TL;DR: Would taking a gap year realistically improve my chances of being able to afford Yale, UT Austin, and other big schools?
I wasn’t ready for this app season:
-I was still deciding between 5 very different paths for after high school.
-I hadn’t formed close enough relationships with my teachers for good recommendations.
-I hadn’t studied for the ACT.
-I hadn’t volunteered or made myself stand out in extracurriculars.
-I didn’t apply to any reach schools and I’m not excited about my current option.
Luckily I figured things out… in mid-December, too late to help. I’m considering a gap year so I can have the chance to afford the schools I’d actually want to go to. Ideally, I can get these out-of-state dream schools down to my current offer at my in-state. At the very least, I can make the current school even cheaper. My strat is to gain experiences in the next year (until dec) that will admission and scholarship boards my passion and involvement in environmental science. If it’s unrealistic that I can make this work, then I’d rather start college at the regular time.
About me:
-major: environmental engineering
-intending to go to grad school
-current scores: 31 ACT, 3.94 unweighted and 4.13 weighted gpa, my school doesn’t rank
-accepted to University of Alabama with deferrable $10k scholarship, $18k remaining
-black, LGBT, female, first gen (to some schools, parents have associate’s degrees)
-parents make too much to qualify for basically any need based aid but don’t handle it well enough to really be able to help me (EFC 38K)
-Alabama resident
Things I can do in the next year:
-focus on environmental clubs at my school
-environmental volunteering: NOAA fish surveys, botanical garden, river delta center, coastal cleanup, local science center
-actually study for the ACT, 34 goal
-look for outside scholarships and take small institutional scholarships seriously
After apps but before I start college:
-first part time job
-study math and physics but not for credit so I can keep my freshman scholarships
-study for CLEP exams to earn credit, make college workload easier
“Would taking a gap year realistically improve my chances of being able to afford Yale, UT Austin, and other big schools?”
Realistically, no. With only a high school degree, you won’t make enough to cover that $38K EFC. It won’t help you get better teacher recommendations either (“out of sight, out of mind”).
I think you have quite a lot going for you, however! I would start college on time. Alabama is a fantastic choice - it’s a very “up & coming” school. It really is. You could go to an ivy/reach school for graduate school with generous financial aid.
No. You don’t take gap years to improve your stats. You take gap years to explore your interests. Otherwise, any and every teenager wanting to go to Harvard would join Americorps or the French Foreign Legion to make themselves more interesting and immediately regret their decision (extreme examples).
Before I go too much off topic though, a gap year doing the activities you mentioned would serve you well. You will discover whether or not you like the field. It’s hard to tell whether you’d like to be an environmental engineer with little exposure to the field (regardless of how much you solve the world’s problems by recycling).
Furthermore, a part time job and a year alone in the real world (if you move out) would teach you things you never knew about yourself (your mental/emotional limits, things you love/hate about the world, etc). Your opinions, interests, and work ethic will change. I took the ACT/SAT a few times in high school, but had no motivation to study. I received the same crappy score. But I’m now the most diligent I’ve been in my entire life. I’m constantly studying for the SAT because I’m familiar with the consequences of failure in the real world when I no longer have parental support. I did three years of this, but you’d be surprised how much one year alone would boost your motivation to study.
I kind of talked a lot about myself, but I took a break in my education. I enjoyed it. You might enjoy one as well.