Princeton Deferred You: Now What?

Submit a letter of continued interest as soon as possible, and afterward, have your guidance counselor call or at least email the admissions office to update them concerning all of your awards, publications, accomplishments, and grades since you applied. They should affirm that Princeton remains your top choice and that you would enroll if offered admission.

But not just any letter of continued interest. This letter should be one of the most inspired pieces of writing you've ever composed, while remaining under 300 words. In it, you need to let your heart write a love song for Princeton and translate that into giving the reader a concrete picture of exactly who you will be as a person on their campus. This includes demonstrating how you will contribute to spaces and organizations on campus and reminding the reader of your academic hook. In reintroducing your hook, the academic niche you spent time and effort carving out in high school to distinguish yourself from others, you want to remind the reader how you can change the world for the better if you have the opportunity to leverage specific academic opportunities at Princeton.

I personally recommend starting the letter of continued interest with something funny or lighthearted. It is naturally awkward reading something from someone whom you, in a sense, didn't accept. To make the experience as cringe-free as possible for the admissions officer, I wouldn't reference the deferral explicitly or convey any feelings of disappointment.

After a lighthearted and positive introduction, I would then proceed to talk to the reader about something related to your niche, such as a new cutting-edge development or something new that you learned. I would then connect this new piece of information regarding your niche to something currently going on at Princeton and explain how, by leveraging certain opportunities there, you can achieve some goal, and make the reader understand how achieving this goal can change the world.

Afterward, I would paint them a picture of you on their campus. Have fun here. Feel free to write a hypothetical scenario of you making some of the best memories of your life there. You want the reader to feel like by not admitting you, they will be denying you the opportunity to live your best life for four years. Show them you doing activities that have garnered you friends in high school on their campus. Show them how your hobbies or talents will brighten up the days of your Princeton classmates. Present yourself as someone they want on their campus.

To conclude the letter, I would thank the reader for their time and add something to the effect of thanking them for the opportunity to share with them your favorite subjects and hobbies. Finally, I would tell them that Princeton remains your first choice and that if you are offered a seat, you will immediately accept it. I would then include a signed signature.

You can submit your letter through the applicant portal as a "significant update" or via email to uaoffice@princeton.edu. Dean of Admission Karen Richardson has also noted that deferred students are welcome to upload an additional letter of recommendation if "there is someone who you think provides a different perspective" on your candidacy. Take advantage of this, consider asking a coach, mentor, or supervisor who knows you outside the classroom and can speak to your ability to contribute to a community.

When it comes to bragging about grades, prizes, or publications, please save it. If you made it this far in the admissions process at an elite school like Princeton, then you already have enough academic credentials to be a strong candidate. If you did not, then you wouldn't be deferred and reevaluated in the regular decision round, you would have been rejected.

Your guidance counselor should be the one bragging on your behalf. When they do it, it carries much more weight and shows the admissions office that there is something beyond those accomplishments to consider. By your guidance counselor going out of their way to share your accomplishments with the admissions officer, it demonstrates to them that there is something compelling enough about your personhood for them to be doing this. Given how accomplished you must be to be even deferred from an Ivy League school in 2025, this intangible quality they can infer is what will distinguish you from other overachievers.

One important note: do not call the admissions office directly or try to contact individual admissions officers repeatedly. Princeton does not take well to pushy applicants, and making yourself an annoyance is an easy way to hurt your chances. Submit your materials, have your counselor advocate on your behalf, and then let your application speak for itself.

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