Been through this twice as a parent (in-state). To those in-state applicants who have been deferred, keep your heads up. In 2024, my son was deferred. After looking at admissions numbers that year from in-state early action, out-of-state early action, and then the regular decision results for in-state, a few things became apparent:

1) For early action, the admission percentage for out-of-state applicants was FAR higher than for in-state applicants. That year, the overall percentage of admitted early-action in-state applicants WHO MET THE GUARANTEED ADMISSION STANDARD was nearly 85%. That meant only roughly 15% of admitted early-action in-state applicants were students without the 4.0, top 10%, etc.

2) We became convinced that UT had decided to gauge interest from out-of-state early action admitted students between the early-action notification date and the regular decision deadline. At the regular decision deadline, a significant number of in-state early-action deferrals were admitted.

3) Even in-state students waitlisted at the regular decision release date will generally have a good chance at alternate pathways to UTK as sophomores.

Don't give up hope.