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[Music] hi everyone welcome to my channel if you're new here welcome my name is crystal king i'm currently a sophomore at harvard university studying economics but i'm also doing a dual degree program at the berkeley college of music studying music business i know many of you class of 2025 babies have recently gotten your decisions for your early action or early decision schools well if you got in um first of all i want to say congratulations i'm so so proud of you all your hard work has paid off but if you didn't get in stay tuned for the rest of this video because i'm going to be talking about my own personal experience getting deferred from my dream school and how i turn that deferral into an acceptance a few general prefaces before i begin i am not a college admissions expert i definitely had my own share of failures and mistakes i just wanted to explain my own personal experience applying to college and what i've learned in the process this is my story getting deferred from harvard but getting accepted in regular decision in this video i'll be going through the steps that i took after getting deferred that i think was helpful to my application and i've heard that you can do something similar if you're wait listed at a school as well secondly and most importantly college isn't everything what you think is your dream college might end up not actually being the right fit for you i have a lot of friends that actually ended up in a college that they didn't know that they would like so much and now they're doing just absolutely amazing because they really fit into the college that they actually go to so trust the process harvard has been my dream school for as long as i can remember since probably before i really even understood what college was my senior year i applied to harvard early action and on december 13 2018 i was alone in my room and for the past three plus hours i was anxiously scrolling through college confidential and read it to see what were my chances and when exactly the decisions were going to come out and doing all these random calculations in my head and just being so anxious and worried about the entire decision process then i saw my portal change and i opened my letter and sadly i was deferred this deferral allowed me to really reflect back and i didn't take it lightly i definitely did some very negative things such as comparing myself to the other people that did get accepted and just like stalking other people on linkedin wishing i could go back in time but after wallowing in sadness for a little while i realized this is my chance to make something different i decided to use this time off that i was having during winter break to try harder it's true that harvard and many other top schools will defer a huge part of their applicant pool at harvard it's almost 70 percent and out of those um a very few percentage actually get accepted it's five percent overall and within the regular admissions pool it's like two percent obviously that means a huge percentage of people defer don't actually get to go to the school that they love those numbers are super super scary but at the end of the day it is not impossible so the biggest advice i would have on going about this deferral process is not to just wait and hope for the best but instead be proactive and show how much you love that school show how much you're willing to go to great lengths to prove to them that you are worthy of a spot in their school step 1 send a deferral letter this letter should show your continued interest in the school reaffirming that it is still your top choice and why you'd be a good fit it should also give some updates of your accomplishments or what you've been involved in since you've submitted your original application be sure to emphasize points in your original application or that were missing that is unique to you that you think the admissions office may have overlooked finally make sure you don't give off a frustrated or desperate tone be professional authentic and determined remember you want to prove that the school should want you just as much as you want to go to that school so now i'm going to read my own deferral letter that i sent to harvard and point out some things that i did that i think were helpful in boosting my application dear harvard admissions committee last week i was notified that my application to harvard university has been deferred although this came as a disappointment harvard is still my absolute first choice school i would like to prove myself a worthy student and turn my deferral into an admin below i've highlighted some of my recent achievements in this first paragraph you see i've explained my purpose for writing this letter i show determination and resilience and i outwardly state that harvard is my first choice next paragraph since my deferral i've been accepted into the berkeley college of music which offers the dual degree program with harvard university this program seems to be perfectly curated for me a student whose passion for music is perpetual but whose desire for intellectual challenges truly shape her future my hope is to have a contemporary music specialized experience where i can exercise creative expression and combine it with a liberal arts education surrounded by professors and students as driven as myself when i represented the us on the voice of china stage in summer 2017 the famous chinese superstar leo juan talked to me about my goals for the future i expressed my love for harvard but was conflicted because of my hopes to pursue music i remember vividly how johan smiled at me and said don't be conflicted you can still study music at harvard not only was i filmed on the biggest singing competition show in china but i was also encouraged and guided by one of my idols i am still continuing my music journey recently i released an extended play received the academia music awards best pop song and best life performance in advance to area rounds for the texas music educators alt association all state choir so in the second paragraph i highlight my love for music and how that can fit into my experience at harvard i use a personal anecdote to explain how much harvard means to me and i mentioned a bunch of achievements in music that i attain after submitting my original application [Music] next paragraph as i mentioned in my common application i attended the mit launchx entrepreneurship program last summer this is the first time i felt like i found where i belonged i was in a luxury challenge by outstanding students from around the world delved into foreign topics with friends i barely knew explored my imagination and better yet had people that wanted to explore it with me i know this type of stimulating community is one i would find at harvard and one i hope to be able to experience again this experience revealed my entrepreneurial attributes and ambitions i used to be troubled by problems often frustrated by their inconvenience but now i see them as opportunities that are intriguing stimulating and endless in possibility after the program we continued to work on our companies founded at launch and our team applied for a panel presentation at the south by southwest international conference we are so proud that we were selected to present at both south by southwest and south by southwest edu on how to support youth entrepreneurship and foster innovative qualities through education it is important for the upcoming generations to utilize interactive learning in schools and apply it to the modern business world we were selected from over 5000 applications and will present date and we'll be presenting on the same stage as many other notable and successful people such as kevin systrom instagram ceo and david hogg march for our lives co-founder and future harvard student in this paragraph i highlight one of my big parts of my identity which is my innovation and entrepreneurial mindset this is a trait that harvard highly encourages from its students so i want to emphasize this once again in case it was overlooked and i also tied this into the recent accomplishments that i wanted to update them on next paragraph as for my non-profit organization soar we are continuing to grow