defer?

[latenight]

at the beginning of all this mess, i had a plan C: get into a school, defer for a year, work for a few months in paris (where i'm living now), travel a little, read a lot to get up to speed before starting school again - i'm doing a master's now and looking to to a phd in comparative literature or french.

i'm starting to get a couple acceptances, and all this is becoming really real. i've been spending a lot of mental energy imagining myself starting up in september (of this year), and getting pretty excited about it.

now there's another complication - the bf is finishing his phd and won't be all done until january 2010. so back to thinking about deferring again.

any thoughts on deferring? i know some schools have an absolute policy against, other schools will let you if you have a good reason. what's a "good" reason? has anyone done this / thinking about doing this?

[peacelily]

I'm not sure if this is discipline-dependent, but I have heard that deferring is strongly frowned upon. Based on the fact that many schools forbid the option altogether, I would guess that you would have to have a very good reason to defer - such as hospitalization/serious illness, having to take care of a seriously ill family member, etc. I.e., not seeing your boyfriend for a couple of months would not be a very good reason. But like I said, I don't really know how it works - perhaps someone has more informed advice.

[latenight]

obviously i wouldn't approach them saying "gee, it'd be really nice to hang out with my bf for a while more in paris, is that cool with you guys?" i (could) have other, more academic reasons, like finishing up some research there, working a little longer with my advisor, etc. i don't know if that kind of reason would fly in the humanities.

just gathering information so i can consider all the options. i do realize it's kind of a tacky thing to do, receive a really nice offer, accept, and then go AWOL.

[Sonic]

I'm not sure how relevant this is to you, but I know most of the schools I applied to specifically stated that even if a request to defer was approved, funding could not be guaranteed the next year. Given the economy and rapidly diminishing stipends and fellowships, I would look into the school's policy before making any decisions.

[humanature]

Hmm. What about deferring for a year-long, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?

I'm starting to worry that going straight from undergrad will cause a major burn out.

[latenight]

i'm a bit worried about burnout too. i started my masters immediately after undergrad, and it now looks like i'll be going immediately into a doctorate.

yeesh!

[cardamom]

Hmm. What about deferring for a year-long, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity?

I'm starting to worry that going straight from undergrad will cause a major burn out.

This is the sort of thing you're supposed to think about before you apply, not after they accept you, unlike with undergrad. That's part of why many of us did take a year or two off before applying (not to mention raising our odds of admission by doing additional research).

I know every school I applied to says that you cannot defer acceptances--either you accept or decline. If they are accepting you based on your match with a specific professor (which is how it typically works in my field), that professor may be taking a student this year but not next year (and next year is probably unknown at this point), so they can't just assume they would even be able to take you next year.

[latenight]

humannature, i think it's totally normal for us to be worried about burnout. even if we've thought about it beforehand (i don't even know how many hours) and have decided to put ourselves through this whole application process, receiving offers really puts things into perspective, and is definitely stressful even as it is exciting.

in my case, i applied now instead of waiting several years, as some people seem to do, because i felt that i'd be a stronger candidate with my research fresh in my mind, and with me fresh in the minds of those writing my letters of recommendation.

[humanature]

in my case, i applied now instead of waiting several years, as some people seem to do, because i felt that i'd be a stronger candidate with my research fresh in my mind, and with me fresh in the minds of those writing my letters of recommendation.

I was thinking very similarly. Also, I felt that even taking a year or two off, there was no guarantee I would end up in a good position learning the types of things I wanted to learn. I feel that the best thing for me right now is exposure to a collaborative and diverse research environment, and the programs I applied to would offer that: all allow lab rotations under multiple professors in many areas of molecular biology. I did an internship in industry and met people who were working in very specific capacities (at a large biotech mind you) on not very interesting things without much possibility for promotion, 10+ years out of bachelors and having always wanted to go back but family and life took over. I want to maximize my options.

Aside from that, I was just thinking about going abroad, which I never got to do in college.

[synthla]

Re: burnout, I went straight through to my first graduate experience and definitely felt the burnout factor. Seemed that my classmates who had a year or two off first were in a much better mental place, and probably got a lot more out of it. Now that I'm going back for a second bite at the grad school apple and have been in the working world for several years, I know this is true from my own perspective. Having had the chance to compare academic life with some of the alternatives, I know I'll be far more dedicated than the first time around, and my mind is fresh and ready to fully engage in the deep learning process, as opposed to having this desire to just be done with school and get on with things. (Don't get me wrong, I don't plan to be an eternal student, but the working world no longer holds any exotic mysterious allure for me.)

[Louiselab]

Personally, I would not defer my PhD for his, not after all that work. But that's just me. It seemed that that was the initial issue: that he won't be finished 'til 2010. Also, all my programs explicitly state: no deferring admission. Take it or leave it.

[psycholinguist]

in my case, i applied now instead of waiting several years, as some people seem to do, because i felt that i'd be a stronger candidate with my research fresh in my mind, and with me fresh in the minds of those writing my letters of recommendation.

Yeah. I also don't know what else I'd do. (Note: I DON'T mean that I applied to grad-school because I had no other plans. Not at all.) Travel burns me out within two or three weeks; I don't like the thought of most kinds of 'real job'; I love both of the fields I'm sort of in; and...I want to do something with all of these ideas for research-projects! * grins *

[rising_star]

Deferring is a program-specific thing. Some schools won't let you do it at all. Some will not guarantee funding. It really varies and you have to subtle in how you ask.

[humanature]

Yes, I was thinking so. I just want to know my programs deferral policies, because I can't find it on their websites (not surprisingly)... but I was debating if I could somehow ask anonymously...

[rising_star]

You could try asking over the phone. You aren't going to find the information on the web.

[Yellow#5]

Wait, you are going to start in Sept. 09 and your BF is finishing in Paris Jan. 10?

I think you should start in the Fall. Your BF can visit you in October after you've settled in, then you can visit him over Thanksgiving and you guys will be back together in no time.

Maybe some time apart is a good thing if you're starting school and he's finishing. Both take alot of work.

[saritapie]

i'm a bit worried about burnout too. i started my masters immediately after undergrad, and it now looks like i'll be going immediately into a doctorate.

Glad to know I'm not the only one... I feel massively burnt out right now, but I'm pretty sure that's just the lit review of my thesis talking.

Or, more accurately, not talking.

[Dubya]

Glad to know I'm not the only one... I feel massively burnt out right now, but I'm pretty sure that's just the lit review of my thesis talking.

Or, more accurately, not talking.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one still working on lit review...

[saritapie]

You're telling me.

I sort of did my lit review in Fall '07, but it was in 3 separate papers and now I have to put them together...

[rising_star]

Aw man, you guys should've had my advisor. I wrote my entire MA thesis in 10 days in December plus the month of January. So all I had to do in Feb was revisions... Alas, just sit down and type for 3 hours a day. It totally works.

[saritapie]

Aw man, you guys should've had my advisor. I wrote my entire MA thesis in 10 days in December plus the month of January. So all I had to do in Feb was revisions... Alas, just sit down and type for 3 hours a day. It totally works.

That's what I'm gonna do as soon as I get home. Hope it works... I'm trying to think of it as a big term paper. The primary problem is that I did way too many interviews