. And if you’re deferred in EA, the process is the same — just bring the letter to your school counselor in early February after you’ve sent it in.

What Not To Do If You’ve Been Deferred by UVA

Below, you’ll find a list of what deferred UVA candidates should not do, and even though some of the things may seem silly, you’d be surprised what deferred candidates will do!

1. Do not call, text, or email the UVA admissions office to find out why you didn’t get in. Their answer will never be the genuine answer anyway, so why come across as a gadfly?
2. Do not send holiday presents to the UVA admissions office.
3. Do not post YouTube videos on why UVA should offer you admission. We get it. You think it’s never been done before. It has. It rarely works.
4. Do not post ads on buses that make stops on or near the UVA campus, imploring the school to admit you. You laugh. Again, it’s been done!
5. Do not pester UVA after you’ve submitted your Letter of Continued Interest. Further emails will only render you less likable and lead them to root against you — not for you.

Crafting a Powerful a Letter of Continued Interest

The next step after a deferral decision is to write a Letter of Continued Interest. This should be written as a love letter to UVA. We know you might not want to spend any more time thinking about UVA right after receiving a deferral, but it’s extra important that you fight that instinct and submit your letter as soon as possible to prove that there’s no sour grapes between you and the school.

A common issue we discover in the PostMortem session is that a student didn’t frame their narrative in a compelling enough way. The Letter of Continued Interest is one more chance to reframe that narrative, but they only get one final shot. How can a student make the most of it? Well, that’s Ivy Coach’s secret sauce, and it’s quite delicious, really. Well, admissions officers certainly seem to think so!

A Deferred Student’s Chances Improve Dramatically with Ivy Coach

Across all highly selective universities, a pretty universal statistic we’ve seen over 30+ years of business is that about 10% of deferred applicants get in. Thinking that number doesn’t look high enough? How about if we could quadruple it? That’s right, that rate jumps up to about 40% for students who first come to Ivy Coach after being deferred.

What To Do After Being Rejected By University of Virginia

So, the worst has come to pass. While many might throw in the towel after this disappointment, you’re making the wise choice of thinking strategically and turning to admissions experts. Let us tell you what is to be done to reposition yourself and move forward successfully in the application process.

Direct your attention to your remaining Regular Decision applications with Ivy Coach’s PostMortem session specifically designed for students who have faced rejection. This session is your opportunity to forge a strategic plan for success. A member of Ivy Coach’s team of former elite college admissions officers will work with you to create a powerful competitive strategy and a compelling singular hook that demonstrates how you will capitalize on the opportunities your future campus offers. A strong hook is essential to instill confidence in admissions officers about your potential, and now is the time to take action — not tomorrow, not next week, but now.

PostMortem Application Review

As soon as you reach out to Ivy Coach for help, we’ll set you up with our PostMortem application review.

During Ivy Coach’s PostMortem session, we:

• Rework your current applications before they’re submitted. We’ll review both the essay and non-essay portions of each application in order to fix mistakes as we go. The schools you’re prioritizing should probably change now that you’ve been rejected from your top choice. And you may feel like your applications are already close to done, but after receiving an early rejection, why double down on those same application mistakes? It’s time to course correct before it’s too late.
• Craft a narrative in which you come across as a uniquely talented individual rather than as a well-rounded one. We’ve been trying to tell students that the well-rounded strategy is never a winner in the elite college admissions game. Instead, pivot to a strategy that actually works: the one and only singular hook.
• Correct those little-known mistakes that may have contributed to your rejection decision. A rejection can be because of the smallest reason, but when colleges have such a bounty of applicants to choose from, they have the right to be as picky as they want. For instance, students who brag only hurt themselves in the UVA application process. And writing about how you raised hundreds of 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 isn’t a wow factor. It is, in fact, bragging!
• Reevaluate your admissions prospects without the rose colored glasses. A realistic choice might be to consider taking advantage of the Early Decision II round for a school that hits the sweet spot between prestige and likely acceptance. Do take note, 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 session, a key first step for us to understand what went wrong and how you need to reposition your narrative, Ivy Coach will:

• Fix your applications. After receiving detailed feedback from our former elite admission officer, you’ll know exactly how to proceed. Now it’s time to execute on that information! Remove all the mistakes that we caught and put yourself in the best possible spot for a positive admissions decision. Although we can’t correct everything you may have done wrong throughout the past four years, there’s a whole lot we can do to fix your application narrative and give you a path to swaying admissions officers to root for you.

