<p>Hi I got accepted to Penn today but if I would like to apply for a gap year, how do I go about doing it? Do I accept the offer first before writing in to the university? Who do I write to?</p>
<p>Thank you all in advance.</p>
<p>First, congratulations! </p>
<p>Ask Penn. There are some kind of general truths about gap years, but every college has its own policies and procedures. </p>
<p>In general, colleges that allow students to defer their enrollment (most do) have a date by which you must request a deferment. But that deadline surely isn’t for months. It’ll be weeks after May 1, when students accepted regular decision must commit. </p>
<p>And many colleges also want you to give them a brief description of your plans for the year. (All my daughter had to say was, “I will be doing [name of program] in Israel from October to June.” )</p>
<p>But you need to know Penn’s requirements and procedures. So just ask the admissions office. They’ll be happy to tell you. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t actually defer, however, until my plans for the year were firm. And you have months to make those arrangements.</p>
<p>I assume from your post that you’re planning to “accept” the Penn ED offer. So do that.</p>
<p>There’s no rush to alert Penn that you’re planning to take a gap year. You can wait until the regular decision date to make your gap year decision. That will give you time to work out the details of the gap year. Advise Penn at that time.</p>