<p>After either admissions with insufficient aid or rejections(but no waitlists oddly), I feel pretty dejected and messed up. I ended up withdrawing my application from a bunch of places due to familial problems which I now regret. So basically I have to either take a gap year or wait until I apply for graduate school. Further, in my country I can't choose my major and there are few research opportunities, bad curriculum, grade deflation etc. Things like these will keep me out of a grad school too. I still want to try and get a decent education, which I can't get in my home country.I'm in the troubleshooting, save-what-you-can mode.</p>
<p>So I have a few questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>What can I possibly do in a gap year that will make me happy and will make me stand out?
I normally wouldn't talk about "standing-out" at this stage, but I've seen so many people burn a gap year unproductively without any perspective or prudence, including many rejectees. And too many people do community service. In fact, so many people pay "donations" back here for certificates. It's sickening. I can't afford a trip to some exotic location nor some research program without aid. And I can't find any programs for a student on a gap year. What are some things that you would suggest? I would really like to participate in a research program, but not for life sciences(bio is not in my curriculum).</li>
</ol>
<p>My own ideas are: expanding this online music lessons thing I started, self-learning languages etc. But then how can I turn all these activities into tangible accomplishments that set me apart? I can't find the right opportunities. And I'm scared of taking a gap year and of doing nothing "noteworthy" with it.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If I enroll somewhere in my home country, can I apply to US institutions(the ones that didn't reject me) as a freshman, instead of a transfer?</p></li>
<li><p>Do I have to resubmit recos? In my country, a school usually ends its association with students after they graduate, in the sense that they can't use the school letterhead for recos etc etc. The teachers who wrote my recos are abroad, retired or dead. Do I have to resubmit recos/find new people? I think my recos were stellar. Can't I re-submit them on my teacher's behalf? IF I can apply as a freshman after enrolling somewhere else, can I send recos from my college instead?</p></li>
<li><p>I know this is a lot to ask for, but could anyone please help me with a "post mortem" of my application? After getting such poor results, I'm dead certain I must have messed up something big-time. I'll be really happy if I could take something away from these rejections/learn something. Only I don't know what went wrong. Everyone thought I'd make it etc etc. I know it's a crapshoot these days and there are factors I can't control( even my "safeties" had a tremendous surge in the no of applicants and hence their admit rate was very low), but still, I feel such an exercise will help me learn something and provide some closure.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks for reading this post. I hope I didn't make a fool of myself.</p>
<ol>
<li>gap year is a good idea if you want to have it. research suggests that those students who take a gap year, are less likely to drop out. And I’m currently on a gap year. but there are problems. </li>
</ol>
<p>I’ll list only things I’m facing. I’m currently employed at a good organization to get some valuable work experience and to pass a long tiring time. I’ll work with 2 other staffs in summer. so yes there are opportunities to stand out. </p>
<p>But I’m facing numerous problems too. I’m currently tensed that I won’t make it into any of the universities I’ll apply. there is no room for error. although I’ve a practice SAT score over 2300, I’m not feeling confident about my future. this lack of confidence is not going to make admission committee angry as they know it very well. I’ll be honest. I’m ready to marry university if I get a chance to attend. So I think you’ve got what I’m trying to say. Your essay is going to be passionate, no doubt about it.</p>
<p>And try to do what you loved to do. but there are things to do . try to get a work. and spend next 9 months in meaningful work</p>
<ol>
<li><p>No. most universities in US don’t give a penny to international transfer student and You can only apply to places as freshman only if you haven’t enrolled in a university. you can’t apply as freshman as by the time you enroll, you’ll complete 3 semester and you’re eligible to apply as transfer only. You can say well how can a university find out if I’ve enrolled in a university if I don’t tell them. I asked an admission officer about this and he said, there are lots of ways to find out. If you’ve cheated and get enrolled and then graduate, they have the laws to send you to jail for cheating.</p></li>
<li><p>yes, you’ve to submit LOR again. and it doesn’t apply whether or not you are a student of that school. and your teacher’s recommendation letter must be sealed if you’re sending then by mail and have a school seal in the upper end of the envelop. You can’t apply as freshman after you got enrolled in a university. local or abroad. but if you apply as transfer, you can use your professors’ recommendation letter from your university.
