<p>My friend got rejected from most of the universities and is willing to take to gap year. He wants to study Mathematics in top universities.</p>
<p>His academics is really good but he'll try to improve his scores further. However, he lacks in extracurriculars.</p>
<p>What are some activities that he can take up during his gap year? Is it better if they are related to Mathematics?</p>
<p>Did he get admitted anywhere affordable?</p>
<p>The main use of a gap year would be for a student who:</p>
<ul>
<li>gets completely shut out (i.e. no admissions to any affordable college)</li>
<li>is advanced enough that starting at community college would cause him/her to be stalled in progress because s/he will reach junior level courses too early</li>
<li>has a worthwhile gap year plan (which may be just working)</li>
<li>has a realistic different set of colleges to apply to next time (repeat applications are unlikely to be successful)</li>
</ul>
<p>But many other students who get shut out just start at community college and transfer as juniors to universities to complete their bachelor’s degrees.</p>
<p>He got into two colleges which aren’t affordable at all even when he got Dean’s scholarship in Rollins.</p>
<p>He wants to apply to the Ivies again and Ivies+.</p>
<p>If he does some research and stuff, does he have a chance?</p>
<p>If he got rejected from those schools the first time, then he should expect the same for repeat applications.</p>
<p>Since you do not mention the student’s academic qualifications, it is impossible to say whether applications to different similarly selective schools would be realistic – although such schools still have a low chance of admission for everyone, no matter how well qualified.</p>
<p>Realistically, if he does do a gap year, he needs to include a low cost safety in his next application list, such as the schools in this list that he qualifies for: <a href=“Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #300 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #300 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums; . If not, a shut-out the second time will be even more devastating.</p>
<p>The other (and probably more common) option is to just start at community college and transfer to a state university to complete the bachelor’s degree. Of course, you want to evaluate the cost of two years of community college and two years of state university as a transfer student (check the net price calculators).</p>
<p>Realistically if he was rejected (and not deferred) from the Ivys the first time, he will be rejected again, despite a gap year. He needs to figure out why an Ivy is so important to him. There are so many amazing quality universities that would provide him with a great education, and he may also be able to get merit aid at some of them. He should work with his guidance counselor to come up with a list of quality schools that would seek a student like him with merit aid – assuming he is “slightly Ivy-worthy” this could be a school like University of Richmond, or University of Santa Clara or Kenyon College or any number of others. </p>
<p>@Momof2back2back and @ucbalumnus I forgot to mention that he’s an International student. To be honest, I think his essays weren’t upto the mark. Actually he wants to go to Princeton which is a tough one. But it’s his dream as they’re one of the best in Mathematics. He recently spoke to an alumni and now he can only think of Princeton.</p>
<p>I think it will be difficult for me to convince him not to apply to the Ivies but can you suggest me some safeties which are really good in Mathematics and give out substantial amount of aid?</p>
<p>I cannot speak about substantial aid, but the following have outstanding mathematics departments:</p>
<ul>
<li>University of Rochester</li>
<li>Tulane University</li>
<li>Purdue University</li>
<li>Boston University</li>
<li>Georgia Institute of Technology (“Georgia Tech”)</li>
</ul>
<p>All have competitive admissions, but not nearly as tough as the Ivies. AND as others have said above; If you strike out with the Ivies the first time, then the second time will not likely be better. It is okay to apply to Princton again, but if he wants to get educated in the U.S. he needs to expand beyond the Ivy League. By the way, applying to Stanford, Duke, or the University of Chicago does not count as exanding beyond the Ivy League. He needs to go a solid notch lower. The ones I have listed meet that criteria.</p>
<p>The only way to know what qualifies as a “safety” for this student is for you to tell us his ACT or SAT scores. Otherwise we are just guessing.</p>
<p>I would suggest your friend take a look at <a href=“http://www.edupass.org”>www.edupass.org</a>, especially the part about financing an education. (I can’t make a link work, but use that URL.) </p>
<p>Please note that public universities in the US rarely give any financial aid to internationals for undergraduate study. While Georgia Tech is an excellent school for math, it gives NO $ to international undergraduates. <a href=“Blow the Whistle! (404 error: page not found) | Financial Aid”>Blow the Whistle! (404 error: page not found) | Financial Aid;
