<p>Agree with Gapyearstudent–have heard that a year off doesn’t affect merit scholarships. In fact, some schools will think you more enterprising.</p>
<p>Not always true. This has come up before and parents have posted the “small print” on their kids’ scholarships that have said that they are for incoming freshmen who have graduated in the previous spring. I’m not saying that that is true for all colleges, but it is true for some. Swimcatsmom mentioned that her child’s requirement had this, and I posted the quote from my kids’ scholarships. </p>
<p>Here is the “fine print” from my kids’ scholarships…</p>
<p>*As an entering freshman (applying for the Fall semester following your senior year of high school), you will need to send a completed application for admission, official high school transcript (grades 9-11), official ACT or SAT scores, application fee, and the completed scholarship section of the application for admission by December 1 of your senior year in high school. *</p>
<p>The reason why this isn’t widely known is that the “fine print” isn’t often on the scholarship page. I know that some colleges are less strict about this -especially for int’l students since many take a gap year because of the way their exams are.</p>