I couldn’t go to University last mintute due to a change in financial circumstances. I will be starting community college which I really don’t want to go to, is it possible to apply to universities as a first year student while I start my first semester in community college? If I get accepted and commit then I will drop out of CC. I am planning to do EA so will get acceptance news back by December, if I get in somewhere then I would stop going to CC and do something else in the next months while waiting for college to start in the fall? Is this allowed?
Enrollment in college must be reported to any college you apply to.
Enrollment in college after high school graduation may cause many colleges to classify you as a transfer and be ineligible for frosh admission. Check each college for its policy.
By “drop out of community college”, do you mean that you will drop all your courses in the middle of the semester and take W’s, or do you mean that you will finish your first semester, work hard and make an effort to get high grades for your first semester, but drop out and not take any courses your second semester?
Would the alternatives be to (1) take a gap year for the entire year and apply to start as a freshman in September of 2019, or (2) to take an entire year at community college and try to transfer starting as a sophomore September 2019?
Are you going to be applying to universities which are economically more feasible, or are you hoping for a change in your financial circumstances?
I would check with the universities that you will be applying to. However, I would expect that once you start at community college you would be applying as a transfer student.
If you mean you are applying now and registering at a community college as a back of sorts, I think that’s fine.
If you start/attend classes at CC, that’s a different story.
Are you looking at University’s for the fall 2018 start that are still accepting students?
No for fall 2019. My financial situation won’t change and if I got into a college which was affordable I would completely drop out of community college without finishing classes but I think I would’ve finished the first semester by December. And can you really transfer as sophomore to colleges? I’ve always heard you need to transfer to start as a junior in college
Some colleges may require you to take the transfer path if you enroll in any college courses after high school graduation, even if you withdraw before completing them. Some may allow a limited number of credits of college work enrolled or completed while still retaining frosh status, but that needs to be checked individually at each college.
Really, there are no general answers here. You can do one of the following:
A. Take a gap year with no college courses (work to earn some money) and apply to colleges for frosh admission in spring 2019 and fall 2019.
B. Start at community college and commit to the transfer pathway. Note that some colleges take sophomore level transfers (high school record may still be important due to limited college record), while others prefer junior level transfers (high school record is less important than college record). Merit scholarships tend to be less common for transfer students than frosh.
C. Check every college you are interested in to find out how much community college enrollment you can take while preserving frosh status. Then, obey the strictest combination of rules and apply for frosh admission for spring 2019 and fall 2019.
Your other thread at http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/2089314-can-no-longer-pay-for-college-should-i-take-a-gap-year-or-go-to-community-college.html indicates that you are a US citizen living out side the US, so that attending a community college will be relatively expensive (you will need living expenses and have to pay out-of-state tuition). So that means that option A is the most financially viable one (and your new list of colleges must be tailored for seeking financial aid and scholarships).
I agree …before you start down this path understand the consequences. If you start CC you may be considered a transfer student and then not eligible for freshman merit scholarships.