<p>Hi,
I'm an international student who will apply for Harvard, Princeton and Columbia. If I am not admitted this time I plan to apply again next year. In the commonapp suppl. page you answer the question "have you previously applied to H/P/C?". </p>
<p>Will a "yes I have"-answer next year decrease my chances of being admitted next year, even though I'll have better SAT scores and so on...??</p>
<p>Thanks for answers!</p>
<p>Unlikely, though you will have had to have done something valuable with your year to see a different admissions outcome are you not admitted this go-round.</p>
<p>Anyone who knows for sure?? Anyone?</p>
<p>I doubt it, but even if it does decrease the chance, there’s really nothing you can do about it so don’t stress. It’s probably just so they can check where you were at last time you applied and see if you improved/did something valuable.</p>
<p>I personally would not reapply to any schools that I recieved a rejection letter from though I agree with above poster, it may be to look up your previous record.</p>
<p>hi~~ I face the same problem~~~don’t know whether i should apply this year now cos my chance of getting in is sososo little. btw, will that hurt my chance of getting into a top us law school ?</p>
<p>Do you know if I’ll have to send in teacher recommendations again next year, or will they (H/P/C) just look at the old ones…?</p>
<p>They will keep your file if you ask them too.</p>
<p>You will have to do something pretty spectacular if you want them to change their minds in one year. It’s not about 100 more SAT points.</p>
<p>Marian: you’re planning on putting your life on hold if you get rejected at these schools who routinely say no to +90% if applicants? That’s not a very smart plan. You’ll likely be rejected again – and then what?</p>
<p>Try for them once and be satisfied with whatever outcome – and then move on. They aren’t all that. I would forbid my children from doing what you’re planning on. Trust me (I’m an HYP alum).</p>
<p>Well, still there is no one who can say for sure whether applying a second time is a disadvantage… I would be very happy if someone knew, I’m a bit nervy…</p>
<p>(T26E4, I’ll probably just work next year anyway, so I’m not “putting my life on hold”… In my class only one of thirty students began to study immediately, the rest of us worked or traveled…)</p>
<p>I just want an exact answer to my question!</p>
<p>There is no exact answer, just anecdotes. From what I’ve seen, it’s taken something extraordinary during a gap year for kids to get into a top college that rejected them as a freshman. I know a girl who got into Columbia a year after being rejected who spent the year on a business she had run in high school which she was able to sell to Google during that year.</p>
<p>But I know many more who thought they had a great chance the following year because they were wait listed who were rejected again.</p>
<p>Thanks for the answers… Are there any more anecdotes out there? Isn’t it strange that there is no general answer to this question, if it is a disadvantage to have applied once before…?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It’s not that strange because virtually nobody does what you’re describing.</p>
<p>But I agree with the others that you’d need to do something during that year that would improve your credentials dramatically in order to change your result. And really, why should the credentials that didn’t get you admitted in 2011 work better for you in 2012, when you also have to overcome the admissions committee’s inclination to ask, “What part of ‘no’ do you not understand?”</p>
<p>I don’t think working for a year helps you get past that.</p>