<p>CC with intent to transfer to a 4-year school: The most academically advanced students are more likely to hit a “ceiling” on the offerings at a CC before they can transfer. E.g. some advanced-in-math students have already exhausted the local CC’s math offerings before they graduate from high school. Course articulation to four year schools may not be assured for majors where courses and curricula vary more. Students who can win large scholarships at 4-year schools will typically find scholarship opportunities as frosh better than as transfers. But starting at CC can be a good low cost way of doing the first two years of college for many students (the ones who are not super-advanced and are doing majors where course articulation is good). Students who are very undecided may find starting at CC beneficial, since CC students would not be on as restrictive a financial or administrative clock to decide and declare a major.</p>
<p>Gap year(s): Depends a lot on what the person does during the gap year. More common gap year activities are work and enlisted military service (obviously, the latter is multiple gap years, but comes with college funding after discharge). Here on these forums, it seems more common for students shut out of reach colleges to consider parentally supported “interesting” gap year activities.</p>
<p>Vocational school, or vocational program at CC: You would choose this route if the career you are interested in requires education taught in vocational programs, rather than requiring a bachelor’s degree.</p>