deferred enrollment?

[psychgirl89]

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I'm currently a junior at a good school with decent stats (>3.9gpa, research exp. in 2 labs, clinical experience, work in a writing center, etc.) and I feel as though I would be a competitive candidate for a doctoral program in clinical psych (still debating between PhD and PsyD). Anyway, I'm planning on studying and taking the GREs this summer as well as completing an independent research project, but I haven't decided whether or not to take a year off after I graduate next Spring. I was thinking about applying to grad schools, and then (if possible) deferring my enrollment for a year to take a break, possibly work as an RA, and start chipping away at the massive amount of out-of-state debt I've accumulated ($75k+ for a B.S. in Psych...bad idea!). That way, I'd already have something lined up for the following year. Has anyone ever heard of deferring their enrollment, or know of any schools that would be willing to offer this kind of arrangement? I thought about calling and asking schools individually, but I didn't want that to affect my chances of getting in. Would it be better to just take time off and apply while working? I just figured it would be easier to complete the arduous application process (e.g., taking the GRE, securing LORs, etc.) while I'm still an undergrad and in the swing of things. Whaddya think?

ps. first post 🙂

 

[PsychApps2009]

I was thinking about applying to grad schools, and then (if possible) deferring my enrollment for a year to take a break

I don't know how common this is but personally I don't favor it. And frankly, with so many (extremely) competitive candidates, I think some professors would be hard put to wait for you for a year, especially depending where their funding sources are coming from. I can't speak to most program's policies, but it's my impression that unless it's an unexpected/extreme/unique situation, programs wouldn't be that flexible. Unfunded programs or programs without specific POIs may be different.

I'm not saying it's not possible though... I'm sure others out there know more.

Would it be better to just take time off and apply while working?

Yes. I mean... it just doesn't make sense to me why you would apply fall semester of your senior year instead of the fall after you graduate if you are set on taking a year off anyway.

I just figured it would be easier to complete the arduous application process (e.g., taking the GRE, securing LORs, etc.) while I'm still an undergrad and in the swing of things.

It was actually easier to apply while working than while I was an undergraduate. The entire application process takes months - and with classes, finals, a senior thesis, and various other extracurricular commitments it was hard to really give the app. process the time it deserved. My RA job is pretty decent and geared towards people going to graduate school, so when it came time to apply I had all of the support, resources, and (most importantly) time I needed to do it right.

If you're planning to take a year off - you may as well just take a year off and apply the fall after your senior year. You won't have been out of school that long to be 'out of the swing of things' and you won't be wasting anyone's time. Granted, you could also apply fall of your senior year to schools you know for sure you would love to go to (or with professors you would love to work with and may not have a chance the following year) and if you get in go (as the amount of money you would be able to save taking a year off may not really be enough to justify deferring a great program). Then if you don't get in, you could find an RA position and take the year off as planned. My long-winded point here is that I wouldn't apply if I was for sure not planning to attend the following fall (i.e., for the year you technically would be applying).

As a side note, working at a good RA job, btw, can make you more competitive (with pubs/presentations), but I don't know how many you could actually get in 5 or so months (i.e., time between graduation and applying) - which is why a lot of RA positions are for two years.

 

[jnine]

for university programs, i think deferrment is granted only in extrordinary circumstances and you'll have to apply in Decemberish to start the following Fall.

Regarding taking a year off to pay debts, calculate your projected debt in 10 years for both likely scenarios, because I have the feeling that taking either the year off or not won't affect your bottom line all that much. Does that make sense?

A year off might be good for other reasons: let you take a break from academics, consider your personal area of interest, a year of real-world maturity helps many people...

best of luck 🙂

I'm currently a junior at a good school with decent stats (>3.9gpa, research exp. in 2 labs, clinical experience, work in a writing center, etc.) and I feel as though I would be a competitive candidate for a doctoral program in clinical psych (still debating between PhD and PsyD). Anyway, I'm planning on studying and taking the GREs this summer as well as completing an independent research project, but I haven't decided whether or not to take a year off after I graduate next Spring. I was thinking about applying to grad schools, and then (if possible) deferring my enrollment for a year to take a break, possibly work as an RA, and start chipping away at the massive amount of out-of-state debt I've accumulated ($75k+ for a B.S. in Psych...bad idea!). That way, I'd already have something lined up for the following year. Has anyone ever heard of deferring their enrollment, or know of any schools that would be willing to offer this kind of arrangement? I thought about calling and asking schools individually, but I didn't want that to affect my chances of getting in. Would it be better to just take time off and apply while working? I just figured it would be easier to complete the arduous application process (e.g., taking the GRE, securing LORs, etc.) while I'm still an undergrad and in the swing of things. Whaddya think?

ps. first post 🙂

 

[phillydave]

All the PsyD programs I applied to offered deferred enrollment with permission from the school and all kinds of other fun hoops to jump through. It may be that PsyD programs are more likely to be okay with deferring since in many cases there are no POIs.