<p>I agree with cptofthehouse</p>
<p>You had no safe schools on your list. I wouldn't expect a HS student to know this, but if your GC ok'd your list, that was faulty advice. I made sure my son applied to 2 safe schools out of 6 or 7 we visited. Goucher was one he chose. He had sky-high stats and impressive EC's, but I had read the andison story and that--no acceptances--was not going to happen to my son. His GC was also very conservative about calling anything safe.</p>
<p>IF UCLA and CAL are your goal, move to CA, support yourself- work and live for a year, then apply as an instate resident, which gives you a better chance to be admitted.</p>
<p>I am thinking you cannot take more than a part-time load at the CC in CA and still qualify for residency- you normally cannot qualify if you are a full time student, so check the CAL/UCLA details if you pursue this to make sure you do it just right!</p>
<p>Personally, I think that you should immediately apply to a couple of the schools on the list that others have mentioned, since a number of them are at least as attractive as safety schools you might apply to next year. As you rightly point out, Andison had a "perfect" record that was easy to understand, and he was an outstanding musician. Your story requires explanation, and it will not look better after a year has passed, IMHO.</p>
<p>I know a kid who found himself in your position and went to Eckerd. He double-majored in a science/business fields, and a few years out has a successful career in the investment area specializing in biotech firms.</p>
<p>The honors college at Pitt would be a great place for you. Kids with excellent stats attend that program, and it is highly thought of.</p>
<p>The College of Wooster has an excellent reputation. The one kid I know who went there is now at Dartmouth Medical School.</p>
<p>Goucher is a good alternative, especially with the ability to take some classes at Hopkins.</p>
<p>I would not fool around with CCs and the like. Go to one of these colleges, do the great job that you are clearly capable of, and you'll have no problem getting into a good graduate school.</p>
<p>I agree with Consolation. You are already possibly a year older than your peers. Taking another year off makes you older yet. You have already taken AP level courses that make it pretty clear that CC may not be able to offer you the type of challenging courses you want, unless there is an excellent cc in your area. Moving to California and trying to get residency and getting into their CC system is going to be taking a chance and is not easy to do unless you know the system well. I don't know about the program you like, but unless it can provide a big lift for you, I would enroll in Pitt (I'm sure you'll make the Honors college), Goucher or other school that still has room. You can transfer if you do well there, or go to grad school at a "name" school, I'm sure if you excell.</p>
<p>Also, not wanting to beat you up, but I'm afraid that your bout of "senioritis," even though mild, is REALLY not going to help you if you reapply to highly selective schools next year. A story like yours needs the grades to go up and STAY up to be convincing. The competition for those schools is fierce. Even a semester of As at a CC isn't going to prove much, since that would be expected of someone with your scores and AP classes.</p>
<p>I say 1) go to Pitt if you can get into the honors college, or 2) to Wooster, or 3) to Eckerd. (I'd put Goucher lower on your list because it's local. The last thing you need is to feel that you are hanging around at home while your friends go off to more exciting places.) I don't think you will regret it.</p>
<p>I see what you're saying, Consolation, but I think Goucher actually IS exciting. Local kids can just not go home and still have a great experience.</p>
<p>Like I had said before, I had become cocky with myself and I believed that schools such as BC and UCLA were safeties when in fact they were completely the opposite. </p>
<p>I'm not entirely familiar with the California system, and the prospect of being two years older than my peers has always been a discouraging factor, but nonetheless, I did finish my City Year interview today, which I believe went well. I think that supporting myself in Cali is out of the question, and it definitely wouldn't bode well with my mom.</p>
<p>Consolation-Yeah my mistake of senioritis sometimes keeps me up at night...
I think that I'd place Goucher above both Wooster and Eckerd, and the opportunity to save money by staying locally is always beneficial for a family of my economic standing.</p>
<p>I'm going to talk to my mom about Goucher and Pitt right now.</p>
<p>With all due respect to those suggesting you move to California, I think that is seriously misguided advice. I believe you have ruled it out for financial reasons and I think that is wise.</p>
<p>Moving on:</p>
<p>congratulations on the good interview for City Year. My fingers are crossed for you.</p>
<p>If City Year doesn't come through, I am completely persuaded of the wisdom of the suggestion others are making: choose Goucher/Pitt/any school which appeals to you on the NACAC list with openings.</p>
<p>Start your college career at one of these excellent options. Chances are you will be a very successful fish in any one of these ponds and will thrive there. The temptation to compare yourself to your current hs classmates and their college choices will be gone after one year at college. The sting of this year's admissions season will be gone, too.</p>
<p>If by some chance you do not wish to stay at one of these schools, you can apply for transfer. But, remember, even then that your hs record will be factor at several of them. So, I'd say: do City Year or Goucher/Pitt and then </p>
<p>bloom where you are planted.</p>
<p>You have a good chance for a Chancellor's scholarship at Pitt and placement into the Honors College. Goucher is a very fine school with excellent professors and courses, with the opportunity to take courses at Johns Hopkins. I would look at the lNACAC list and see if there are other possibilities that you might like. As I have said earlier, if you do well in these schools, there is a good chance of transfer. But both Goucher and Pitt (as well as Eckerd and Wooster) stand well on their own in quality of academics. You will not be shorted in terms of professional or graduate schools going to any of those colleges.</p>
