Is it possible to defer one grad school, while accepting another?
i was accepted into two grad schools—one in the current city i am living in and one across the country. both programs are 2 year programs. the one across the country is a school i am more interested in going to, but i feel very strongly about wanting to stay in my current city another year before i go. i think i could get a lot of value out of starting at the school in the current city and going for a year. the school in my current city has given me a lot of money for the first year only, so finances is fortunately not an issue for this first year (however i was only given money for the first year, so both programs end up costing the same). i want to defer a year at the school across the country and accept the school in my current city in the meantime, but i am told this might be risky. any thoughts or ideas as to whether this is a possibility?
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
3 Answers
I don’t even know if that’s possible. The school you would defer might not accept that offer; they may want you to re-apply for that term that you would be starting there. The school I’m at goes through phases: some years they have tons of applicants, and some years they have very few. It really all depends. So lets just say they accepted you this year out of a small pool (not saying you’re not qualified, I’m just giving you a hypothetical). But maybe next year (the year you would want to start there), they had a huge surge of qualified candidates. They only have room for so many grad students, so would it really be fair to keep you when maybe there is someone more qualified for a spot?
I don’t know what field you are in, in the sciences it is really cut throat. I would also recommend to you to go to the school where you have guaranteed funding, even if just for a year. If you do well your first year, you could probably easily get that money again.
I would not expect the distant school to be too excited about having you go through only part of the program there. But if I were wondering this, I would call and ask the director of admissions that question. Our opinions are no substitute for hard information straight from the source.
Most likely, you would either have to reapply to the other school as a transfer student or start the entire program over, ultimately taking three years. But Jeruba is right, the only way to KNOW is to give them a call.
Answer this question 
This question is in the General Section. Responses must be helpful and on-topic.
Composing members:
0