What Not to Do After Being Rejected by University of Virginia

Below are five ways to ensure your Regular Decision admission round goes poorly after receiving a UVA rejection:

1. Do not submit your remaining applications as is. This is probably the worst thing you could do. Hold off on hitting that submit button, even if you desperately want to be done with the whole admissions process! It’s the season of giving right now, and a rejection is just that: a gift. It may be disguised as bad news, but it’s also a gift. It’s a chance to correct an application that’s full of mistakes. Plus, it’s your only chance to pivot to a more effective strategy, because there are no more chances after the Regular Decision deadline.
2. Do not reach out to the UVA admissions office asking why you were rejected. Just don’t do it. They won’t give you a straightforward answer, and your enthusiasm will only serve as confirmation that they made the right choice about your candidacy.
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 good safety school, but if you’re not sure what those are, our team of former elite college admissions officers can help. Now, we said that colleges can be picky in the admissions process, but if you’ve already faced an Early rejection, you cannot afford that same pickiness. We do not tolerate such pickiness like not wanting to attend a school just because it’s all the way on the West Coast. The weather is nice there! Some of it, at least. And very often, students who come to us after a rejection end up attending a school that Ivy Coach adds to their list in December. So open your mind!
4. Do not blame your school counselor for an admissions decision that ultimately rests on you. At times, high school counselors may not be perfect (sometimes they will refuse to make advocacy calls on behalf of their students), but they are still your top ally in the fight for your college admissions future right now. Alienating them is the worst thing you can do. Don’t even think about it!

UVA Deferral or Rejection FAQ

Does University of Virginia accept, defer, and deny Early Decision and Early Action candidates?

Yes, UVA accepts, defers, and rejects both Early Decision and Early Action candidates.

Is a University of Virginia deferral meaningful?

Yes, a UVA deferral is meaningful because UVA denies many applicants. And while UVA isn’t always so specific, for its Class of 2027, “hundreds” of Early Decision candidates were deferred.

Do Early Decision candidates to UVA have stronger odds of admission than Early Action candidates?

Yes, by leaps and bounds! Just have a look at the Early Decision and Early Action admission rates for the last six years listed above. The ED admission rate ranges from 45.17% for the Class of 2026 to 24.46% for the Class of 2027. Meanwhile, the EA admission rate ranges from 16.11% for the Class of 2029 to 26% for the Class of 2023.

Early Decision candidates made a binding commitment to the institution. Early Action candidates made no such commitment. UVA shows that love back to ED candidates by offering them improved odds of admission.

What are the realistic expectations in the Regular Decision application process after receiving a rejection from University of Virginia?

We spend time ensuring that a student’s Regular Decision list has accurate and appropriate schools on it for this very reason. As we said, your child cannot afford to be picky at this point in the process, but we at Ivy Coach are famously great matchmakers. Let us work our magic on your child’s Regular Decision list.

Can I reapply to UVA in the Regular Decision round if I was rejected Early?

No! If you were rejected from UVA, that decision is final. You cannot send in another application to the school in the Regular Decision admissions cycle . You’re welcome to reapply as a transfer student next year (or as a first-year applicant should you pursue a gap year or a postgraduate year), but as of this year, you will not be attending the University of Virginia in the Class of 2030.

Ivy Coach’s Assistance with University of Virginia Deferral or Rejection

If you’re interested in optimizing your chances of admission to the Virginia flagship in the wake of a deferral, or pivoting to your remaining Regular Decision schools with a new competitive strategy in the wake of a rejection, fill out Ivy Coach’s complimentary consultation form, and we’ll be in touch to outline our go-forward college counseling services for deferred or rejected candidates.