<p>Out of curiousity, would Law Schools allow students to take a 2 year deferral of admissions to do stuff like oh iono... say work as an analyst at a BB banking firm?</p>
<p>Why not do that stint first and then apply to law school?</p>
<p>yes, most top LS would...they want employable graduates and they know places like wachtell and cravath love former bankers, etc.</p>
<p>Every school has its own policy on deferred enrollment. I know there's a list somewhere online that tries to categorize various schools, but I don't know how reliable it is. Regardless, the answer to your question almost certainly depends on your potential school, and possibly many other factors, such as how many students have already received permission to defer or how desirable of a candidate you are. One thing worth mentioning is that a two-year will probably be more difficult to obtain than a one-year deferral (unless you have a very clear two-year commitment, like you receive a fellowship for graduate study in a two-year program).</p>
<p>I'm deferring for one year, and I was told that if you have a once in a lifetime opportunity, you could defer with no trouble. All it took was an explanatory email to the dean. For anything else, they said they'd need more information to make their decision, and that if you had just happened to apply earlier than you wanted to attend, but didn't have any real necessary reason to defer, it would be a no-go.</p>
<p>Like bluedevilmike says...is there a reason you'd like to apply now and then work for two years before attending? Consider that working first would possibly (or probably, depending on who you ask) make you a more competitive applicant.</p>
<p>HLS specifically says they automatically grant 2 year deferrals for banking or consulting. I think almost any school would grant a 1 year deferral for any reason and most should give a 2 year for fellowships/banking/consulting. The only top school I'm not too sure about is Yale. Their website seems to imply that they only grant deferrels for "once in a lifetime" opportunites, ie fellowships, but that might just be website propaganda.</p>
<p>I'm curious about this too. Stanford says that they only grant deferrals under "extreme circumstances". When I called, the example they gave was "if your aunt was running for president and you wanted to work on the campaign". Fellowships (Fulbright, etc.) were NOT included.</p>
<p>Truazn- Aren't you yet to begin your freshman year?</p>
<p>I don't think that there is a generally applicable answer here. If you plan to apply to law school and then to defer admission, you should speak to each of the individual schools to discuss your specific circumstances in order to determine whether deferring would be possible. The sense that I have always had is that most law schools will allow a student to defer for family reasons and for opportunities that "just come up", like, for example, fellowships that are granted after the student has submitted his or her application. I don't know that I have heard of a circumstance where a student has applied to law schools knowing that he or she is heading for the working world with plans to defer from the outset. Of course, my lack of examples hardly means that it has never happened.</p>