MY QUESTION: Has anybody had a successful experience taking a gap year and applying to other schools?
MY CONTEXT: I am an International Baccalaureate Diploma student from the Midwest. I recently applied to seven colleges! I was accepted to one, waitlisted at two. These were all very selective colleges–two of them ivies. I was deferred EA from one of the ivies, but ultimately I didn’t make it in RD. At least I know I had some qualification; it just may’ve been a bad year for my major.
Here lies the problem: my family cannot afford the school to which I was accepted. We expected to receive financial aid, but we did not. The school is a private school, but for some reason it doesn’t offer any financial aid to out-of-state students. It offers merit scholarships, which I did receive; the scholarship was not enough for my family. I’m stuck (not to mention heartbroken!).
I applied and was accepted to several in-state “rolling admission” schools, but I’m not satisfied with them.
Has anyone had a successful experience taking gap year and applying to other schools? This fall, I will be able to present my IB test scores, my new ACT and SAT scores, and my work history. If I do take a gap year, I also intend to travel and to volunteer. I would hope to apply to more schools, and to some schools that aren’t as selective.
Thanks in advance.
Yes of course people have. I sounds like a reasonable plan in that you are willing to revise your expectations and include some less selective school too.
What college didn’t give you aid? Are you sure you qualified for need based aid? Had you run the net price calculator?
What is your families EFC? That will determine federal aid And if it is high then taking a gap year won’t matter. Did you run the NPCs. Will you be apply to same schools?
I would intend to apply to different schools: smaller liberal arts colleges and seven sisters colleges.
We tried asking the college about this. It is their policy.
Can you indicate which college, as it’d be important information for future students considering it.
Yes, you can be successful if you take a gap year and reapply. You actually already seem to have a strategy in place and your qualifications sound strong.
The Cc community will be glad to help you along.
You might want to ask on the parents’ forum about this too. I’m sure there are many parents whose children have underwent gap years.
Famous story within CC.
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/192395-no-acceptances-one-kids-story-a-year-later-p1.html
I do have to ask, why did you bother applying to the in-state schools if you weren’t satisfied with them? That was a waste of your time and theirs.
My niece is international and legacy Yale. She was denied at all of her reach schools despite a stellar GPA and fluency in 4 languages. She was accepted at a couple of good schools but she was not enthusiastic. She did this - took a gap year and reapplied - with exactly the same results at the reach schools.
Could you list the “several in-state ‘rolling admission’ schools”? Did you receive any significant scholarships from any of these Instate Universities? What about Honors College at any of these? What about these Instate options which make them less appealing?
Are you saying that taking a gap year will lead to much better outcomes next year and how certain are you about that (School/Merit Aid).
Are the “in state rolling admission schools” that you were admitted to affordable?
What do you find not likable about them? If you did not like them, then they were not safeties, leaving you with an application list with no safeties, resulting in getting shut out.
one strike against Loyola Chicago… but I think they devote extensive funds to Catholic school graduates from the Chicago area. Still, it’s disappointing.
I’d go with the gap year. Not for reach schools (if you apply to the same colleges, results are likely to be similar) but because you’ll have the CC community to help you find affordable colleges you like.
I decided to change my mind and just go to a state school for a year. I thought about it, and it’ll help me adjust to the college experience (and if I need any help, my parents are a half hour away!). I would like to thank you for your help. I did get in to the honors college with a scholarship (despite applying two weeks ago) ;)! I attended an event today with the other honors college students, and I realized that it wouldn’t be all that bad going there.
But I will definitely be applying this March to other places a transfer student. Instead of looking at the negatives this year, I will take the ACT again this June. I’ll do lots of volunteering. I’ll join many clubs. That’ll boost my resume!
Loyola would have been 54k/yr with the 17.5k Damen scholarship. This state school, without any of the scholarship, would be 22k (including living expenses). This state school is an urban area, anyway, so I won’t be missing any of the cultural experiences that Chicago had to offer. (Not to mention the internships!)
I would like to thank all of you for your wonderful advice, and I wish you all the best of luck with your academic pursuits!
This past week I applied to three out of state schools that still offered admission! I just checked my email and saw which ones were still accepting applications! I applied to two in-state schools, but one of them deferred me to Spring (over capacity). I’m content with joining the honors college at this state school, but I’m still looking for a different college experience.
At least I’ll know what I’m looking for when I’m applying next March! Of course I will have to keep this intention of transferring secret from my classmates… but I’m excited that my high school counselor is willing to help me next year with my applications.
I was not interested in these schools, but if you know anybody who is… Rutgers, Purdue and Ohio State are still accepting applications! My counselor is a maven at finding schools that would allow me to apply late.
Yep, I am not intending to apply to the same schools. LOL I’m still a bit hurt! I plan on applying to more “match” schools.
You might really like the state school not want to or can afford to transfer.
That may be true. But my dream is to go out of state… I’m sure this school will be a great place for me, but I’m just afraid it’s too big. It’s also in a more dangerous part of town…
Hmmmm… now that I think about it… the right course of action is to play out my time at this college… and then decide whether or not I want to transfer… but thank you again for your advice!
Good luck! Wondering where you are going – UW - Milwaukee?
Good luck!
Keep in mind, however, that as a transfer you’ll no longer be eligible for merit scholarships (if that played a factor into your decision). Therefore, if you transfer to a public university out of state, you’ll likely be full price. UMN-Twin Cities has some scholarships for transfers and it’s an excellent university and check UWisconsin’s policy.
This may not matter for state schools - if you’re attending UIC, for instance, you’ll be able to transfer to UIUC more easily from the honors college. It is, however, a commuter school, and not quite the “college experience”, with many students dropping out - it’s mitigated by the Honors college for you so the environment should be challenging enough. Will you be commuting or living off campus?