If you havent done this already, she needs to send a letter to the admissions office ASAP saying that she is still very interested and the school is her number one choice.

As PPs have said, send updates on grades and activities.

Earlier posters have given good advice. I would add that step daughter should try to improve her grades and scores and send in any positive updates to bolster her application. Also, her school's college counselor should call the Ivy to put in a good word. All of the private schools in this area do that. I often think public school kids are at a big disadvantage in this regard since their college counsellors usually have so many kids to handle that they don't do much extra work for a given kid. Good luck!

Definitely send in grades and activity updates from first semester senior year. I was deferred early admission to Princeton (granted it was nearly 20 years ago) and accepted regular admission. I think it was due to my senior year grades being better than my junior year grades.

They are interested or they would have rejected her. Courtesy deferrals make up a subset, for alumni kids or potential huge donors who just don't belong at the school. A kid from a small Midwest town without connections they may truly be interested in but want to see her fall senior year grades and possibly activities, so the grades are really important. If she is doing great in a challenging class this fall and has a great connection to the teacher, having a new recommendation uploaded may be a good idea. My daughter did that. She was deferred from Yale in the fall last year and got in regular admission.

My step daughter was deferred from early acceptance from her 1st choice school. I'm wondering if there are steps she can take to boost up her application at this point. She lives with her mom and husband in a small Midwest town, and they would like to keep her close to home. She's really bright and very few students from her high school even attempt to apply to Ivy schools. I went to a big ten school on scholarship ages ago, so I'm not sure what advice to offer her either. This would be a life changer for her, so any ideas would be appreciated!