<p>I agree that inh41 is dealing with this well, but I do want to clarify a couple suggestions. I agree that Pitt's Honor College is a great option and know that LurkNessMonster will concur. But, frankly, the timing for the Chancellor's is off and requires a significantly better GPA.</p>
<p>Goucher is great school with a very approachable faculty that enjoys teaching. My impression is that inh41 is from the DC suburbs and although it is just 25 minutes away, there's a huge (and fun) difference between the DC and Baltimore metro areas.</p>
<p>So sorry you are going through this. Please consider some of the colleges that still have openings at this point, mentioned above. This could get you into a stimulating residential college experience for the fall. If that doesn't work out, though, and if your reservation about attending a California community college and transferring to a UC centers on the cost of living in an apartment during your cc year(s), check out whether the community college in Santa Barbara (in a gorgeous area of one of the most beautiful cities in the country) has dorms. I had heard that they have some dorm space shared with UCSB students. There are many bright, excellent students who do the community college to UC route for a variety of reasons, often having to do with finances or family circumstances. There is no stigma, and the transfer is guaranteed if you take a certain courseload and receive a certain GPA. You would want to check with a California CC counselor to find out the implications of your AP's. If you could transfer to a top tier UC after only one year of CC with great grades because of your AP credit, that would also put you back with students the same age as you are.</p>
<p>OP, before you pursue the California idea, FIRST make sure about out-of-state regulations. It used to be that unless you're over 25 or you can prove you're self supporting, you would pay out-of-state tuition if money for your schooling was coming out of state (i.e. if your parents are out-of-state.) Community college wouldn't be a good option (IMO) if you have to pay the near equivalent of private school tution to attend...</p>
<p>Well, I've been reading extensively on the transfer programs of some of the schools I had previously applied to, and schools such as Penn, Duke, and UChicago seem nearly impossible, and handfuls of applicants with 4.0s from CCs or smaller colleges get rejected. Would it be wiser to do City Year (I'm guessing this would make me somewhat unique) and re-apply as a freshman or go to another college and attempt to transfer in as a sophomore, despite the facts and figures. Most of the people who seem to be getting in are extraordinarily unique and extremely individual. The 4.0/work experience/president of this club doesn't seem to cut it anymore.</p>
<p>And katliamom, that's exactly the way I saw going to community college in California. There's no true point in going if the price is going to be the same as the state institutions.</p>
<p>However, if I am choose the college route, Pitts, Goucher, and potentially BC are on the list..</p>
<p>Yes, it is even harder to transfer into "top" colleges than be admitted as a freshman. Because of that, I think you need to widen to scope of your search for colleges you could transfer into. There are PLENTY of great universities that would open the doors to a great student. Just understand that GPA matters above all else [work experience/president of this club included] when trying to transfer "UP" the rankings ladder. Your HS transcript / SAT test scores are also important, especially if you trying to transfer in as a sophomore, so you have that to your advantage. And if you can handle doing BOTH an internship [ perhaps a continuation of the research you were doing?], as well as the City Year program, that WILL make you unique. Good Luck, and don't despair. Pick other universities to apply/ transfer to and don't waste time reapplying to the ones that rejected you.</p>
<p>inh41, I hope you will not delay pursuing your post-high school life in hopes of eventually attaining admission to a school with the necessary name recognition.</p>
<p>You state that you are most interested in economics/business. Will the City Year program help you explore those interests, or do you see it more as something to do to help enhance your application to a brand school?</p>
<p>Identify your interests and pursue them. Forget about a big name school. It's a red herring; you can accomplish whatever you really want to do with or without it.</p>
<p>inh41, I agree with fendrock: do not waste time pining over the ones that got away.</p>
<p>Personally, I think it is incredibly foolish to consider doing a City Year and then reapplying to schools like the ones that rejected you this year. The competition for admission is going to be at least as bad next year, and you will STILL have the same transcript. You would be taking a tremendous chance, and for what?</p>
<p>Go to one of these good colleges. Be one of the best students they have ever seen. Bloom where you are planted. Doors will open for you.</p>
<p>I just wanted to add that you may be able to leverage your research experience into an interesting job for a gap year.</p>
<p>For example, I did a quick search and found a listing on CraigsList for a lab assistant (temp to hire -- only high school education required) at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Janelia Farm Research Campus.</p>
<p>With your smarts and experience, a job like this could lead to something quite interesting in a few months.</p>
<p>Another idea is to look for some sort of business position at a biotech firm. Perhaps you could structure some project you want to do and propose it as an unpaid internship (do it part-time while taking classes at a local university?)</p>
<p>I think Pitts, Goucher, and potentially BC are really good options if you can still make it happen. Don't waste any time though!</p>
<p>Pitts has a very easy and straight-forward application - will take you 30 min to fill out. It only requires essays for scholarships (too late now), and possibly for honors college (check on that, but you probably already have an essay you can submit).</p>
<p>The Goucher app was also straight forward. Just the Common App. No supplement.</p>
<p>Well I'm working on the Pitts application as we speak but I did get my formal BC rejection letter today. Kudos to BC for finally informing me.</p>
<p>The only part of this app that's irking me is that I don't remember the exact days I enrolled at Hopkins....</p>