This year I was admitted to Columbia University RD, and I am considering taking a Gap Year to do some additional research and to purse an internship opportunity at a local tech company. While considering the Gap Year though, I started to wonder if it would be possible to reapply to some of the schools that I didn’t get into the first time around. The reason I started thinking about this was because I had originally hoped to go to MIT or CalTech, or a school like Harvard, Yale, Princeton or Stanford. This is because I want to major in Math and/or Physics, and Columbia is a liberal arts heavy Ivy (so it’s ranked pretty low in these categories on US News and World Report). Yet when I started to research the issue, I saw that you are typically not allowed to apply to schools when you’ve deferred admission, and that in general, it’s considered unethical to do so. (I’ve already committed by the way) When I looked at Columbia’s gap year policies, all it said was that you couldn’t enroll in a University full time while on your gap year, but said nothing about applying to other schools. I’m wondering if anyone knows if people who defer admission to Columbia are barred from applying to other schools during their Gap Year, and I’m wondering if there are any risks in doing so if I am allowed to, and if it would be worth it to reapply as opposed to just sticking it out at a school I’m not so sure about.
Any response is appreciated.