An Interesting Question!!!

Applying to College
1

<p>I am looking to apply to a great school (lower ivies, northwestern, etc.)</p>

<p>I have a 2230 on the SAT (taken once)</p>

<p>However, my gpa sophomore year was a paltry 3.85 weighted and 3.5 unweighted (1 AP class 1 5 on AP exam)</p>

<p>Junior year I did much better, 4.32 weighted and 3.9 unweighted in the best public school in my state (2 AP classes 2 5s on Ap exams)</p>

<p>Senior year I will have a gpa of 4.54 weighted and 4.0 unweighted (4 AP classes) and plan on getting 5s (ideally of course) in all 4 AP classes.</p>

<p>I plan on taking off a year after this year regardless, but my question is:
Is it worth applying to schools after my senior year? Aside form not having instant access to a guidance counsler, is there any downside? My grades are so good senior year and such a good course load and potential for a number of 5s on AP tests that I'd love to report to schools. As of now I appear to be a reach to my dream schools, which is why I ask.</p>

<p>My extra ciricculars are good but not great.</p>

2

<p>Do you have any meat?</p>

3

<p>You should apply to schools this year. It will be difficult to get transcripts and recs next year. I would accept the offer of the best (financially, academically, and otherwise) school that accepts you this year, defer admission, and then reapply to other schools next year if you are doing something with your gap year that would impress those schools that rejected you initially. Ask your teachers and counselor to save their recs if you take this route.</p>

4

<p>Is there any penalty to applying to schools twice? Yes, I planned on saving recommendations, etc if I were to take the route of after this year…</p>

<p>I will be travelling to South America to do volunteer aid, which is something I would like to include on an app.</p>