Withdrawing application after deferring

[ch1ndra]

Guys, does anyone know the complication that comes with withdrawing the application that was deferred from last year? I mean, do I face any legal obligation to attend this particular school that I've deferred? 

Thanks in advance.

[TakeruK]

No, you do not have any legal obligations. I cannot think of a reason why there would be a law that compels you to attend a particular school. Students always have the right to drop out of their academic programs.

However, there could be other complications. If you accepted financial support, the terms and conditions of that award might obligate you to certain things (e.g. repayment of award money) if you leave your program early. Or, if you had paid a deposit, you will likely lose it.

In addition, depending on the way the deferral was granted, the people at the school might feel that you are going back on your word. This could cause some professional harm to you in the future, but it's not easy for us to predict what this would be.

So, in summary: no legal obligation to attend any program. But maybe some financial or professional consequences, depending on your situation.

[ch1ndra]

12 hours ago, TakeruK said:

No, you do not have any legal obligations. I cannot think of a reason why there would be a law that compels you to attend a particular school. Students always have the right to drop out of their academic programs.

However, there could be other complications. If you accepted financial support, the terms and conditions of that award might obligate you to certain things (e.g. repayment of award money) if you leave your program early. Or, if you had paid a deposit, you will likely lose it.

In addition, depending on the way the deferral was granted, the people at the school might feel that you are going back on your word. This could cause some professional harm to you in the future, but it's not easy for us to predict what this would be.

So, in summary: no legal obligation to attend any program. But maybe some financial or professional consequences, depending on your situation.

I apologize for not being clear enough in my last post. By "legal obligation" I meant, do I have to ask for a release? I suppose "deferring" an application is fundamentally same as "accepting" the admission offer, the only difference being the stipulation to attend at some later date. This is what concerns me.

Thanks mate and have a great day.

[TakeruK]

4 hours ago, ch1ndra said:

I apologize for not being clear enough in my last post. By "legal obligation" I meant, do I have to ask for a release? I suppose "deferring" an application is fundamentally same as "accepting" the admission offer, the only difference being the stipulation to attend at some later date. This is what concerns me.

Thanks mate and have a great day.

I think it would be courteous to do so. Again, no law or legal obligation compels you to do so. Perhaps if your new school knew about your deferral (you will typically have to disclose this when you apply to another school) they might require you to show that you are withdrawn/released from the other school before they accept you as a full time student (since they will want to ensure that you are fully committed to them). But this is not some sort of legal obligation, this is just something the other school might require you to do. 

So, if you are no longer planning to attend the school you deferred, you should withdraw / let them know this. If you do this before you apply to other programs, then that would make your future life easier since some applications asks about things like this---if you have completely severed all prior commitments, you can apply without worrying about it.