<p>If I got admitted for Fall, 2012, can I take time off and start in spring of next year? Is that possible or do I have to re-apply for the spring of 2013? How long my admission status active?</p>
<p>You need to ask the college that question. It will be different at each school.</p>
<p>take all the time you need 
haha, there are deferral policies. follow them closely or be sad. good luck</p>
<p>Erin’s Dad is right that each college or university has its own policy, so you do have to ask.</p>
<p>But here’s what’s common. Most colleges and universities will allow admitted students to defer their enrollment a year (sometimes more) without requiring them to reapply for admission. My own daughter is doing this now. She was admitted in the spring of 2011, and she is currently abroad on a gap year program. She’ll be a freshman in the fall of 2012.</p>
<p>Here are some potential pitfalls: </p>
<p>Some colleges do not allow students to defer their enrollment. As far as I can tell, there are rather few of these. </p>
<p>At some colleges, deferring for a year may affect any merit aid you receive. At one college where my daughter applied, any merit aid they awarded was payable for eight consecutive semesters, beginning the fall after you received your acceptance. If you took a year off, the clock kept running, and you lost two semesters’ worth of scholarship. This, too, is unusual, but I know it does happen some places.</p>
<p>At all colleges, you will have to reapply for need-based financial aid. You have to resubmit your application for need-based aid every year anyway. Because, after all, families’ circumstances change from year to year. A parent may lose a job. Or re-enter the work force. Or win Powerball. Any of these things could greatly change a family’s financial status.</p>
<p>At many colleges, there is a deadline for requesting to defer your enrollment. It will be some time between the deposit date and the middle of summer. My daughter’s college also has a limit on the number of entering students who may defer their enrollment; I bet many colleges have.</p>
<p>Some student use their gap year to take classes, either abroad or in an American school or college. Some colleges allow students to transfer credits in from their gap year programs, but many either limit the number of credits or allow no transfer credits at all.</p>
<p>At most colleges I know of, however, here’s how it works. You can call the admissions offices now and ask the colleges, “Do you allow freshmen to defer enrollment? If you do, does deferring have any effect on things like merit aid, or invitations to honors programs, or anything like that?” If you think you want to defer, it’s good to know all the policies before you pick a college and send your deposit.</p>
<p>After you have picked a college and sent your deposit, call the admissions office again and ask how to defer your enrollment. My daughter was asked to email the admissions officer who coordinated deferrals to make a formal request; the deadline for requesting was some time in June. The college also asked her to describe briefly what she planned to do with her gap year. Some students travel; some volunteer in a program like City Year; some try to earn and save money for college. By and large, all of those are fine choices.</p>
<p>Now that colleges are starting to admit their Class of 2016, students who have deferred their enrollment will soon be getting back in touch with their colleges. It is almost time for them to deal with housing, placement testing, course advising, registration, and all those other things that students do between the time they’re admitted and the time they move into the dorms for freshman year.</p>
<p>Hope that helps. Hope it wasn’t more than you wanted to know, too!</p>
<p>thank you very much. i will ask admission dept to see how long the freshman can defer my enrollment. i just like to take some time off to travel in Europe where my relative resides. thank you again.</p>