Delaying Graduation to 2028

Hi all,

I’m a current sophomore at a decent school (Stern/Ross/Chicago) but I have a low GPA. 2.85 freshman year, but I brought it up to ~3.1ish by getting a 3.67 sophomore spring. I had a boutique ECM internship my freshman summer.

I am extremely underprepared for the SA2026 recruiting cycle, with essentially no networking done so far, and only a half-assed understanding of technicals. I’ve thought about it for a while and understand that I won’t be able to achieve much.

However, the main reason is because of my grandmother. She is terminally ill with cancer and isn’t likely to make it past March. I want to be able to spend as much time with her as possible before her time comes.

Because of the above, I’ve been considering delaying my graduation to Dec 2027 to be considered under the Class of 2028. I feel terrible about not having my act together earlier, and I don’t want to place the financial burden of an extra semester on my parents. My plan is to take on a campus job, TA work, and use internship pay to cover the costs myself.

Would greatly appreciate advice on:

• whether delaying graduation is a reasonable choice in my situation
• how to make the most of the extra time if I go this route (gpa, internships, etc.)
• how to explain myself during networking and future applications
• where this would place me in the recruiting cycle

Thank you all in advance.