How to ask for a deferral? Forum

[quidprobono]

I'd like to defer for a year. Beyond writing a letter to the admissions office explaining my request, does anyone have any advice?

[rinkrat19]

Call the office and ask what they want. Some schools may require you to pay a seat deposit for this year first. (NU did.)

[calverna]

Call the office and ask what they want. Some schools may require you to pay a seat deposit for this year first. (NU did.)

This.

Some schools want to see very specific information in a request (plans for what you will be doing, etc). Call and ask what their decision criteria are.

[CanadianWolf]

Don't all law schools require a seat deposit in order to be eligible for a deferral ?

[rinkrat19]

Don't all law schools require a seat deposit in order to be eligible for a deferral ?

No idea. By this point in the cycle, a person has likely already paid a deposit anyway, because otherwise they would have given up their spot in the class.

I had to pay a deposit even though I asked for my deferral 4 months before the seat deposit deadline, and I really don't understand why. If I hadn't been granted the deferral, I would have been out $750, because I wasn't going to matriculate last year. I can see requiring a deposit immediately upon approval of the request, but why before?