<p>Hypothetically...
Let's say someone doesn't get into any schools they want to attend and are forced to go to a state school. They go to college the first semester and are unsatisfied by the party school atmosphere and absensce of intellectuals. Could this person reapply as freshmen or do they have to be transfer? Likely, this applicant would have perfect SAT I & II and a 4.0. If they had strong extracurriculars and were a potential recruited athlete (but for a sport like Track), would Yale possibly accept them? Or does Yale (and other competative schools) frown upon such applicants? </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>P.S. Please don't lecture that "you can have a great college experience anywhere." I was just wondering if this ever happens as such an applicant would be MUCH more competative (in terms of scores, academics, extracurriculars).</p>
<p>I'm pretty sure it's a transfer. I haven't heard anything about reapplying as a freshman. If you applying after as a sophomore transfer, Yale and most other colleges will look at your high school stats carefully since you've only had a semester of college so far. So it's pretty much like applying as a freshman except this time, your skipping a year.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I think if you have spent any time registered as a full-time student working towards a post-secondary degree, you are required to transfer. But I'm not sure that applies if you never completed any courses.</p></li>
<li><p>It is reportedly extremely rare -- as in maybe nonexistent -- for a highly selective college like Yale to accept a student applying as a new freshman in a gap year who applied and was rejected as a high school senior. Other highly selective colleges might accept him, but his chances are even more terrible than average at the places where he applied and was rejected the year before. If track didn't make a difference last year, it's not going to make a difference this year, either, unless times, etc. have gotten much better (and then there's the issue of having to sit out a year when you transfer if you were doing the sport at school #1).</p></li>
<li><p>Why would the student in the OP's post be a stronger candidate than he was the year before?</p></li>
<li><p>The OP's vision of what a state university is like is completely effed-up.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I was thinking about students who are homeschooled and simply go to a community college. They are not transfers but freshmen applicants...But thanks for the responses.</p>
<p>JHS: I don't have an "effed-up" opinion of state schools. I have family and neighbors at state schools. I know that there are a wide variety of people at state schools, but the atmosphere is simply not the same as Yale. Yale students are the most diverse, interesting people in the world. That is why we are all applying there, isn't it? Many schools have Yale's academics, but NONE have the same Yale experience.</p>
<p>Just butting in here, but if you spent the year in Africa (which we know from the recent election is a continent, not a country) running on the Kenyan mens' track team, your application might get a second look. Hard to say for sure, though.</p>
<p>I'm with bio91 with the tendency to think of state schools as those with "party school atmospheres and an absensce of intellectuals." But, just a thought- with the downward trend in admissions, as well the economy, many of these "intellectuals" may end up at these "state party schools."</p>
<p>However, I don't understand why you think that attending another college for a semester would give you a better chance at Y if you weren't accepted as a freshman the first time around??</p>
<p>Oh, I don't have an overbearing attaction to the ivy's. I just posted this in Yale because the Yale forum is so much larger than the other forums. I also posted this in harvard (even though I didn't apply) because I knew they would turn out a response quickly. Thanks for the input.</p>
<p>What about if I chose to stay in high school one more year? Does this ever happen? It wouldn't be at any detriment to me because if I was not admitted I could still go to my state school and all my credits would transfer. Does anyone ever take a fifth year in high school for AP's and community college classes? Would Yale look down upon this?</p>
<p>Biology: Great question. You get three chances to apply and get in as a freshman--call the school and see if this applies even if you have some college credit. Say something like "I've taken a few college courses, but dropped out because of compelling circumstances", and see what the response is. Even if they say no, it looks like there are a couple of safety nets.</p>
<p>(i) Apply as a transfer. It's a lot harder, but you get a second crack at the process about one and one half years down the line. Make sure you go gangbusters and kick a-- in your coursework, though.</p>
<p>(ii) Try the Eli Whitney Students Program (google it). It might be a bit of a stretch considering you're probably not too much older than the "conventional" undergraduate, but if you tell the people looking at the application that you've had exceptional circumstances (no offense, but if you say "offset by lack of intellectual stimulation or company at my old school", that probably won't work). </p>
<p>Do your due diligence. Scour through the yale college website and do google searches for things that can act as kickers or exceptions to the normal application process for non-traditional applicants. Look for things people have tried before to get into Yale "through the back door."</p>
<p>Staying in high school an extra year: In fact, that is extremely common, especially for athletes trying to qualify for DI scholarships (or sometimes Ivy-type admission), but also for kids who are not satisfied with the quality of their college-oriented resumes as of the fall of their 12th grade year. Usually they take a post-graduate year at another school, often a private school (often a boarding school). They apply as freshmen during their "Grade 13" year.</p>
<p>If I don't get into a good school, there is a slim chance I do this because I approached admissions wrong to some degree. When I began applying, I didn't think prestige meant anything and so I didn't apply to many DI big schools (like northwestern, johns hopkins, so on). Now, looking at my career choice in nonprofits/health public policy, I think a name might be important (although there is always grad school). </p>
<p>So, JHS, Yale would not look down upon a "grade 13" student even if they have a 4.0 and 2280 SAT's?</p>
<p>In this extra year, I am thinking about founding a nonprofit and would also try to get recruited for track.</p>