Apply for admission a year later (math)

[dmacgregor369]

Does a grad school ever accept a student to start a year later? For example, get accepted this spring to start in Fall 2013? For someone who graduates in May and has a personal reason to wait a year before moving to a new city but also wants ro have the admission process done with and the security of knowing where she will be going after the year. The someone in question has very strong qualifications and would do academic-type work during the year to stay sharp and build the cv. The field is math.

[ktel]

Sometimes you can defer your admission. Ask the school in question

[fuzzylogician]

Be careful how you ask - schools might not be happy if they learn that you are planning to defer before you've even been accepted. In general schools need to plan their cohorts based on present considerations and funding concerns so knowing in advance that someone will not take advantage of their offer (in some cases, even leading to loss of potential funds that could go to another student) may cause schools to reject you straight away. More generally, it's not customary, at least in fields that I am familiar with, to apply for any year other than the coming one, even if the option of deferring is in principle available.

[dmacgregor369]

Is a school any more likely to accept a deferred admission situation for a very strong candidate, if it were broached up front? By strong I mean 4.0 in dual math/physics at good school, Goldwater scholarship, at least 2 peer-reviewed pubs.

What would be a careful way to ask?

Edited December 13, 2011 by dmacgregor369

[rising_star]

Look, if you already know you're not going to show up for classes in Fall 2012, then why are you applying for Fall 2012 admission? It doesn't make sense. Your qualifications aren't going to change the fact that you aren't going to show up when the rest of this year's admitted students will. It might matter if you plan to defer if you get a Fulbright, Rhodes, etc. But otherwise? You should just wait to apply.

[dmacgregor369]

Ok, well that sounds pretty clear and strong, so I will give up on the idea. I am not actually talking about myself but some one I am trying to help. There are strong personal reasons why this person can't leave for a year to go to a school out of town. My idea was that maybe she could apply now for admission in Fall 2013, but I gather that that just isn't done.