04.i can’t help you out as I don’t know about it.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Please only post when you have adequate experience and knowledge in the subject. </p>
<p>Who is considered a transfer applicant varies with the school and ranges from 1 post-HS college course to less than a year of full time study. One needs to go to the college website to determine how they classify transfer applicants.</p>
<p>It is feasible (though not necessarily recommended) that the OP go part time for 2 semesters or full time for 1 sem and still qualify as a fr applicant for fall 2014 at some schools.</p>
<p>Post mortem: You give no stats nor the colleges you applied to, but they’re probably not really necessary. You’re an Intl. applicant who needs FA to make studying in the US affordable. Those two factors narrowed down your likelihood of success radically. Think about it, there are very few schools that offer FA to Intl. students and these are the most competitive colleges in the country, so there are few seats for a very large number of applicants.</p>
<p>@entomom: I didn’t post stats right away because I thought nobody would want to engage in that stuff. I thought I’d PM people if they were willing. And though I agree with what you say, there are still so many people who got into need blind schools nevertheless. I agree there was more competition in the international pool, but I wish I knew what went wrong. Wish I knew how the adcoms reacted after reading my application, summarized my essays etc etc.</p>
<p>@entomom I’ve said most, not all. And I do know there are universities . Ex. DUKE.</p>
<p>And please research before saying anything. He didn’t say he’ll start college in summer . In most developing and undeveloped country, there are 3 semester in a regular college year. And he said his local universities don’t have good research opportunity. So i thought it is a developing country. When he’ll start college, he’ll complete 3 semester and most universities won’t consider him a freshman, will they? Correct me if I’m wrong</p>
<p>You are right about the underdeveloped bit. But actually, I would have done only one by the time the admissions cycle ends. How the development of a country relates to the no of semesters in college eludes me.
And the person you asked to “research before saying anything” is the mod here. Just saying.</p>
<p>Please reread your sentence structure, ‘most’ refers to FA, not the definition of a transfer applicant.</p>
<p>Sorry, I still don’t understand why it’s necessary for the OP to attend 3 semesters of college (whether there are 2 or 3 per school year). They are asking about taking a gap year as well, I’m not sure what would prevent attending college some of that time and doing other activities during the rest of the time.</p>
<p>PLEASE NOTE: I am not advocating that the OP take a gap year or apply as a transfer, I’m only addressing technical aspects of the OPs questions.</p>
<p>x-posted w/eltanin</p>
<p>I won’t pull Mod status here ;), but I have a kid who transferred and spend a lot of time on the Transfer Students forum, so I feel I have a pretty good grasp on the process.</p>
<p>And I know it. This website is full of people who know about application process at US universities. But it is impossible for everyone to know about educational system all over the world. </p>
<p>Most developing countries has trimester system as they lack university and this process helps them to educate more people. </p>
<p>Ask the universities you’ll apply to know what is there requirements.</p>
<p>Haven’t I said these before? Yes I did. But people like to confuse people. Before you said, he can apply as freshman and now you’re saying he is tr. Student. It’s horrible.</p>
<p>You said, you’re more familiar with transfer application process . But now you’ve showed you’ve still a lot to learn. And I got a thing from duke. If you want to see it, PM me your email ID. It’s really horrible. Really.</p>
<p>@entomom: Good night and…good morning! So the sentence from Duke’s website basically says you’re a transfer if you’ve done an year or more’s worth of <em>TRANSFERABLE</em> college work. What if my college curriculum is too crappy and not “transferable” per se? Does that make me a freshman? There’s no standardization of college curricula in my country and being an accredited college means nothing.</p>
<p>What do the people at your local office of EducationUSA advise? They surely have seen all of this before. Follow the links to get the contact information for the office closest to you:</p>
<p>I know someone there. I don’t have the guts to face them after what happened.
Besides, the EduUSA centre is not that functional. Nor is their advice very helpful. Actually they don’t help at all if you aren’t a member(which involves paying quite a bit of money).</p>
<p>How your credits will count towards determining if you apply as a fr or transfer can only be determined by the college you a applying to, no one here can tell you that. If that becomes your plan, you need to get that information in writing prior to doing anything.</p>
<p>dex,</p>
<p>I’ll leave judgement of my understanding of the transfer process up to the CR skills of the members who read this.</p>