Hello,
I applied in round 2 for HBS, Stanford, Booth, and Wharton. I am considering withdrawing my application or requesting deferral if admitted. Looking to bounce my perspective off others familiar with the process
Background: I lost a family member in 2019 and another family member (who I’m very close to) is in deteriorating health. It is not clear if he’ll still be with us in 2021. Combined with other life stressors, this led me to develop depression in 2019. I pressed forward with the application process hoping that I would be in a better state in 2020. Unfortunately, following submittal, I had a relapse and have come to the realization that restoring my mental health may take considerably longer than I had planned.
I am still striving to dig myself out of this as quickly as possible, but also want to be pragmatic and consider the scenarios where I am still struggling in months to come. What is most important to me is entering business school with a clear head and energy to do my best. I am currently not in that state. I’m considering the following options:
*Withdraw applications immediately before adcoms get around to reviewing
*Withdraw applications prior to interview (if invited and still not doing well – is interview performance likely to make or break an otherwise strong application?)
*Following admission, request deferral for a year at school of choice
Do any of these approaches strike you as particularly preferable or good to avoid? If I do decide to withdraw or defer, I will be completely candid about the reason and my desire to attend. Note that I am an “older” applicant, which also leads me to want to avoid putting this off another year. For what it's worth, I'm fairly confident that I will be invited to interview at Wharton and Booth and think I have a fair shot for interviews at HBS and Stanford.