Grad School - defer a year?

[Myra]

My eldest son is graduating this May 2016.  Although he plans on taking a gap year before starting graduate school for his masters, he thought he'd "test the waters" and apply to his first choice grad school program.  Great news - he was accepted!!!!  However, he would still like to take the gap year to improve his language skills in Greek, Latin, and French.

 

The general FAQ section of graduate website says that the college will grant up to 1 year deferments for grad school programs.  Although nothing is stated on the specific Classics MA webpage, we are assuming that they follow the college's general policy.

 

So my questions are......When requesting a deferment..........:

 

1.)  Do you contact the Classics Department or the general graduate school admissions department?

 

2.)  Is it necessary to give detail reasons for the request or just a blanket statement requesting deferment?

 

Any advice?

 

Thanks,

 

Myra

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Crimson Wife]

I would contact the department. Be forewarned that the school may request a hefty deposit that will be forfeited if the student does not ultimately attend. My DH had to request a deferment twice (first because the Army put him on "stop loss" and the second time because he was starting a joint degree and decided to do the other program first). Each time he had to pay several thousand dollars (maybe $3k?) to hold his slot.