<p>Purdue is also a public university. He will not get money there either. <a href=“http://www.purdue.edu/dfa/international.php”>http://www.purdue.edu/dfa/international.php</a></p>
<p>It doesn’t matter how much he wants them… if they don’t want him, he isn’t getting in. He needs to make an alternate plan. </p>
<p>So, as jonri has shown, you can eliminate Georgia Tech and Purdue.</p>
<p>I knew there was a reason that I did not want to address the issue of financial aid. My understanding is that financial aid is very difficult for international students. Even many private universities require international students to prove that they have the financial resources BEFORE the university will even offer admission to the student.</p>
<p>Hopefully, somebody here on CC knows something about financial aid for international students.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If you really want help here, you should specify what kind of net price after grants and scholarships he needs. A net price limit of $10,000 is a much more difficult constraint than a net price limit of $35,000, for example.</p>
<p>However, as an international student, financial aid is hard to find, so that it is much more likely for international students who cannot pay very much to have no academically suitable affordable choices in the US.</p>
<p>In addition, you need to specify his academic credentials, so that others can have some idea of what schools to suggest that will be realistic for admissions (as well as cost) for him.</p>
<p>I strongly suggest that he don’t go to UG schools in USA, he should attend a top school in his country and do well with Math, apply Princeton or even MIT for Masters in Math. Actually, that will even be batter than Princeton with a BS in Math. In addition, lots of money available to internationals for Graduate school.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your insight. He is from India Here is his profile:</p>
<p>Academic:
ACT: 31 (36/36 in Maths) – He would be appearing again, and I’m sure he’d get a 34 or so
SAT: Do you think he should take it too?
SAT subject test: Maths 2: 800, Chemistry: 800
TOEFL: He didn’t appear this last time, this time he would
AP: He’s appearing in May for this. Subject: Calculus BC, Physics B, Physics C: Mechanics, Chemistry</p>
<p>• He has been obtained CGPA 10/10 in his sophomore year in India’s national examination. (But this is quite common for a good student.) </p>
<p>• He has been in the top 1%(Score = 93%) of the school in a batch of 1010 students in his junior year. Senior years results are yet to come where he’d score around 93% or so. (This is very difficult to maintain in our school. It’s THE best in the county.) He has been awarded a Gold medal for his excellence and several other prizes.</p>
<p>Extra Curricular activities:</p>
<p>• He was the President of the Mathematical Society of the school which is recognised all over the north region of the country and holds an International symposium every year.</p>
<p>• He was the mentor of the Chemistry Club – This post was specially created to honour him</p>
<p>• He has actively organised several events some of which are international.</p>
<p>• Plays Tabla (Indian instrument)</p>
<p>• Wrote a mathematical paper which is yet to be published.</p>
<p>• He was also chosen to participate in a science campus organised by the IIT(most prestigious institute in India). This campus is only for the top 1% students of the country.</p>
<p>• He has been a topper in many Olympiad. (However, note that this are organized by Sofworld, these are not the International ones.)</p>
<p>I believe he haven’t done much community service which I’v suggested that he does.</p>
<p>This is what I can remember of his profile.</p>
<p>Please suggest now.</p>
<p>Did he get into any good universities in India (e.g. any IIT)?</p>
<p>How much can he and his family afford?</p>
<p>HKUST is about US$25,000 per year.
<a href=“http://join.ust.hk/international/applyhere/tuition_and_fees.html”>http://join.ust.hk/international/applyhere/tuition_and_fees.html</a></p>
<p>@ucbalumnus His experience wasn’t that great when he went for the camp so he decided that he’d apply to the US. Moreover, IITs only have Applied Mathematics and he is also interest in Pure Mathematics and hasn’t made up his mind which field he wants to specialised in.</p>
<p>Yes, he has applied to HKUST but even if he gets in, his heart is still set to US. He has also applied to NUS and NTU.</p>
<p>His budget is around: $50,000 for all 4 years which is low and that’s one of the reason he applied to the Ivies expecting good aid.</p>
<p><a href=“Schools Awarding International Financial Aid”>http://www.internationalstudent.com/schools_awarding_aid/</a> might help you find US schools with financial aid for international students. But those with strong math departments for an advanced-in-math student may be hard to find other than the super-selective schools that have already rejected him. But there may be some schools with cross registration agreements with schools with stronger math departments that may be too selective or which do not offer financial aid to international students.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus Thanks a lot. I really appreciate your help. :)</p>