Hello everybody, this is my first post, I hope I am writing in the right section
I am 19 and attending the last year of High School in Italy where I live. I was born in Seattle but have lived there only for three months and then never came back.
Now, I am planning to study in the US but I decided too later for 2012 class so I am trying for 2013. This means that by July I will be free to do whatever I want.
My first idea was to come back to the US, to visit my birth city and improve my English. And since I want to be a doctor, I decided that I could do some volunteer work in a hospital, which is, for a high school graduate, the closest activity to medicine.
I am planning to top colleges (Harvard, Princeton, Columbia etc.). You think that this experience (travelling and volunteer work) could help my possibilities of being accepted there?
Furthermore, I do not know anybody in Seattle so I need to find a job. My first ideas were Starbucks or stuffs like that. What do you think about this?
I hope I have been clear and someone will answer my questions! If you haven’t get something ask me
“You think that this experience (travelling and volunteer work) could help my possibilities of being accepted there?”
No one can truthfully say if taking a gap year BEFORE you apply will help your college applications at HPC or anywhere else. It all depends on your actual travel and volunteer experiences and how you would incorporate those adventures into your essays. Not to mention your transcript, ACT/SAT scores, teacher recommendations, extracurricular activities etc – there are just too many variables in the mix.
The experience itself will probably not be a huge factor in admissions (i.e. if you weren’t getting in before you probably won’t get in afterward) so I would discourage viewing the gap year as a means to boost your chances. But if you have decided to take the gap year for independent reasons, be it English or self-discovery or whatnot, it will be viewed as an acceptable way to spend a year.
I think the better question for you is about finances. Living in the US for a year is expensive, and if you’re spending a lot of time volunteering in the hospital you won’t have a lot of time to work and make money. Have you considered volunteering in a hospital closer to home?
It will help you somewhat but not significantly unless you do something incredibly profound. Basically your app will hinge on what you did in high school (if you had any main ECs you should try to extend your participation through the gap year in any way possible), your essays, and your teacher recs (you probably should have asked for these already).
