I Choose Option Number 2: Making the Case for Deferment

One of the most beautiful aspects of being a student is that at this stage of the game, your life is full of choices. Some big, some small. One of the biggest decisions an accepted student to college weighs is whether or not to defer his/her admission. I recently sat down with a student here in the Office of Admission who wanted advice on the issue. She also wanted me to weigh in on the “stigma” associated with students who opt to defer. Here’s my two (or three) cents:

Go for it. You only live once. If you’ve discussed it with your family and the pendulum seems to be leaning more on the side of deferment, trust your instinct. The decision to defer is a personal one and is often made for a variety of reasons. The student I mentioned above is spending a year doing mission work in the United States. Some students will travel abroad with different service-based organizations. Maybe you’ll spend a year on a farm in Vermont discovering with your hands what sustainable agriculture really is. Some students will spend a year at a golf academy or playing hockey while others will volunteer for a community based organization they are passionate about. Whatever the case, students who defer are in no way disadvantaged. Once you arrive here, you will assimilate like every other college student…just with a little more life experience under your belt. If anything, deferred students report back to us that they feel more grounded after a year of intense focus on one thing and that they feel well rounded and better prepared for the journey of college.

There’s also the indelible imprint on your life. Spending an entire year doing something you love helps more clearly define some of your long-term goals. It might also influence what you major/minor in at Miami. You might spend that year volunteering at a Spanish-speaking school and that prompts your interest in the teacher education program here at Miami with an emphasis on foreign languages.

In terms of the process, you will need to email Ann Larson in our office to request a deferral. In this email request, you also need to explain what you plan to do during your deferment. The request needs to come from you, not your parents. If you received scholarship money, more likely than not it would still be applied the following year. The only difference is if you filled out the FAFSA and received aid, you will have to fill it out again the following year. Also—you are not allowed to take any college courses during the year you defer.

Deferring is not for everyone, but for some of you—it will indeed make all the difference.

Summer College Visits

Greetings All! I hope you are enjoying the beginnings of your summer. For most of you, the school year has ended which means it’s time to start college visits! I always get the question, “Is it worth making a visit to a college if the students aren’t there?” My answer is always, “Absolutely!”

First, even though the semester is not in session, there are many Miami students currently on campus taking summer classes. As a result, you will see Miami students walking through the quad as you explore our campus. In addition, first-year orientation is occurring, which means that the students that were in your shoes just one year ago are now visiting their university for the first time as official Miami students. You will certainly have the chance to see students on-campus and uptown, and they are always more than happy to help you find your way around or answer a question.

Second, being on a college campus without much of the student population allows you to really see if you feel at home. If you love the university by just stepping foot on the campus and imagining all the opportunities available to you, then just imagine how you are going to feel about it when all your future friends and classmates return to campus! Can you see yourself playing Frisbee in our quad, using the Rec, sitting in class in an academic building, or meeting friends at the seal?

Finally, it’s understandable that you may feel a little overwhelmed when you first step foot on a college campus. Add a college student population and you may feel a little uncomfortable. If that is the case, it’s perfectly normal. But, by visiting a college campus the first time when the general student population is not there, you are able to get comfortable with a place so when you return for your second visit, instead of worrying about how you will make at that school for the next for years, you will be planning what you will be doing for the next four years.

So as you make your college visit plans for this summer, stop by Oxford, Ohio. Miami University will welcome you with open arms! Just make your plans at www.muohio.edu/visit!

Commencement: the end, or the beginning?

Well, it’s June! Congratulations to all you seniors have just graduated or are getting ready to walk across the stage and receive your hard-earned high school diploma. When you reach the end of a chapter in your life, you might be so excited to start the new chapter that you forget to relish the old! As one student wrote in our Admitted Student Facebook group: “Get me to Miami NOW!... Please? (:”

I don’t blame you. Miami is great. You will have four fantastic years here. This place will become a part of you and help to guide the rest of your life. But before you pack up and move on, take a moment to reflect on where you are, who you are, and the things you’ve done. Think about all the things you will miss: the people, the spots you love, the leadership roles you worked hard for, the familiarity of it all. Enjoy them one last time before you close that chapter.

I am also looking forward to a new chapter. Tomorrow is my last day as an Admission Counselor, and soon I will start a new role as Assistant Director of the Honors Program here at Miami. And while I am so excited to get started and dive right in working with all of you in the Honors Program, I have to take a moment to look around and reflect on the last three years I’ve spent in this office recruiting great students like you.

I will miss reading your inspiring application essays. I will miss walking into your high schools and picturing what your life must be like there. I will miss driving around your cities on your roads, stopping in your Starbucks or grabbing lunch at your Panera. I will miss answering the phone and hearing “Hi Mandy, it’s me again.” I will miss welcoming visitors to our campus and showing them how great life Miami can be. I will miss getting to know you and walking you through the stressful process that is college admission.

But, as you know, it is not the end. It is time for us to find out what new things we will love, what new things we will someday miss. And it’s time to dive in J