Deferring Applicants On Demand
Overview
The On-Demand Transfer of Deferred Applicants process refers to the transfer of deferred applicants from one cycle to the next. Deferred applicants are meant to serve as placeholders in the new cycle for reporting purposes, filling seats, etc. This feature is available after the new cycle opens. Your CAS may have specific dates during which this feature is available; contact a member of your account team to learn more.
Important Note: previously, deferring applicants was available within Transfer Settings or the Liaison-Assisted Deferral Process; starting in the 2026-2027 cycle, it is no longer linked to either of these processes, so you can run a Transfer Settings for your templates separately from deferred applicants.
Definition of a Deferred Applicant
Deferred applicants are applicants who applied for admission in one cycle, received an offer of admission in that cycle, but could not accept that offer of admission due to health, personal, or other reasons agreed to by the school (for example, called upon for military service).
Deferred applicants are not the same as re-applicants. If your applicant falls into one of these categories, direct them to the re-applicant process instead:
- Applicants who did not submit an application.
- Applicants who completed an application without receiving an offer of admission and wish to be considered in the next application cycle.
Gaining Access to This Feature
The On-Demand Transfer of Deferred Applicants feature is available on the Applicant Details page, and access to this tool is controlled through Work Groups. You must have the Defer Individual Applicants to a Future Cycle permission and access to the Designations panel to defer applicants.
Process
This feature should be used with caution, as deferring an applicant cannot be undone within WebAdMIT.
- In the previous cycle, navigate to your applicant's application.
- Under the Designations panel, click the Deferrals subpanel.
- Click Defer to a Future Cycle.
- Select your desired cycle and click Next.
- Select the program you want to defer the applicant into. It does not need to be the same program that they applied to.
- Click Submit.
Deferral Statuses
As the deferral process runs, you may see these statuses:
- In Progress: the applicant's information is being transferred into the new cycle.
- Completed: the deferral process has finished, and you can view the applicant in the next cycle in WebAdMIT.
- Failed - Designation Already Exists: the applicant couldn't be deferred to the new cycle's program because they have already created a CAS application in the new cycle and have added that program to their account. You can notify the applicant to remove that program and retry.
WebAdMIT View
Because a deferred applicant's full application exists in the previous cycle, only a limited amount of data transfers into the new cycle. Your deferred applicants will appear in WebAdMIT in the new cycle with a Manual application status for the program they are transferred into and additional deferral data points under Details.
If you need to review the applicant in detail, you should do so in the previous cycle. If you would like more information to be accessible in the current cycle, you can download the full application PDF from the previous cycle and upload it in the new cycle to the Admissions Uploaded Documents subpanel of the Documents panel.
If you are using a Student Information System (SIS) on campus and are importing data from WebAdMIT to the SIS, keep in mind that the applicant's data should already be in the SIS from the previous cycle and that you likely only need to update their matriculation status in the new cycle.
What data gets transferred with deferred applicants?
The following application information is transferred forward (note: depending on your CAS, some of these sections may not be applicable. Contact a member of your account team with any questions.):
- Personal Information
- Biographic Information
- Citizenship Information
- Contact Information
- Race & Ethnicity
- Family Information
- Other Information
- Academic History
- Standardized Tests
- Colleges Attended
- High Schools Attended
- Coursework
- Transcripts
- Continuing Education Courses
- Supporting Information
- Experiences
- Achievements
- Licenses/Certifications
What data doesn't get transferred with deferred applicants?
The following application information is not transferred forward (note: depending on your CAS, some of these sections may not be applicable):
- Personal Information
- Release Statement Responses (this sometimes appears under the Supporting Information section)
- Academic History
- A-G Matching
- General Education
- Supporting Information
- Evaluations/Letter of Reference/Letters of Recommendation
- Document Uploads
- Personal Essay
- Personal Statement
- Redirection
- University-specific Credentials (e.g., a University ID) (this can appear in other sections)
- Program Materials
- Questions
- Documents
- Prerequisites
- SlideRoom integration
- Kira Talent integration
- CAS Custom Questions or Custom Question Blocks in any section
Applicant View
When applicants log in to their application after being transferred into the new cycle, they see their application started, with an In Progress CAS Status and the program they were deferred to under My Programs. If needed, the applicant can update their application in the new cycle, and that information will be transmitted to WebAdMIT.
Applicants can apply to additional programs in the new cycle; however, this is not common behavior.