mallow

Yes, thanks It helps to consider an alternative plan, though I am far, far away from just having finished undergrad . I took time off before both of my other graduate degrees and am glad I did.

Congratulations on your admission to NYU! Did they inform you via phone, email, letter? Just curious as I've been out of town and therefore not near my mailbox.

Thank you both for the very thoughtful answers. WIndfish, I appreciate your suggestion that I look at this from more than one angle in terms of my options and also that I get more in touch with my heart and intuition. I agree with you about the prestige issue - it's a tricky thing to put into perspective, but it's necessary. I might add that I'm getting a little concerned with my decision for a couple of other factors: one is my age (40) and the fact that I have considerable work experience and I am not 100% sure that a PhD is absolutely necessary for the types of jobs I want (I am interested in working for an international organization). I'm going to do as much research as I can as quickly as I can by speaking to current and former students in the program as well as others in the field.

I just got into one program (top program, waiting to hear on funding), rejected from one, and waiting to hear on two. The program I got into won't allow deferrals but said I could re-apply in the future. They wouldn't committ to re-accepting me, but said that if they wanted me once, there's a decent chance they would again. I'm still waiting on other answers, but am wondering if it's worth taking the risk of re-applying. In the past months I've realized I really want to gain more work experience abroad at this stage in my career. It's not something I was able to do in the last couple of years because I had a major illness in my family (and then death). Leaving the country just wasn't feasible during that period. Would appreciate any insight and/or hearing from anyone who's had a similar situation.

Has everyone who has been accepted to/rejected from NYU's Culture and Comm. heard back? I haven't heard anything from them yet. Still waiting on LSE, American.

Thanks for the advice. I agree about the reason. I actually want to defer so I can work abroad as a journalist (which I have done before). If I wait until this program is over to do that, it will be 5-6 years from now and it won't be practical either personally or professionally.

I have recently been accepted to a highly competitive PhD program. Am waiting to hear back from some other places I applied to. It is possible I should have waited a year before applying, but the fact is I'm faced with the following situation: I would prefer to defer this admission because I want time to work abroad and volunteer. I was dealing with a serious family illness and then the death of a parent last year and summer and had more family responsibilities this fall so was not able to do any of this. The official literature from this university says deferral is not possible. But I am wondering if I should ask anyway, and if so, what I should give as my reason. Thanks so much for any advice.