<p>I have recently been admitted to a professional (as opposed to research) MA program in international relations at a very competitive institution, but I would like to defer. Their policy on deferment is:</p>
<p>"Admitted students may request a one-semester or one-year deferral. Deferral requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and may be granted for a unique employment opportunity, special fellowship program, approved joint degree program, or family or medical emergency. The granting of deferrals beyond one year is extremely rare. Prospective students are strongly encouraged to apply for the semester that they expect to attend.</p>
<p>… Admitted students whose future plans remain uncertain, or those with insufficient funds, are advised to decline the offer of admission and reapply at a later date when circumstances may be more certain or stable."</p>
<p>My situation is:</p>
<p>There was a complicated snafu involving my plans after I applied to the program and, consequently, I did not apply for any scholarship or funding programs. This is a very expensive program and I am now faced with the necessity of taking out a massive chunk in student loans to attend. I am willing to do that if I can’t get a deferral, but I would like to defer in order to apply for more funding. I’ve been studying in Taiwan for the past 8 months, where it turns out that I can’t legally obtain employment, so my financial situation is not what I had expected it to be at this time. Thus, my situation does not seem to be explicitly covered under the above information as I will certainly be attending and CAN acquire sufficient funds in the form of student loans. To complicate matters, I was rejected last year and quite sure that I barely eked my way into acceptance this year. The program will only let you apply three times ever, so it would be unwise for me to gamble on reapplying.</p>
<p>The second reason I want to defer is to take advantage of my youth, lack of other obligations and current residence in Asia to do a few things that I’ve wanted to do for a long time and may not have another opportunity to do for a long time - if ever - after grad school, since I will want to take advantage of my contacts to find a job immediately after graduation and won’t be able to take months off to go do anything. Specifically, I’m planning to travel around China for 2 months, spend some time at a monastery, attend a mountaineering course in northern India, volunteer in Nepal, take the Trans-Siberian railroad and climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. At face value, this conflicts with my primary intention of trying to acquire additional funding for graduate school. However, the 5-10,000 that this trip would set me back is only a tiny fraction of the cost of the grad program, whereas I think the time and opportunity are invaluable. I’m willing to try to make a case for a deferral on those grounds, but I don’t know how much sympathy to expect from the admissions office. </p>
<p>Yes, realistically, I should just go back to the states and work for a year to help offset the cost of attendance, but the way I see it is this program is so expensive that I pretty much expect to be paying down the debt the rest of my working life, so this travel/experience opportunity is worth more than whatever petty amount I could save up going to work at Borders for a year. Of course, as stated above, they consider these on a case-by-case basis, but it seems that they do have some set criteria in doing this.
So my question is whether, in your opinion, in consideration of their wording regarding deferrals and your experience/knowledge on the subject, should I make an enthusiastic, passionate case on behalf of my travel plans, or should I just draw on my financial concerns, or both?</p>
<p>Cheers!</p>