I am in a similar dilemma. What I *thought* was... in case my master degree admission gets CONFIRMED by december, I would change my january intake diploma course to some short full time 6 month certificate course so that I can finish it off, apply visa extension and later join masters next fall. And plus that short certificate course mightttt fetch me a small part time off campus job once its done. So its win win situation. But thats just my thought. I havent implemented it yet and take no responsibility lol. It would save me from dropping out of course or a semester, i can maintain the continuity in studies which is important. Although u may check with college/university if ur pg diploma has transferable credits. In that case u dont have to worry abt dropping as u can transfer those credits towards ur masters and u will get visa extension without any problem.