Op-Ed: Deferrals Dishearten Dozens
The dawn of the new year brings happiness for some CCHS students, but for most seniors: dread. As winter draws to a close and spring fast approaches, several seniors continue to receive college decisions: accepted, rejected, waitlisted, or the most controversial option—deferred.
If a student receives a deferral from a college, this means that the college pushes the student’s application from the early action pool to the regular decision pool. Deferral does not equal rejection, but as students watch their peers receive acceptance after acceptance, it feels that way.
Although the definition of deferral is unambiguous, colleges and universities defer students for numerous reasons.
Hundreds of schools defer students simply because they do not budget enough time to read every application. According to Forbes, applications to public colleges and universities through the Common App have increased 82% from 2019-20. This influx of applicants over the last few years changes the game for applying to college today—making the admissions process more complicated and time consuming.
Colleges also use deferrals to compare students. Schools defer some average students to compare them to the regular-pool applicants. In this case, a deferral can benefit the applicant, because it gives the student an opportunity to submit improved grades. However, Senior Andrea Coto said “it’s really frustrating because I now have to wait longer to make my college decision.”
Regardless, the class of 2024 is tense. To get a glimpse of how increased deferrals have affected CCHS seniors, the Catholic Chronicle polled 40 students who have applied to college this year. Out of the students polled, 54% were deferred from Tennessee, 50% from Clemson, 44% from South Carolina, 33% from Georgia, and 30% from Auburn. Most students were deferred from one to two schools, as opposed to more than three schools. This means certain schools have a tendency to defer a higher percentage of students than other schools.
Senior Kennedy Rogers airs several grievances she has with the college admissions process as a whole. “Since many students are getting deferred and are finding out about their admission decisions later, many students are feeling pressured to make a decision on a school, meaning some are committing to another school that had already accepted them.”
Kennedy echoes students’ complaints, noting that “the deferral process causes unnecessary stress for applicants, counselors, and parents as many students across the country still do not know if they got into college, and are scrambling for backup plans in case they get rejected from schools that should have been either a safety or a target.”
Deferrals are undoubtedly disheartening, but counselors, teachers, and peers encourage students to stay positive. Admissions season is far from over, and holding out hope will improve the mental wellbeing of each member of the class of 2024.
Come fall of this year, every senior will end up where they are meant to be, no matter if that college was their top choice. But for now—breathe in, look around, say thank you to your teachers, and appreciate your last semester of high school.
