INTL Finished high school in 2020 and applied to some US universities intending to go on 2021. Had to take a gap year due to circumstances out or my control and now i will be going to college in 2022. Do I apply again? How does this work since I’m not in high school anymore. (Needing some aid/merit)
Did you deposit and ask for a deferred admission at a US college?
Most universities will allow you to defer your admissions. If you are accepted to a university you can ask them to defer for one year. However, you would have needed to negotiate this with the university before now. Also, financial aid is not always guaranteed to stay the same after a gap year. It sounds like this most likely does not apply to you.
It is also common for students to take a gap year after high school. You can apply to universities during the gap year. Application is quite normal in this case. One difference is that your full senior year grades are available when universities are considering your application. Another difference is that you will need to go back to your high school to get your transcripts sent to universities. As far as I know high schools are used to this and there shouldn’t be a problem. You will probably need to get in contact with some teachers and your guidance counselor from high school to get references.
One issue: If you take any college or university classes during your gap year then you may become a transfer student. This usually makes it more difficult to get financial aid.
There are a lot of other things that you can do during a gap year. Working is often a good choice.
There are lots of people here on CC who can talk about the relative merits of different universities to apply to and who can suggest some schools. However, we would need to know a lot more about you for our suggestions to be of any use. This site is confidential so you should not tell us who you are. However, what country you are from, what your high school grades were like, what you can afford, and what you want in a university would be useful.
Thank you for your replies! I am not enrolled at college right now. (So i don’t think I’d be considered a transfer.) i am currently working during this time.
No I didn’t asked for deferrements cause I wasn’t aware of the figure back then.
So could I apply this year with no issues?
Could you recommend me any colleges to apply to?
Some facts:
Affordability: $$ 30k is the ideal cost but around 30-40k ish
Country: Peru (NO US citizenship)
Grades: Top 15% of my high school,
Curriculum: IB - Predicted 43 actual 40.
Intended Major: International Relations or perhaps a double major with Literature
Size: Medium-Small, Liberal Arts Education, Small classes, study abroad, prefer urban setting rather than remote,
Why do you want to attend university in the US? US schools tend to be expensive and the top ones are very competitive for admissions for international students. The US expects international students to return to their home country after graduation.
Have you considered other countries? As one example there are only a handful of small universities in Canada, but there are a few very good ones and they do fit your “Medium-Small, Liberal Arts Education, Small classes, study abroad,” description. If you go to slightly large schools (15,000 students or so) there are quite a few more to consider. Many of them will be well under US$40,000 per year.
Working for a year after high school is IMHO a very reasonable thing to do, and should not cause any problems for applying to universities. You will need to ask your high school to send transcripts and probably will need to find your old teachers or guidance counselor to ask for references, but this should be fine.