Deferral Information

[drj11]

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What are the chances of receiving a 1-year deferral if you are accepted off the waitlist? Is this completely unheard of (I know some schools are totally against it...is that a strict rule or is it still handled on a case by case basis?).

How about as a candidate who gets in directly (i.e. was not waitlisted)?

I am a current applicant and thinking of taking a year off to do some medical volunteer work that I've always wanted to do. Advice on how to approach this would be appreciated.

 

[tremulousNeedle]

This is a very school dependent and situation dependent issue. You'll have to speak with the admission office at each individual school.

A couple years ago quite a few schools found themselves having accepted too many applicants and actually asked students to defer for a year, some offering a years worth of free tuition in exchange.

If you've already made it into medical school, why take a year off to do medical volunteering when your skills are minimal? Why not do this during or after medical school once you have a little more expertise and are more useful to patients? There will always be a need for physicians abroad, less need for undergrads.

-senior medical student / admissions committee interviewer

 

[Morsetlis]

^ Agreed.