Deferring enrollment vs. applying later

Graduate School
1

<p>Hello there! I'm currently strongly considering taking a year off after undergrad to do an internship or get additional research experience. In this case, is it generally better to apply and get accepted to grad school, then defer enrollment? Or should I wait until fall of the gap year?</p>

<p>I'm guessing that I'll have a very busy senior year, so having the extra time and maturity that comes with delaying applying for a year would be nice. But is this risky?</p>

2

<p>Most graduate programs won’t easily let you defer for a year, unless you win a competitive national fellowship to spend a year at Cambridge or something like that. The best course of action is to apply for admission when you actually want to enroll. And like you said, the extra experience might even make you a stronger applicant too!</p>