Gap Year Exchange Student Possibly Reapplying to UPenn and WashU Scholarships

<p>Ok, so I'm currently a senior in high school. Next year I will participate in the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange program, a full scholarship immersion program to study in Germany. I will stay with a German host family and go to a German high school. </p>

<p>I applied this year to UPenn ED (the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business, with Wharton as my single degree option), UVA, WashU (and the Dean's Scholarship in Business there), Wisconsin, and W&M. I was deferred then rejected from Penn. I got into Wisc, W&M, UVA ArtSci and WashU Olin (was not a finalist for the scholarship at WashU). I have accepted admission at UVA and sent them my letter formally stating my intention to defer admission. The dean there has already indicated that I will be allowed to defer admission.</p>

<p>I intend to major in business of some sort and German, and would also like to take some polisci and IR classes.</p>

<p>I love UVA and am extremely excited about going there the year after next. As of right now, I do not intend to reapply anywhere during my gap year. But I fear that a few years down the road I might wonder if I could've gotten in somewhere and done something more outside my comfort zone (UVA is 2 hours from home and 1/4-1/3 of my graduating class goes there).</p>

<p>So, here are my two questions:
Is it ethical to reapply somewhere else when I have a deposit down at UVA?</p>

<p>What are my chances at:
UPenn Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business
UPenn Wharton
WashU Dean's Scholarship in Business (<a href="http://admissions.wustl.edu/admissions/ua.nsf/3rd%20Level%20Pages_Scholarships_scholarship_Olin.htm?OpenPage&charset=iso-8859-1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://admissions.wustl.edu/admissions/ua.nsf/3rd%20Level%20Pages_Scholarships_scholarship_Olin.htm?OpenPage&charset=iso-8859-1&lt;/a&gt;)
WashU Ervin Scholarship (diversity scholarship, open to all races. I would apply from the angle of my exchange program. <a href="http://admissions.wustl.edu/admissions/ua.nsf/3rd%20Level%20Pages_Scholarships_scholarship_Ervin.htm?OpenPage&charset=iso-8859-1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://admissions.wustl.edu/admissions/ua.nsf/3rd%20Level%20Pages_Scholarships_scholarship_Ervin.htm?OpenPage&charset=iso-8859-1&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p>

<p>Please be brutally honest. I have been fortunate enough to thoroughly enjoy high school while staying focused in school. I do not take my college admissions as a validation of the past four years of work; to me, the work has been worth it in many ways already. Thank you for reading this and for any advice you can give me.</p>

<p>White Male</p>

<p>School: Thomas Jefferson HSST in Alexandria, VA
GPA: 3.968 weighted/3.839 unweighted
Rank: School does not rank</p>

<p>SAT: Single sitting: 2260 (750 V, 710 M, 700 W) Combined: 2330 (750 V, 710 M, 800 W)
SAT II German 760
SAT II Math IIC 760</p>

<p>Freshman: 4 A 3 B+ Accelerated computer science, not AP, but took the AP
Sophmore: 5 A 2 B+ 1 AP (Psych)
Junior: 5 A 2 B+ 4 AP (AB Calc, Euro, US, German)
Senior: 6 A 1 B+ 3 AP (BC Calc, Gov, English Lang)</p>

<p>APs:
Calculus AB 5</p>

<p>European History 4</p>

<p>German Language 5</p>

<p>Psychology 5</p>

<p>U.S. History 4</p>

<p>Computer Science AB 3</p>

<p>Expecting 5s on Gov and BC, 4 or 5 on Eng Lang.</p>

<p>Extracurricular:
Soccer JV(10), Varsity(11-12), Club(K-4), Travel(5-12)</p>

<p>Odyssey of the Mind 9th Place 2005 World Finals
6th Place 2006 World Finals
2006 tied for first in the world for the spontaneous competition</p>

<p>German Honor Society President(11-12)</p>

<p>Class Council (10-12)</p>

<p>Volunteer Coaching </p>

<p>Volunteer German Tutoring</p>

<p>Governor's School for German - 3 week free German immersion program</p>

<p>Experimental Economics Workshop - free Economics workshop at George Mason University created by Nobel Prize winner</p>

<p>Paid internship at Smith Barney, worked closely with financial adviser. Recommendation from boss.</p>

<p>National Merit Finalist</p>

<p>William and Mary Leadership award -- awarded to one student from each high school in Virginia</p>

<p>I think if you didn't get into Wharton this year chances of transferring in are slim. What's changing other than the study abroad which is no hook? </p>

<p>Huntsman gets lots of apps from kids who did study abroad programs, several from my year in China with SYA applied.</p>

<p>Deferring is treated differently at different school. At many you can't apply to other schools.</p>

<p>Thank you for your response! I have a couple of questions to clarify a few things.</p>

<p>You talked about transferring in to Wharton, do you mean applying during my freshman year of college?</p>

<p>The possibility I'd like to explore here is applying during my year abroad for freshman admission.</p>

<p>The full scholarship to study abroad is by far the most significant change.</p>

<p>In the stickied "Those ECs are weak..." thread, a study abroad program not based on ability to pay was listed as an excellent EC. Do you guys agree with this assessment?</p>

<p>Any more advice on chances at the WashU scholarship and Wharton/Huntsman would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>One more thing: my high school sends someone to every Ivy just about every year. This year 12 kids got into MIT, many to HPY, etc.</p>

<p>I would love to hear more feedback. Is there anyone else out there who could help me out?</p>

<p>I just don't think it would make the difference at Wharton. Too many kids do these programs, many on scholarships. Do you know how many pograms there are? When I was on one in China there were soooo many kids from so many programs.</p>

<p>As far as my program goes, 250 go a year. I'm not sure about how many kids go on exchange programs or how many kids take gap years.</p>

<p>Is there anyone else who could give me advice? I'm torn. On one hand, I don't want to spend so much more time applying and going through the endless wait while I'm trying to have a defining experience in my life while I'm in Germany. On the other, I want to explore more options for school, and this is my last chance.</p>

<p>Also, I have another account here where I post more, so I didn't just come to get chanced.</p>

<p>Any other feedback?</p>

<p>What about my chances at Emory's Goizueta School of Business?</p>

<p>And, any more opinions on WashU Scholarships and UPenn?</p>

<p>I've decided not to reapply. UVA is a tremendous value and a great match for me. Plus, I love it.</p>

<p>Thanks for your help.</p>