Not every student thinking of taking a gap year (or two) after HS is aware of these issues gap students can face, as this young woman found the hard way.
The big one is that she took college courses after graduating high school. Many colleges consider students who take college courses (or more than a specific amount of them – varies by college) after high school to be transfer applicants instead of frosh applicants.
Students considering gap years after high school before enrolling as college frosh either need to take no college courses after high school, or look up carefully the frosh versus transfer rules for any college they may apply to in order to know which colleges will consider them frosh or transfer applicants if they do take college courses after high school.
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I’ve heard about students who get accepted to a school (I assume sometimes with scholarship) but defer for a gap-year experience.
Is there a gift subscription you can link to? I am not a Seattle Times subscriber.
Sorry for not responding sooner, just seeing your message! Unfortunately, no gift links are available…
Main points (apply when the gap year is a true gap year, not just when an admitted student deferred the start):
- If the student continues taking CC classes in the summer like many Running Start participants do, the student will be considered a transfer applicant by almost every college with a handful of exceptions, the majority of which are super reach schools. This will affect financial aid.
- Scholarships generally available to HS and college students will likely be out of reach because almost all require the applicant to be a “current student.”
- College counselors might be unable to work with someone who is not a current student so applicant will have to navigate all of these murky waters on their own.
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