Cornell Office ofUndergraduate Admissions
Source: https://admissions.cornell.edu/policies/enrollment-deferral-requests Parent: https://admissions.cornell.edu/policies
Enrollment Deferral Requests
Cornell University supports the concept of a gap year experience for students between high school and college. Successful gap year experiences start with a well-developed plan and include personal goals. We encourage students considering Cornell for their undergraduate education to apply and gain admission before requesting an enrollment deferral to participate in a gap year experience. Students offered admission will need to submit their request and discuss their gap year plans before Undergraduate Admissions can grant an enrollment deferral.
Key Dates
| Student Population | Deadline to Submit a Deferral Request |
|---|---|
| Students admitted under Early Decision | March 1 |
| Students admitted under Regular Decision | June 1 |
Deferrals are considered for the following reasons:
- Military service
- Religious study
- International students in the process of gaining a green card (one year only)
- Research, work, and internship opportunities related to educational goals
- Cultural experiences in the United States or abroad
- Athletic development (recruited athletes and other high-level/elite athletic development and training)
Deferrals are rarely approved for:
- Financial reasons (e.g. international students denied aid; students wishing to work a year in order to pay for college)
- Educational reasons (studying elsewhere regardless of whether or not the program includes college credit)
- Deferral plans that are not well-developed
- Enrolling transfer students
Planning to submit a deferral request?
Submit the form in your Applicant Portal about applying for QuestBrid
Other factors to note:
- Cornell University supports requests to defer enrollment for one or two years.
- We will consider gap year and deferral requests for reasons not listed that we determine to be extenuating or emergent.
- Cornell will not accept deferral requests from students admitted from the waitlist.
- Cornell does not generally grant enrollment deferral requests for transfer students.
- Before requesting an enrollment deferral, students must submit a $400 enrollment deposit to reserve a place in the class ($800 for two years).