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.
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