we have now reached almost 33 000 from fundraising 2 900 items collected and 1 700 patients and families impacted we are waiting to award two college scholarships to deserving cancer patients or survivors and give them a chance for a better future additionally we are planning our biggest event for next year a festival to bring in funds spread cancer awareness and uplift cancer patients with our kindness i'm thankful for all patients we've been able to aid and hopeful for the many more lives we'll touch in the future i can't wait to continue my non-profit and expand our impact throughout college however my outreach has not stopped there since my application i've started mental health awareness week and worked with counselors at my school to provide a de-stress fast during finals week this is a topic people tend to shy from but i wanted to shed light on the importance of mental health and start an important conversation additionally i received the capps outstanding student scholarship for my leadership and contributions to my community now this paragraph talks about the last part of my application story which is my efforts in social activism like in the paragraphs above i update harvard on the recent things i've worked on their successes showing that not only have i continued to be diligent after applying to college i've also taken on new initiatives because i'm truly passionate about them lastly i firmly believe i would make a significantly positive contribution to harvard after reading professor elvers's book blockbusters hit making risk-taking in the business of entertainment i got a deeper understanding of what it would be like to work with harvest professors and how my experience could incorporate my interest of business and entertainment while exploring other passions and i have many unanswered questions about professor elvis's book that i would love to discuss with her i'm intrigued and even more motivated to learn and create something substantial in the corporate world i want to utilize harvard's resources to make an impact not only on campus but also on the surrounding communities in all of society if you have questions or would like additional information please do not hesitate to contact me thank you for your time and continued consideration so in this last paragraph i mentioned a specific harvard professor that i've read a lot about and mentioned how much she has influenced me and i tie it back to my overall love for harvard and how it fit in at the university and then i have my signature um at the end make sure to include your reference number and contact information at the bottom of your signature this might be different for different schools but it's always good to give them an easy way to contact you overall this letter was very long if you write a deferral letter it definitely does not have to be as comprehensive as mine was i definitely went above and beyond maybe even overboard and explaining a bunch of different things because i wanted so much to affirm my interest and my worthiness to harvard two recommendation letters other than this deferral letter i also submitted new recommendation letters so my original recommendation letters were from my two academic teachers and a principal but i felt that the strongest part of my application was actually in my extracurriculars not my academics therefore i took the initiative to find people to submit recommendation letters for me after i got deferred so this time the first recommendation letter i submitted was from an oncological nurse that i worked with in my non-profit and she was able to talk about my work ethic initiative and passion and one of the biggest things i was involved with the second was from a songwriting mentor and she could talk about my personality creativity and how i fit into music since that was the big part of my application and what i wanted to do at harvard third i had a recommendation from a local congressman that awarded me for my efforts in the community although i didn't have a very deep personal relationship with him he could still save a couple of good words that was helpful i think because of his congressman title lastly the student council sponsor at my school also wrote me a recommendation and during my senior year i did the most work in student council as i have in all the previous years so i felt a greater connection to this teacher and she was able to speak about how much i've grown in the years in student council and could describe my leadership proactiveness and diligence as part of a team once again i submitted four recommendations which is definitely a lot do not feel pressured to need to find so many additional recommendations especially on such short notice i would say the most important part about submitting a recommendation is if that person could add something to your application that was not initially there so this could be a new perspective of an accomplishment highlighting a new positive trait or even strengthening your character with additional support three apply to even more schools at first i had 16 colleges on my list which is already a lot but after deferral my confidence sunk a little bit and i wasn't sure which schools i could actually get into i was really nervous and worried so i decided to hide to some more and ended up applying to 21 i think obviously once again this is a lot you don't have to do this um if you're a little bit worried i personally think it doesn't hurt to apply to a couple more if you have the financial resources to do so um the worst that could happen is a rejection and then you know but hopefully you'll find the right college for you that's the right fit for you it definitely did take more time actually writing all the essays and putting in a lot more effort but that is something that i think totally paid off in the end as i got into a bunch of other schools that i probably would have been pretty happy going to if i didn't get into harvard as well i personally was fortunate enough to have the financial resources to apply to all these different schools with all the different sat scores you have to submit in and like music supplements that i submitted that cost extra money but if you don't have the financial resources to do so definitely don't stress about it just make a list of the few schools that could be a good fit for you that you could really see yourself enjoying you definitely don't have to do this additional step if you don't have the resources to do so but if you want to you can also look into different grant or funding opportunities to help finance your applications important reminder a deferral does not define you college does not define you i think this is something that i have struggled with a lot especially after i first got deferred i kept feeling like wow why why did this happen to me why did so many other people get in and i didn't um and at the end of the day even though i got accepted i felt like i was super lucky to be on the borderline and get accepted at the last minute that's kind of the negative perception that i was under however someone once told me that it's not really that i was i was lucky to get into harvard but rather i was unlucky that i had to wait until the regular decision round because i deserve my spot at harvard at the end of the day i know there were countless variables and subjective opinions that i just couldn't control imposter syndrome is so real even at college i still have feelings of self-doubt from time to time but the truth is once you're in college nobody really cares how you got there it's from that point forward you just make new friendships and go on with life and go on with your career so i hope this video was helpful to you if you're applying to college this year or in a couple more years definitely leave a comment down below on any more questions you might have about college harvard life or anything in general and i'll try to answer all of them or you can contact me directly and i will do my best to help you guys throughout the application process if you like this type of video definitely let me know by liking subscribing and commenting so i know maybe i will post more college content in the future thank you guys for watching again and i'll see you next time [Music]