<p>^^ The question. Like if you have been rejected from College X as freshman, and you decide to take a gap year and apply again, or transfer from College Y to this college the subsequent year, does it negatively impact your app? Is the new app viewed in any way in conjunction to the previous one?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I expect that this depends on the school. Several years ago a young lady of my acquaintance was not admitted to College A, but successfully transfered there after a year at College B. Even though she spent a great part of her freshman year applying to transfer, by the time she mailed the application off, she realized that she had made friends at College B, and could be happy there if College A rejected her transfer application.</p>
<p>College is mostly what you make of it. You can be happy just about anywhere.</p>
<p>A friend of mine was rejected by UChicago as a freshman applicant and, after spending a year at Brandeis, was accepted as a transfer the next year. So yes, it is possible. I don't know if it causes them to view your application any differently.</p>
<p>if you do the transfer route, it probably wouldn't negatively impact you. Now for the gap year if you then apply again as a freshmen, and if you don't do anything in the gap year to improve your competitiveness, then if you were rejected one year, its probably fairly likely you would be rejected the next, dunno if the fact that you had applied before has any influence. Also consider that its easier to get into most(although there are some exceptions) schools via transfer than as a freshman.</p>
<p>anyone has any concrete info on this?</p>
<p>Elastine -</p>
<p>Which school is it that you want to get into? Do you have any good idea as to why they rejected you this year? Can you change that in one year (or two)? Do you honestly think that you will still want to go to that particular school after you have been studying somewhere else, or working, or doing whatever it is you might do during a gap year?</p>
<p>Okay, i'll be very honest. I want to apply to Penn Wharton(ED), This year i was extremely stupid to change my school from Wharton to the College of Arts and Sciences, despite my app being a more business one, at the last moment because i thought it'd be easier to get in(VERY stupid i know). Now i have realized that my profile after the gap year with the internships at investment banks and many more activities in the gap year i can demonstrate that i am a much better fit for the business school than CAS. </p>
<p>You might be thinking that im a f'n stupid despo right about now. I just miscalculated and now want to rectify the situation. Do you think it'll work?</p>
<p>I don't recall hearing ANY stories of someone rejected one year getting in the next year after a gap year. That perhaps happens rarely, but does anyone reading this thread have an example? I think the usual idea for reapplying after a gap year is to apply to NEW colleges.</p>
<p>Do not take a gap year simply because you didn't get to your school of choice. </p>
<p>Being a year behind, IMO, defeats the point of getting into a good school in the first place.</p>
<p>if you get rejected once i think the college already has a negative view of you...so getting in on the second try would be tougher i believe</p>
<p>damn :( </p>
<p>@ glaoisien: I didnt get into ANY.</p>
<p>Life's so screwed.</p>
<p>Don't want to start another thread, so I'll ask ym question here, hehe.</p>
<p>Same thing, minus the fact that I didn't get rejected(yet?).</p>
<p>I got waitlisted at Umich, and I'm going to MSU honors for freshman year, hoping to transfer out for sophomore year, anybody knows how likely it will be for me to get in?</p>
<p>Transfer admission is a different situation. What you do in your first year of college is crucial if you want to transfer to another college. But in general if you reapply (for a second shot at freshman admission, or apply as a transfer student) to the same college you've applied to before, your previous admission file will probably be available to the admission committee.</p>
<p>A contra example: DH applied to Penn's law school in late January a few years ago after getting his LSAT scores, on the basis that it was the only school he was prepared to attend the following fall. He was rejected -- 3.2 GPA from Wharton (very erratic grades), perfect LSAT. The next year, he spent three months working on his essay and discussing his undergrad grades. Used the same rec letters, didn't do anything else (except to keep working at his job and saving money). </p>
<p>Applied to eight schools -- three Ivies, Chicago, Georgetown, GW, Northwestern and NYU. (This was back in the days when this was considered a balanced application list!) :)) Got into Georgetown, GW and NYU, waitlisted at Penn, Chicago and Columbia, came off Penn's waitlist in June. Was at the top of Chicago's waitlist (and would have taken it) if there had been any movement that year. Motivated by forsaking his previous career (and that I was supporting him), he got serious about grades and wound up magna cum laude, law review senior editor, federal circuit clerkship, etc.</p>
<p>Halfway through second year, the Dean of Admissions told us that the committee had "really debated whether to take you [him] on."</p>
<p>Goes to show that mediocre grades and a second shot at applying CAN work out.</p>
<p>"if you get rejected once i think the college already has a negative view of you...so getting in on the second try would be tougher i believe"</p>
<p>This is completely false. From the way I see it, I think transfering to the same college that you applied to for freshman admission might look good to colleges because it shows how much you <em>really</em> want to be there. Some schools might have overlooked your application due to the vast amount they receive each year and as a transfer they might pay closer attention to you this time because the amount of transfer applications is not (at least for most schools) the same as the freshman applications.</p>
<p>Elastine -</p>
<p>If you really want Penn's undergraduate business program, you need to talk to someone inside that program to find out what you need to do. I mean like a faculty member. The letter would go something like this:</p>
<p>Dear Dr. Famous,</p>
<p>I am a great admirer of the XXXXX program and have been reading your publications on the topic of ZZZZZZZ. I would like your advice on the best way to prepare myself for admission to the XXXXX program.</p>
<p>First of course you have to actually research the professors, and you have to actually read their publications, and you have to have something intelligent to discuss with them in your letter, and you have to be truly serious about engaging in this academic conversation. "I want to go to Penn because it's the most famous" is not enough of an argument.</p>
<p>Does reading their blogs (e.g. Language Log) count?</p>