Deferral and WL question

[and 99 others]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Straightforward question:

I plan on deferring my matriculation to a school A where I have an acceptance. They require that students submit their deferral request in April. However, I am waitlisted at school B which I would prefer to go to that chooses off the waitlist in mid-May. If I planned to enroll to school A by April 30th and also submitted a deferral request by then, would I then be able to keep my spot on the waitlist and change my enrollment to school B if they end up accepting me later in May?

 

[deleted972488]

If I committed to enroll to school A

would I then be able to keep my spot on the waitlist and change my enrollment to school B

No... but you can Plan to Enroll (PTE) at school A instead of Commit to Enroll (CTE) until the CTE deadline, which is school-dependent but most are in July.

 

[and 99 others]

No... but you can Plan to Enroll (PTE) at school A instead of Commit to Enroll (CTE) until the CTE deadline, which is school-dependent but most are in July.

Ah yes this is what I meant, I'll edit the OP

 

[deleted972488]

Ah yes this is what I meant, I'll edit the OP

In that case, yes, your plan sounds fine. 🙂

 

[and 99 others]

1) No school that accepts you is required to give a deferral
2) No school that offers an acceptance from WL is required to follow deferral from previous school

The school that accepted me does offer a deferral as does the waitlist school. My question is if processing a deferral at school A prevents me from being able to remain on the WL or take an acceptance from school B, the waitlist school.

 

[KnightDoc]

And my point is that even if they offer deferral that does not mean they will grant one. As to your specific I would presume that a school would not process, much less grant you a deferral unless you were CTE to that school. And depending on their policy, it may require you drop all other acceptance and WL to do that. You will have to inquire with School A on that.

Right, so the Catch-22 for OP is probably that he will have to CTE by 4/30 in order to meet the deferral request deadline, which would unfortunately entail giving up the preferred WLs. Either that, or try to get an indication from the WL school before 4/30 what his chances are to be called off the WL, and whether a deferral request would make that more or less likely. Best of all worlds -- OP is high enough on the WL that it costs nothing for that school to give him the A, knowing he wants to defer and won't be taking a seat this year!! 🙂

 

[KnightDoc]

No, schools want to fill this year’s seat

But if they like someone enough to put them on a WL, why wouldn't they take an opportunity to fill a seat next year (since they are reportedly open to deferrals) as opposed to going through the process again next year to fill that seat? It costs them nothing since he's already on WL, again, assuming they actually find him acceptable and they didn't just park him there because they didn't reject anyone post-II. It's not taking away from a seat they thought they filled this year. Assuming they liked him enough to maybe call him off the WL, would they really rather lose him to the other school for a deferral next year rather than grant it themselves?

 

[KnightDoc]

Will they come back next ? What are deferring for? You worry about this year and not next

I guess that's fair. I was assuming (yes, I know about assuming 🙂) that OP had good reasons and would be approved at any school that granted them and to which he held an A.

The issue for him revolved around the deadline to make the request at his A making it unlikely for him to see if he would be able to turn his WL into an A, and whether the WL school was sufficiently interested in him to make the accommodation to grab him for its class after this year instead of losing him to the other school, due to it myopically worrying about this year, even though they are supposedly open to deferrals.

 

[just_wear_a_mask]

Deferrals are designed primarily for unforeseen events that will delay matriculation such as health, family or loan issues. Most schools see educational or other pursuits as secondary reasons. a few schools, I believe, still have no deferral process and take the view that it is wholly up to the acceptee to ready for matriculation no matter the circumstance. And simply because a school has a process defined does not mean they are inclined to offer deferrals

I have a similar question, I am on the waitlist for a school and they have a deferral request deadline of May 1st, hypothetically, if I get accepted into the school after that deadline, does that mean there is no chance I can request a deferral? I was awarded a Fulbright grant and in a perfect world, I would defer my acceptance to medical school for a year to complete the grant. Does anyone have experience talking with admissions about this while on the waitlist? Thank you!