Deferring Admission - Can and Should You Do It and How??

[DeferralRon96]

Hello everyone,

I got accepted to a graduate school, but I was considering deferring my admission for 1 year. - Mostly because I want to take some time off to work and relax, preparing myself better for grad school.

I talked to the office and admission, and they told me that a deferral is not available.

****It is worth mentioning that I still haven't paid the deposit, nor have I accepted the school's offer (both a scholarship and admission).

My question is should I have done this process oppositely? Meaning, should I have paid the deposit first, accept the admission, and only then try to defer the admission? The guy I spoke to from the admission told me that in this case my deposit would not have been refunded - and that I'd actually need to reapply.

Was he lying? I know that each school has its own policy, but I assume that they might tell prospect students that deferral is not possible - so that those students don't accept scholarship offers and admissions and then deffer.

I'm afraid the admission guy told me so because I haven't accepted the offer and paid deposit.

Any thoughts? Does the process start by, usually, accepting and paying deposit and then ask to defer? I hope I didn't ruin my chance. I just didn't want to pay deposit and hear "oh no..we can't defer your admission..."

Admitting this upcoming term (fall 2021) is not an option.

[PsyDuck90]

Typically programs only allow deferrals for serious issues, like a health concern or something. In this case, if you are intent on taking a year, I would decline the offer and let the spot go to someone who is ready to start this year, hoping that you can get accepted again the following year.