-
The 2026-2027 MD School Specific Threads are now live in the School Specific Discussions forum. The 2025-2026 cycle threads can be found here. -
Scholarship Access: Becoming a Student Doctor course
Free access to comprehensive medical school prep. Eligible students include AAMC FAP recipients and HS graduates from underserved areas. Apply today.
postpone acceptance?
Started by scrubswannabe
Not likely to get a deferral for travel. If you want to see the world, do that first then apply.
as far as I understand it, it is possible to defer acceptance at some schools (ie. Stanford), though they highly recommend you wait until you're ready before you apply to med school in the first place.
Other places (ie. Harvard) just straight up won't let you defer.
At leasts that's what the dean of admissions @ stanford told me.
Other places (ie. Harvard) just straight up won't let you defer.
At leasts that's what the dean of admissions @ stanford told me.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
You can defer at Harvard (I know two people who have done this), but I don't know if they will let you do it so that you can "travel the world."
OP, You may want to ask individual schools because their policies may differ with respect to deferring an acceptance.
No, please don't unless you're already accepted. The last thing an admissions committee wants to hear is questions about deferring enrollment.
My guess is that deferring won't be an option if you're pulled off the waitlist because at that point, the only reason they're giving more people acceptances is because they have empty slots in their class that they're trying to fill up. A deferral isn't going to help them accomplish this.
ohio state will let you defer for whatever reason you want
depends on the school. some schools won't let you defer, others will let you only in certain circumstances, and others will no matter the circumstance. i got off the waitlist last year at an out of state school and was able to defer to reapply to my in-state school, work, and travel. very few schools would let you do what i did but they do exist.
It's dependent on the school. Some schools like Harvard will let you defer if you had a Rhodes scholarship or something like that. Other schools will let you defer to work/or do more research/make more money, etc
yep, at least for now... they changed the policy starting this year, at least for oos. the deadline was sometime in july and i was accepted in early june. most people think i'm crazy but i think paying an extra $75,000 in tuition is crazy!
