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<p>Perhaps that is true in wealthier areas where something other than employment or military service is a viable option for a high school graduate not attending college. But is it a realistic option for those from middle or low income families?</p>
<p>I personally do NOT think one should enlist in the military unless one WANTS to be in the military. </p>
<p>Either apply to one of the schools that has space–list available circa May 1st–or take a gap year. CC is a bad idea unless the kid was a CC candidate to start with.</p>
<p>I echo others that the reason for the snafu needs to be considered, but just wanted to say that DS is in the middle of a gap year spent working and volunteering/traveling in Nepal (and not on one of the expensive voluntourism type programs). He said he is so happy he did this and thankful for the year to test his limits and explore. At college interview, AdComs loved that he worked full time at a min wage job while continuing music lessons and other personal interests. They also said we were smart not to have taken a CC class because applying as a transfer would have been tougher especially because he would only have taken a few courses. So gap years don’t have to be expensive. We paid for half his flight to Nepal and are always here for support in case of an emergency, but he funded the trip from his work. </p>
<p>Agree with the above–have kiddo and family thing about what makes sense. IF there are still schools kiddo would love to attend and family can afford that are still accepting students, the student can apply.</p>
<p>IF the student was never planning on CC and would like a shot at merit and FAid, there are good reasons to consider a gap year and NOT jeopardize her freshman status.</p>
<p>Agree it is a bad idea to consider military unless the person WANTS to be in the military. It is a commitment that one should enter whole-heartedly or NOT at all. All you can do is provide the pros & cons of the variable options currently available.</p>
<p>About 4 years ago, my relative was surprised to be rejected by many of the schools she applied to, so at the last minute, she applied to University of Puget Sound who admitted her with merit! She is graduating from there now, nearly 4 years later. She was very happy to attend. There still are good schools accepting students, if they want to look and see if they find one that accepts her AND they can make the finances work.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t you check the portal at the schools to see your status and if they received the application? Would these show that the application is not complete?</p>
<p>The common app let you know that everything was submitted if memory is correct. There was a big blue check indicating that everything was submitted.</p>
<p>Yeah… but if you didn’t finish even one, you might not realize that they all didn’t have the big blue check…</p>
<p>My older son might have accidentally have done this in high school. I could see him getting all his apps ready, then thinking, “got to get mom’s credit card’” and then forgetting and later thinking everything was submitted. However, didn’t these parents wonder why they weren’t asked to pay for the apps??</p>
<p>It does seem odd that it wasnt caught in time…the portals would have clued them in.</p>
<p>OP here. I haven’t spoken to the student involved so I have no idea what really happened. She apparently has her own credit card so that might explain how the parents weren’t directly involved in the payment process.<br>
As for her checking the portals, I know my son applied to many schools and was always checking his portals for updates and I have no idea how she could have neglected to do that. </p>
<p>Of course, I heard about this just recently and who knows how long the student and her parents have been dealing with this. I feel bad for them and I wanted to at least encourage them to look ahead at possible ways to get back on track. Thanks for the info. </p>
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<p>No, not necessarily. There are plenty of gap year opportunities. In fact, most people I know that purposely took a gap year did something like AmeriCorps, City Year, etc. </p>
<p>When I was in high school, it was either some type of post-secondary education or into the workforce (including a few going to the military). Those intending to go to four year schools but got shut out usually went to the community college to try again in later as transfers. I did not hear of anyone doing some non-work non-school gap year activity.</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, ucb, when was “high school” for you? I’ve always been under the impression that you were part of the “parents’” generation and thus came from a very different time than my generation. Getting a decently paying job right out of high school is near impossible. Working for a year at a minimum wage job (if you can even get one) might not be the best use of one’s time depending on his/her financial situation. </p>
<p>Gap years have become quite popular over the last five or so years, especially after the market crashed and financial/educational decisions needed to be reevaluated. </p>
<p>One can’t go into the military for only one year. </p>
<p>If she still wants to go to college next fall she could apply at colleges that have late admissions, can’t she? Also some lower tier state schools will auto admit if she takes 9 to 12 credits in the summer session. </p>
<p>List of late admission colleges. It’s from 2013 so substitute 2014:
<a href=“College Search | College Finder | Colleges by Major & Location”>http://www.petersons.com/college-search/late-deadline-schools.aspx</a></p>
<p>I think most of us are suspicious. I think the application mistake is story designed to save face. Warm thoughts to this girl. I remember how I hated yet loved the idea of leaving home.</p>
<p>It is possible the family has only recently started dealing with this. Application decisions are coming in now and they probably wondered why they weren’t getting any. AND deadlines for applications have passed for her schools.</p>
<p>While I think this is unusual/suspicious, I can see it happening. My D had so many problems with the Common App and Windows 8.0. She couldn’t preview (after the fact realized sections were missing in some instances and duplicated in others), couldn’t get supplements submitted etc. And she was not one to check the portals regularly. She followed up with one teacher whose rec had not been received. The teacher assured her it had been submitted (she had mailed a copy to D weeks before). Teacher resubmitted and D thought all was well, only to learn later that the rec still hadn’t gone through. If one of D’s schools hadn’t emailed her, she might have thought the problem was resolved and missed the deadline. </p>
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<p>Yes, high school was a few decades ago. It is true that high school graduate job opportunities are much worse now than they used to be. However, the only “gap year” stories I have personally heard recently were that of high school graduates who went to work or military immediately after high school, then decided to get serious about school upon realizing that these kinds of jobs were not the best career jobs.</p>
<p>Perhaps a non-work “gap year” may have happened to some simply because they could not find any work at all in the recent economic downturn. But that seems to be different from the kind of planned “gap year” that people write about on these forums.</p>
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<p>What’s wrong with community colleges? I have several siblings and many of us attended cc’s. It didn’t stop top 50 nationally ranked schools from admitting us later on or national companies from hiring us. Nobody had crushing college debt. My brother is in his 50’s and has already received a pension from one employer. He went back to school and got another degree and has a job that will pay him a second pension. One of my sisters is employed by a national company and lives in Manhattan. Community colleges are just another tool that can help students meet their goals. </p>
<p>The problem with CCs for a high stats applicant is that they may lose out on substantial merit money when they transfer to a uni after 2 years costing more in the long run. Unis don’t tend to offer nearly as much aid to transfers as they do to freshmen. </p>
<p>Some valid questions about the student’s intentions have been brought up here. But as an acquaintance, I’m not privy to such info. My only concern is that if this was the result of misinformation (or lack, thereof), it would be remiss of me to not pass on information about community college and the 4 yrs’ transfer policies. </p>
<p>Most of us in this forum tend to be better informed than those who don’t visit here (or seek put info). Another case in point, my good friend (whom I have repeatedly encouraged to seek out info here and other places), has a student also with high stats (and is the close friend of the student above) who was admitted EDinto a competitive program and also invited to apply to the honors program. I happened to ask her how her D was doing and she told me the good news. Then she found out that she had missed the app deadline for honors by one day as well as scholarship deadlines. </p>
<p>Where is the guidance counselor in all of this? Dealing with the 400-500 students on her roster. The system is overloaded. But there are other ways to find information. It just takes initiative. Two of my kids attended this high school and I shadowed my kids through the college app process (ok, hovered at times) but I feel I was just doing my job. At this high school, the culture tends to be “drop your kids off at the door”. Is it that way in other places?</p>