My daughter was admitted for this coming school year, got her room assignment, went to orientation & enrolled in her classes. Everything was great. And then she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma 2 weeks ago. She will be starting chemo the same week that school starts. We agonized over whether or not she should start school or ask for a deferral. She ended up formally requesting a deferral yesterday and now we just have to wait for their decision. She is asking to start in the spring quarter. Nobody from the school was really willing or able to say that she would definitely be granted a deferral. Does anyone out there have any experience with this sort of thing? Thanks in advance!
Wish your d and family all the best. If they don’t let her defer, I will lose faith in humanity.
No experience whatsoever but I wish her all the best!
I think she and your family made a great decision and wish all of you the best at this challenging time. Years back, our D started at her U in January and it worked great. Her friends who were already there were very helpful to her. Health definitely comes first and her U should clearly allow her to defer. One hopes they will do the right thing and allow her to focus solely on healing and her health.
Hi Pepper50, yes, I have experience with this. My D was a freshman last year at another large, top-ranked public. She completed fall term, came home for winter break, wasn’t felling well, and went to the doctor. She was diagnosed two days before Christmas with Hodgkin’s. With the university closed until after the new year, I couldn’t reach anyone until right before classes resumed to discuss her withdrawal. I was amazed at how cooperative and helpful they were, and I withdrew her from classes, dorm, and meal plan with no problems at all. (Did need a doctor’s note for housing.) She also has a large merit scholarship, and the university preserved this for her. The end result: She is now cancer-free, and we dropped her off yesterday to resume college as a second-term freshman. I hope your doctor has made it clear to you how completely curable Hodgkin’s is now. So don’t expend your energy worrying and being scared! You will need it for the endless doctors appointments and long days in chemo treatment. But she will be fine in the long run! I would think that UCLA should be cooperative and helpful in the withdrawal process and deferral. A couple of tips: Talk to the director of housing, highly-ranked person in the registrar’s office, etc. Cut through the layers by going to the person who can grant permission. Second, I’m not sure from your post how many months it will be when your daughter plans on re-enrolling at UCLA, but in my D’s case, it was eight months. She is feeling OK, but her hair is just starting to come back and is very short, like a boy’s. Because of this, and to keep the germs at bay, we got her a single room for this year. A little extra privacy, and you do need to be mindful of germs/health, because it takes a long time for her blood cell count to return to normal after chemo. She also has a course load on the lower end of full time. Most importantly, and I know this was hard for my very goal-oriented D (and her parents!), but our new mantra is LIFE IS NOT A RACE! Love to you, and feel free to PM me anytime.
Good news! UCLA granted a deferral for one year. Thank you ClueBus for your encouraging words 