Colleges for Gap Year Student

College Search & Selection
1

<p>I will be taking a gap year for family/personal reasons and am hoping for some college suggestions that will give a lot of money, although full ride or close to it would be nice. I have a 3.9 GPA over four years from a competitive school with a 2300+ SAT.</p>

2

<p>You need to spend some time in the Financial Aid Forum. Start with this thread. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/848226-important-links-automatic-guaranteed-merit-scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Thanks! Do you have any suggestions for more competitive ones too?</p>

4

<p>Are you a NMF? That opens up another set of full tuition schools.</p>

5

<p>I am, but I had heard that NMF is useless for a gap year student since the deadline to name a school passed or something? Is it still useful to be NMF?</p>

6

<p>It is still useful to be NMF. Take a look at the list of schools that offer special scholarships for NMF, and then drop them a line about your situation. Some of them won’t care at all that you are taking a year off.</p>

<p>Go ahead and apply to any of the competitive schools that appeal to you. Your grades and test scores put you in the range for them. However, you need to be aware that most of them will take your family’s financial situation into consideration when you apply for financial aid. If the school thinks that your family should pay more than your family thinks it should, that particular school may not be affordable for you. You need to have a very clear understanding of just exactly how much your family is willing to pay so that you know which aid packages will work for you and which won’t.</p>

7

<p>Thanks. I didn’t mean to sound snooty by saying “more competitive,” but I simply want to find the best choices within my limitations. With regards to schools considering NMF with a gap year, should I expect more schools to welcome NMF still or not count the status anymore?</p>

8

<p>bump…</p>

9

<p>

My son took a gap year and just put his NMF on a gap year as well. He got the NMF $2000 scholarship. I don’t know how “most” schools feel, but I’d <em>imagine</em> that a school that collects NMF (OU, etc.) would be happy enough with a gap year since you’re still a real NMF.</p>

<p>In most cases, I think it’s better to apply for college as a HS senior, like the other HS seniors. Then in April of your senior year, ask the colleges that offered admission about gaps. There’s no reason you can’t discuss a school’s feelings about gap years before you bother applying.</p>

10

<p>Well, I already applied and got in to a very selective option, but circumstances have changed and that is why I am taking the gap year. But yeah thanks, it probably would be best then to make a list and contact the respective schools.</p>