If you apply college after taking a gap year, do I get any disadvantage getting admission specially from ivy league schools?
I assume that you had major accomplishments during your gap year. To the extent that that’s true you won’t be at a disadvantage.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/want-to-get-into-harvard-take-the-year-off/
Old article but still applies.
The key to a successful gap year is to be very busy filling your time with lots of demonstrable activities that further your main interests. An “empty” gap year is a negative; a “full” gap year can be a positive.
You are asking your son to take a gap year so you can spend down your assets. Right?
Getting accepted to the Ivy League schools is never a slam dunk. Never. The schools reject far more students than they accept.
Your son wants to major in engineering (or is that what you want your son to major in)?
There is no admission advantage given to students who take a gap year. Their applications are revirewed right alongside those of high school seniors who are applying. The school would want to know what the student did during that gap year that was meaningful, and sometimes why a gap year was taken.
I would suggest that you broaden your thinking a bit regarding colleges, and craft a well balanced list. If your kiddo has the stats to get accepted to Northwestern (which he did this year ED), and you think he is comoetitive for admissions to Ivy League schools, he would likely receive very good merit aid at any number of other places which would significantly ease your financial situation.
And I very strongly suggest that your son NOT apply early decision to any school next year given your significant concerns regarding college funding. He needs to be able to compare financial aid offers amongst all schools to chich he is accepted.
Thank you for your advices
@godsmile Hopefully this works out for him. Seems very risky. What are his stats like? I’m not sure why he would need to go to an Ivy League school for manufacturing engineering. Apply to your state school for a safety.
Godsmile, you are also counting on your son giving you that annuity money to pay off bills when he turns 18. You do realize…the money will be his…and he could easily say NO.
Please explain why you feel a $60,000 a year elite school is the only option for your son.
Dartmouth is apparently encouraging gap years in their new initiatives announced last week. Doesn’t mean your kid will get in or that it is the right fit, though.
Manufacturing engineers have a lowish median salary compared to all engineers. Wherever he works will probably give two figs about the college he attends. I have no idea where most of the people I work with went to college nor do I care. I don’t know why the money went to him if you where going to need it but maybe he could get his degree in four years and then help you. Financial aid will not be free money. You’ll be exchanging one debt for another. He probably could have gone to U of Alabama very inexpensively and still have been able to help you.
You would have him give up his spot at Northwestern to try for an even harder to get in U. You will still need a safety school where he will get in for sure. I don’t think you can apply ED and defer and use that time for applying to other schools, he will have to give up the spot at NU and that’s a risk that doesn’t seem worth taking, imo.
Most gap years that the kids I know have taken happen AFTER they are accepted to a college, and then take that gap year, something a lot of highly selective schools encourage. How they view a gap year and a redo of the app process, I don’t know. How they and many highschool counselors view backing out of ED, I do know.
The gap years that I have seen granted by schools after a student has been accepted, have required that the student and the high school counselor and the parent sign that they will not be applying to other schools for the consideration given in keeping the admissions decision for a year. How gap year consent works at NU or if it’s even permitted for ED, I do not know. You need to get the particulars for your student’s particular case.
It is evident on CC that some (not all) students who take gap years followed by re-applying are doing so because they either 1) mis-strategized the application process, or 2) failed to get into the school that they felt should have accepted them in the first place If an adcom suspects this, I think the applicant would be at a disadvantage.
As @cptofthehouse suggests, the far better route is to get accepted, and then take a gap year.
The student was accepted ED at northwestern this cycle. I think that is relevant to the question and answers.
I think the dad’s income and how much he can afford to pay (not counting his late wife’s insurance policy) make a difference. If the dad’s income is low enough that his son would get a lot of need based aid without counting the life insurance payment, then taking a gap year and paying down those medical bills would help make him eligible for grants, wouldn’t it? Admission to elite schools would still be a gamble, but he could build a list based on his stats and guaranteed merit aid so he has financial safeties. I can imagine a mom wanting money set aside for school in case merit or need based aid didn’t work out, but if merit and need based are available I can’t imagine a wife wanting her husband saddled with $100k worth of medical debt heading into retirement.
“The student was accepted ED at northwestern this cycle.”
Well, I’m a little confused about whether there are second thoughts about NU (as in, I got into NU, so maybe I shouldn’t have done ED because I might have gotten into Ivies), or, whether NU is the desired destination, but the main issue is over the best and most appropriate ways to conserve the mother’s estate. It seems to me that both are legitimate questions. But the responses will differ considerably without a bit more clarity.
Edit: I understand that this is a family that has suffered a terrible loss, and I am not judging the OP in any way.
I think the original concern, @MidwestDad3, was how to handle the finances so the student can attend NU while conserving the mom’s estate. It seems like the dad was sold some sort of annuity that NU is counting as an asset. He wants to pay down his wife’s medical bills with it and thinks his son will qualify for need based aid if he does that. I think the Ivies came up because he’s concerned that if his son takes a gap year so he can wind up his wife’s estate, NU will no longer be financially viable because they have the annuity on file from this year’s application.
When the annuity asset is gone, the amount of the family contribution from that asset will be replaced with need based aid at a place like NU. BUT the amount allocated to the family contribution from the father’s income and assets will remain the same assuming his income doesn’t fluctuate.
So…the question still remains…can the father afford the amount that is based in his incime and his assets…because that amount is probably not going to go down.
He can either use the asset amount plus his income amount. OR he can use his income amount and the added aid which will likely be given due to the decreased asset.
But that amount based in his incime will probably not change much.
Can the parent pay this amount? If not…the school will be as unaffordable next year as this…and with or without the asset.
OP, perhaps it might help in your planning to run a FAFSA EFC simulator like this one: http://www.finaid.org/calculators/finaidestimate.phtml
If you enter numbers that reflect what you expect your financial situation to be next year, after you pay off those medical debts with the life insurance money, you will have an idea of what full-need schools (like NU or the Ivies or top LACs) will expect you to pay.
Remember that many schools will count federal subsidized loans ($3,500 max the first year, +$1,000 each hear after that) and work-study as “aid”, but that is not a lot of debt. Also remember there will be some expenses not counted in the cost of attendance, like additional travel and health insurance.
I certainly think a gap year would be VERY understandable when the applicant has suffered such a traumatic loss. I think it is important to approach the school empathically, and not “just-the-facts.” I have to believe someone at Northwestern would champion this family and help navigate through a common-sense solution. For emotional reasons, it may be beneficial for the student to take gap year.
Realize that school administrators and FA officers do have empathy-otherwise they would not be working in Education at a university. Don’t be afraid to tell your story and ask for help.