Cornell University supports the concept of a gap year experience for students between high school and college. Successful gap year experiences start with a well-developed plan and include personal goals. We encourage students considering Cornell for their undergraduate education to apply and gain admission before requesting an enrollment deferral to participate in a gap year experience. Students offered admission will need to submit their request and discuss their gap year plans before Undergraduate Admissions can grant an enrollment deferral.

Already Granted a Deferral?

Key Dates

Student Population	Deadline to Submit a Deferral Request
Students admitted under Early Decision	March 1
Students admitted under Regular Decision	June 1

Deferrals are considered for the following reasons:

• Military service
• Religious study
• International students in the process of gaining a green card (one year only)
• Research, work, and internship opportunities related to educational goals
• Cultural experiences in the United States or abroad
• Athletic development (recruited athletes and other high-level/elite athletic development and training)

Deferrals are rarely approved for:

• Financial reasons (e.g. international students denied aid; students wishing to work a year in order to pay for college)
• Educational reasons (studying elsewhere regardless of whether or not the program includes college credit)
• Deferral plans that are not well-developed
• Enrolling transfer students

Planning to submit a deferral request? 

Submit the form in your Applicant Portal about applying for QuestBrid

Other factors to note:

• Cornell University supports requests to defer enrollment for one or two years.
• We will consider gap year and deferral requests for reasons not listed that we determine to be extenuating or emergent.
• Cornell will not accept deferral requests from students admitted from the waitlist.
• Cornell does not generally grant enrollment deferral requests for transfer students.
• Before requesting an enrollment deferral, students must submit a $400 enrollment deposit to reserve a place in the class ($800 for two years).