<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I am planning on applying to college next year during the freshman admission process. I graduated from high school in 2008, but in the fall of 2007 I put off the college admission process as I had to help my father with his business during the rescission. It was initially just going to be for a year or so but as the recession got worse and worse I needed to work more and more. I had worked part-time for the company since I was 15 and understood basically every aspect of the business and was helping my dad restructure employees, lower cost basis, etc. Based of my solid stats from when I was in high school, I would now love to be able to go to an upper-tier school if this would be possible. I am not sure if my three years off and background would look good or bad to schools, but I am interested to hear everyone's opinion on the matter.</p>
<p>So, as far as my basic admission stats:
34 ACT with 12 Essay from fall 2007
I had a 3.9 GPA uw at a fairly competitive public school in Wisconsin
I took 5 AP classes and had 4 5's and 1 4
I did not take any SAT subject tests(I am sure I could self-study and take them now)
And I had great recommendations, but when I will be applying they will be three years old.</p>
<p>So has does anyone have any advice on what I should do in this situation. I have been lurking the forums for a bit and maybe someone who worked in admissions like hmom05 could tell me how schools dealt with students like myself.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for any help you can provide.</p>
<p>I think you have a great story to tell, and you do have excellent scores. I think you should try and ask hmom5 because she is very informative, but it is my belief that you should still try and apply to plenty of high-ranking schools.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for the reply, how would I even tell this story. Could I just include my own supplement if the school’s essay question has nothing to do with a student’s background, or since I am older would they like an explanation anyway?</p>
<p>Does anyone know if his 3 year gap hurts him scholarship wise as an incoming freshman?</p>
<p>BTW…how will you pay for college? Do you need aid? scholarships? What?</p>
<p>I am completely uneducated as far as how aids and scholarships go, especially for someone in my position…</p>
<p>Before the recession my dad made about 175,000 a year for three years, but went through a costly divorce during this time. During the last three years his income has dipped down about 100,000. My dad’s only asset is $150,000 paid off on his home. I made 15,000 in my senior year and will make 35,000 this year and close to it next year. I probably make less then I should as I still live at home and do not pay for rent, food, etc. When I was younger, I was in a car accident and was awarded an amount in the five figures. Because I may later have complications due to the accident, I would prefer to keep as much of this money as possible to protect myself. I have been told that colleges will not view this disability money as an asset, I am not sure if anyone can confirm whether or not this is true…</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply, and hopefully that helped…</p>
<p>You need to do some reading on “non-traditional age students”. There are scads of you out there, and some colleges/universities are better at dealing with you than others are. Take a look at the sub-forum on the topic for some more ideas.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. I was under the impression that if I am younger than 26)or maybe 25 was the age) that I am considered traditional student.</p>
<p>You would likely qualify for merit scholarships as an “incoming freshman” as long as they don’t specify that you must graduate in 2010 from HS.</p>
<p>Perhaps those colleges should also be pursued.</p>
<p>Since you made a lot more than most students, a good portion will likely be expected to be used for college.</p>
<p>Different institutions have different cut-off ages for formal classification as a non-traditional age student. But even if you are “young” for a non-trad., your work experience means that you will offer a very different set of things to the college/university community than you would have if you’d entered on the regular schedule. This is something that you might want to take into consideration when you are looking for a good place to study.</p>