I am a high school senior and am applying to Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE), a year long foreign exchange student program. I will be applying to a few schools as a “backup plan” in case it does not work out. I was wondering if you guys think Rotary would improve my chances. I will be applying to UCB, UCLA and UCD and likely a few other UC’s but my fear is, getting in now, not attending due to Rotary and then not getting in when applying next year. Theoretically RYE should help my application, right? What do you guys think?
Thanks
Without knowing why you are doing the RYE, I can tell you one of the few admits to the Ivy League college near us was on a RYE in Europe her senior year.
If you are only doing the RYE in order to specifically improve your college admissions chances, then don’t do it. It will not automatically get you in somewhere that you have no chance of being admitted at now.
Whether the RYE or any other gap year activity will make you a better candidate is anyone’s guess. The year will give you a lot of different experiences, and it is entirely possible that your college list will change significantly as a result of that experience.
I’m not sure about the colleges that you’re looking at, but many allow you to take a gap year once accepted.
I’m currently applying for the CBYX (full year exchange, Germany) program for next year while still going full speed ahead on college apps. Every college that I’ve applied for would let me defer a year should I be accepted- I won’t have to reapply for admission, but admissions will have to reevaluate my financial aid.
I believe that the opportunities and experiences that RYE’s give are well worth any minor repurdcussions on financial aid, though I can see where you’re coming from. I’m not sure about UC’s, but my experience with colleges on the east coast has taught me that your worries are (hopefully completely) unfounded. 
My daughter did RYE during her junior year. I think it added an interesting aspect to her story, but you do want to make sure the rest of your app is strong too.
UC will not allow deferrals, I don’t think most publics do.
I certainly am not thinking about rotary to boost my applications. I just don’t want it to hurt my chances.
I submitted my apps today, for UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCD and UCSC and Rotary Youth Exchange. If i end up doing rotary, I will apply for the same schools next year, would the schools i get into this year be pretty good indicator of the schools I would get into next year or would my chances go up or down for these schools?