Deferrals are the purgatory of Early Decision and Early Action (ED/EA) college admissions. You're not in, but you're not out. You're just hanging there, waiting for the April decision-shoe to fall. It's exquisite anguish. Many applicants would much rather be rejected outright so that they can just get on with things, without the unfinished business of "admit" or "deny" hanging over them.

For the uninitiated, a word of explanation might be in order. ED and EA admission programs allow students to apply early. The deadline is usually November 1 (sometimes November 15 or even later). The application process is exactly the same as Regular Decision (RD), except that in exchange for the early application, colleges promise to respond with their decision before the year-end holidays. This can be a great gift for a high school senior. Having his or her college process wrapped up before winter break can give an entirely different flavor to the second half of senior year. Oh, one other note about ED/EA: ED requires a signed promise to enroll if accepted. EA doesn't; accepted applicants have until May 1 to decide whether or not they choose to enroll.

Most ED/EA candidates use early application to court their first-choice college. In some cases, qualified applicants stand a slightly better statistical chance of being accepted early than do their RD counterparts. There's a lot of strategizing involved in making the decision to apply ED/EA, particularly in Ivy League admissions and similarly selective processes. One issue involves financial aid, but that's not what we're going to talk about here. We'll do that in another article. For now, though, just be aware that there is an early application option.

Waitlists are the nasty first cousin of deferrals. Waitlisting generally occurs in April, or at the time when RD accept/deny letters come out. If you are waitlisted, you're also neither in nor out. You're just waiting for a decision that may never come. Colleges use their waitlists to make sure that every bed is filled in their dorm rooms. If not enough accepted students enroll, waitlisted applicants are offered admission. At the very top schools waitlists are used relatively infrequently because of the high enrollment percentages of accepted students. Still, if you've had your heart set on a particular school and you end up on the waitlist, it can be agonizing. You'll most likely be forced to enroll at another college while hoping for that call from the waitlist. Frankly, it doesn't seem fair at all. Waitlists were designed wholly for the advantage of the college, not you, so keep that in mind.

Now, to the issue at hand: What should you do if you end up deferred or waitlisted? The approach is essentially the same for both. You must undertake a carefully deployed program of self-marketing to further enhance your "almost good enough" application. After all, if the colleges deferring or waitlisting you weren't interested in you, they would...