Admissions officers at Ivy League schools universally love Early Decision applicants. And can we blame them? Early Decision applicants are highly enthusiastic about attending their school of choice, so much so that they’re willing to forego admission to all other schools. It should thus come as no surprise that ED applicants tend to be admitted at higher rates than their Regular Decision counterparts, and the Ivy League is no exception to this trend (and for the Ivy League schools with Early Action policies, EA applicants are admitted at higher rates than RD applicants, too!). No matter what they might say, Ivy League schools care about Demonstrated Interest, and applying Early Decision/Action is the best way to do so. Let’s review the Early Decision/Action acceptance, deferral, and denial rates across the eight Ivy League schools.

The Early Round Deferral Rates Across the Eight Ivy League Schools

Ivy League University	Class of 2028 Early Acceptance Rate	Class of 2028 Deferral Rate	Class of 2028 Early Rejection Rate
Brown University	14.38%	16.80%	67.60%
Columbia University	~10%	~60%	~30%
Cornell University	N/A	N/A	N/A
Dartmouth College	17.07%	~41%	~41%
Harvard University	8.74%	83.06%	8.20%
Princeton University	N/A	N/A	N/A
University of Pennsylvania	N/A	N/A	N/A
Yale University	9.02%	20%	70%

In recent years, elite schools have become increasingly less willing to release admissions data. It might be because they don’t want to discourage applicants from applying, or because they don’t want to compromise their ranking in the U.S. News list (yet another thing they claim to not care about but do!). Either way, it’s harder than ever to parse your odds of admission to an Ivy League school (though, at Ivy Coach, we’ve got a famously accurate crystal ball!). The available data does, however, paint a fascinating picture of the ED/EA admissions landscape for the Class of 2028.

Harvard and Columbia Love Deferring, Dartmouth, Brown, and Yale Love Denying

Every school adopts a slightly different strategy regarding applicants who aren’t competitive enough to earn admission outright but don’t necessarily merit rejection either. Harvard and Columbia typically defer most of the applicant pool, putting off their final Decision for the Regular Decision round (and thereby getting the hopes up of so many doomed applicants!). On the other hand, Dartmouth, Brown, and Yale are much more humane: they reject most of their applicants in the Early round, thus freeing them to pursue other schools.

Why do we at Ivy Coach prefer the second strategy? Because only about 10% of deferred students across elite institutions get admitted (though, historically, about 40% of students who first come to Ivy Coach after being deferred end up getting into their Early school). Yet in most cases, a deferral from a place like Harvard means little more than that you’ll very likely receive a rejection letter in April rather than December. But that’s not where this story ends. You can still do plenty to help secure admission to your Ivy League school of choice after receiving a deferral.

Ivy Coach’s Assistance Post-Ivy League Deferral

While only around 10% of applicants earn admission to their top choice school, that number sits at around 40% for Ivy Coach’s clients who come to us after a deferral. Why? Our team of former elite college admissions officers helps recently deferred students craft a powerful Letter of Continued Interest. This letter is a formal way to express your continued interest in a school after being deferred, and it’s a crucial part of your application. We help you craft a letter that is oriented around a strategic singular hook that provides admissions officers with a roadmap for how you will engage with the resources and opportunities available on campus. Our PostMortem + Letter of Continued Interest package will help you craft this hook with our help, giving you a sense of what went wrong with your application and optimizing your odds of admission by strategically pivoting to a new focus.

What we won’t do is help you fill your Letter of Continued Interest with unnecessary bragging, boasting, or excessive updates that will only make you seem unlikable (as so many applicants mistakenly do!). Instead, our deferral package will give you a roadmap for applying to your remaining Regular Decision schools and optimize your odds of post-deferral admission to your top choice!

If you’re interested in our PostMortem + Letter of Continued Interest for your recently deferred child, fill out our complimentary consultation form, and we’ll be in touch.