Reasons to defer admission

Graduate School
1

<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>

2

<p>If you didn’t want to go to graduate school and you want to take the time off, why did you even apply?</p>

<p>They’re probably not going to grant you a deferral for you to find more time to obtain money and they’re definitely not going to grant you one so you can travel around the world for a year, unless that traveling was accompanied by a fellowship (say you got a Watson or a Fulbright, something of that nature). The graduate school is not going to care that you want to clim Kilimanjaro or volunteer in Nepal unless it’s directly related to your graduate studies and will enhance you as a student. If you were doing the Peace Corps, or a Fulbright, or even teaching abroad, maybe. But just doing tourism for the hell of it? Probably not.</p>

<p>Just decline the offer and apply again when you’re ready.</p>

3

<p>Thank you for the response, but I’m really looking for some constructive advice on how to draft my deferral request, not just a lecture on why I’m stupid for wanting to do this. I realize that my planning was not ideal, but you don’t have to be so negative.</p>

<p>As mentioned above, it is not a good idea for me to reapply again because of their application limit and the improbability of being accepted again. And, also as mentioned, I have no problem attending this year - I am, in fact, ready and willing, it is only that I have thought of a new opportunity (thank you for chalking it up to tourism) and would like to, if possible, fit it in. You seem to have overlooked my primary motivation for deferral, which is financial.</p>

4

<p>Those situations do not warrant deferral. Other than your family and health and opportunities that boosts a CV/resume, they don’t care.</p>

<p>Chances are, if you’ve been accepted this year, you’ll be accepted again with stronger application with maturity to boost (presumably you will be more persuasive!). When you e-mail them, tell them that you just cannot afford the program right now but plan to re-apply with some funding in hand.</p>

<p>Or suck it up, and just go. As much fun traveling would be, don’t put yourself down in deeper debt by using $5K-$10K towards traveling when it could help your tuition a bit. Once you start paying for those kind of things, you’ll realize how important the difference is between $5K and $10K in helping paying for anything… Sometimes I had wish I picked this other grad program that was only $5K/year less than my current to ease my loans. <em>smacks forehead</em></p>

5

<p>I didn’t give a lecture and I didn’t call you stupid. I just didn’t tell you what you wanted to hear. I gave you advice based upon my experience about what to do. I’m not being negative, I’m being realistic - based on what you wrote abotut the program</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>they are not going to give you a deferral because you want to travel. Regardless of the way you want to term it - new opportunities, sensation-seeking, whatever - it’s tourism. You’re not doing a specialized program, a volunteer opportunity, a special employment opportunity, etc., you’re going to see and do things you’ve always wanted to do, which is tourism. Which is great, and you should do it! But if you want to do that, then you should decline and attend next year.</p>

<p>I didn’t overlook your primary motivation, I read exactly what you wrote. You said that one reason was financial and the “second reason I want to defer is to take advantage of your youth” and you specifically asked whether you should make a passionate case based upon your travel plans or financial concerns. You didn’t sound like you had any primary motivation, but two equally important motivations (traveling and money). Which is, again, fine. I think traveling is an excellent reason to delay graduate school for the reasons you stated - you want to use your connections as soon as possible when you graduate.</p>

<p>I’m speaking honestly, from my experience, like you asked. And in my experience it’s not going to be worth it for you to make a “passionate case” because it’s unlikely you’ll be granted a deferral in either case. If you really feel like you need to I think it would be best to go with the money argument because you don’t seem to have a compelling reason that you want to do the things that you want to do that is related to your education or employment opportunities.</p>

<p>If you are ready and willing to go this year…then go. If you want to continue to take advantage of your youth and travel, then decline, and apply again another year. It’s just all about choices and what you really want to do. If you don’t want to gamble on reapplying and losing out on your last chance, go now and travel later, especially since you’re doing IR. Your job may be to travel.</p>

6

<p>Ha!</p>

<p>Let us know how that one goes.</p>

7

<p>Thanks for the advice, and the clarification. You both make very helpful points…</p>

<p>I am aware that I will probably have to simply choose to go now or re-apply later (in which case, I would choose to go now). The reason I posted this is because I don’t think it hurts me at all to at least TRY to request a deferral in order to, essentially, have it both ways. The worst that could happen is they deny it and then I happily accept admission for this year (albeit with less financial support than I’d like). So my question, as mostly answered now, was intended to be - what do you think makes a better deferral request, given those criteria: financial hardship or… alright, we’ll call it tourism. I realize that these are not ideal grounds on which to defer and that I probably should have considered this earlier, but I figure it’s still worth a shot.</p>

<p>I honestly do appreciate your opinion(s) regarding the likelihood of the venture, I merely took exception to your tone, Julliet, which seemed to be slightly belittling… that I was for some reason irresponsible in applying initially and now wanting to defer. My plans simply changed is all; I don’t have the virtue of knowing exactly what I want (and how best to get it) all of the time.</p>

<p>I applied for a Fulbright grant last year and made it to the wait-list before eventually being rejected; I applied again this year and was rejected after only the first round, so my confidence in being accepted again to this graduate program just because I was offered admission this time is not so strong. And if I only have one more shot, I don’t think it’s worth the risk. As much as I would like to travel, the school is certainly the wiser choice.</p>

<p>Anyway, I do appreciate everyone taking the time to consider my inquiry; I’ll take this input into consideration as I decide whether it is actually worth the time to request a deferral. Sounds like it’s not, but… I’m of the mind that you’ll never get what you want if you don’t at least try. =)</p>

8

<p>Congrats of the acceptance to SAIS! Similar to you and 90% of the incoming class I also did not get any scholarship or fellowship money. I spent all of last year in Southeast asia traveling and volunteering and am beginning to realize that 120k in loans may not be the best way to go at this point.</p>

<p>I am trying to get a job with an NGO in Africa and if it works out, then I’ll ask for a deferral. The worst that can happen is we ask, they say no, and we go to school. May as well try and ask though. </p>

<p>Also, do you believe JHU is worth 120k in loans? I am quite worried about the debt.</p>

9

<p>Congrats to you as well. I didn’t realize that so many people were left out in the cold as far as financial aid goes - I thought I was getting shafted. There’s some comfort in collective destitution, I suppose.</p>

<p>I’ve decided, partly as a result of opinions here, but mostly after just mulling it over myself, not to try to defer. In truth, I really can’t come up with any urgent or even important reason why I should. And I’ve been considering some other options, like attending the Hopkins-Nanjing center program in addition to the SAIS MA… enough exciting things on my plate that I’d actually like to dive into it all as soon as possible. I don’t think the likelihood of me securing any of those fellowships like Rangel or Pickering is very high anyway.</p>

<p>As for the cost, well, yeah… it’s a pretty daunting figure, especially when it’s all in the form of loans. That’s a lot to have hanging over your head after graduation. I was initially going to turn down the offer on those grounds, in fact, but then I looked into the loan options a little more closely and found the Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plan. It caps your monthly payments at 15% of your adjusted gross income. So, it might mean a less extravagant lifestyle afterward, but for what I want to do, SAIS is really an opportunity I can’t pass up. That said, no, I don’t think the education could possibly be worth that much more than other programs - you’re paying for the reputation of the degree more than anything.</p>

<p>Best of luck with your own decision-making! Were you admitted to D.C. or Bologna?</p>