The repercussions of delaying graduation

[joseph37]

I applied to 6 graduate programs and have since received an acceptance letter and am waiting on other answers. I am taking 5 courses and would graduate in May if I passed all of them. My problem is that I am doing very well in 4 of the courses and failing 1. This 1 is a graduation requirement. If I fail, I will retake it in the summer and graduate in August. Obviously, I have to graduate before I enroll in graduate school. Technically, graduating in early August would fulfill this requirement. Nevertheless, I am worried that one of the schools I am accepted to will require an earlier notification of graduation since I am expected to graduate in May. Another factor in this is that the school I was accepted to gave me the option to defer for a year if something came up. Would this deferment solve the problem if there was one or would I still be asked to provide proof of graduation before August this year? Thanks for any insights you can give me.

[fuzzylogician]

My guess is that as long as you graduate before you begin the graduate program, you're OK. As for deferring for a year, I assume that the graduation requirement could be proven later in that case (=you could delay your graduation). If I were you, would only choose to defer if I was seriously worried that I might fail the class and not be able to graduate at all. Otherwise, I'd check with the program to make sure that graduating in August was acceptable, and wouldn't defer. But this is really much too important for you to rely advice you got from internet strangers--ask your intended program!