Gap Year

<p>Hey guys i have completed 11 years of british curriculum school. After my IGCSEsi decided to take a gap year to get some work experience and do extra curricular activities. After one gap year, this academic year i did my toefel and SAT I.
I have descent grades in my high school.
and i am expecting the same for my SAT and toefel. First of all i wanted to know if its worthwhile doing the GED exams and also if i have a chance in getting accepted in universities such as IOWA, USF, FSU aor CAL states.
i am only worried that my gap year would be a negative thing for them or the fact that i did not complete my AS levels</p>

<p>Most universities will expect you to have A-Levels. The gap year will NOT be seen negatively and in fact depending on how productive it was, it may well be seen as a positive.
Finally, what’s your parents’ budget - this is the guiding criterion for international students :s</p>

<p>Didn’t you go to english medium school? then Tofel isn’t really required unless the schools insist on it(which I don’t think they wouldd)</p>

<p>thanks for getting back to me. i have checked with them and they said IGCSEs should be alright depending on the overall profile. My only concern was the fact that i graduated in 2013 and i am applying for fall 15 will have a negative impact. As for my budget i can pay up to 25thousand dollars a year which is sufficient for the unis i am looking at regarding toefel it is required since i did english as a second language. I am also wondering if GED would be helpful in getting admission or scholarships.</p>

<p>That you can pay up to 25000 per year isn’t bad at all.</p>

<p>What colleges are you considering? I graduated US high school and none of my schools required me TOEFL because either I finished US public high school and/or I had 700+ SAT reading score.</p>

<p>When you apply to colleges after gap year, you are counted as a Freshmen student. GED is for people who are going back to school after long period of no education or those who dropped high school quickly and want to go to colleges.</p>

<p>Thanks a lot Paul,
I am considering Iowa State university, University of south florida, Florida State university and a few California State universities.
In fact i have a friend with exactly the same situation. Very descent profile in terms of extra curricular activities and work experience. We are applying together but in his case he did AS levels and he messed up. He doesnt want to apply with his AS levels and in the transcripts he got he asked his school to only give until IGCSes. So we were wondering if it will be a problem for him that his IGs were done in 2013 and he is not providing anything for 2014. Do you think its going to be a problem?</p>

<p>GED can’t be taken outside the US and is considered inferior to IGCSE’s, so it’s pointless.
If you took a gap year, you can apply as a freshman (if IGCSE’s are sufficient at the schools you’re considering).
However if you started on AS levels and bombed them, unfortunately you can’t just pretend that didn’t happen; if this is discovered by the university you’re applying to, they can and will rescind you.</p>

<p>So if he mentions that he has done AS levels but he wishes to apply only with his IGS, TOEFL and SAT will that be a problem too? I mean is that going to decrease his chances if his overall profile is acceptable?</p>

<p>well assuming he did take the AS exams, and wants to “disregard” them because he did poorly, yes it’d be a problem for him. If he started the AS course but didn’t complete the exams, he’d have to submit some grade report.</p>