<p>I realize that I should have applied to many more universities, but I was stupid and only applied to three. </p>
<p>I got into my safety school, University of Washington, but got rejected from the other universiy I applied to, John Hopkins, and got waitlisted at Washington University at St. Louis. I'm being told I should go anyways and just transfer next year, but I also hear that the curves at University of Washington are BRUTAL to say the least. I was thinking if I waited a year I could do better. </p>
<p>My stats</p>
<p>SAT: 2100
GPA: 3.6-3.7ish
ECs: Not very spectacular but I have good essays.</p>
<p>Should I gun it at UW and hope I can maintain a good GPA or wait a year and re-apply? Would waiting a year hurt my chances?</p>
<p>EDIT: Also, if I do try and apply next year, do my SATs still matter to the school or is it all based on my GPA at UW?</p>
<p>If you need financial aid, take the gap year. Transfer aid is not as good as aid for freshmen. Your GPA and SAT would get you significant scholarship money at some institutions. Pay a visit to the Financial Aid forum and read up on guaranteed merit scholarships. You may fond something you like better than U WA.</p>
<p>How do you feel about attending U of Washington? If you are holding your nose the entire time until you can transfer, it’s probably not worth it. Work for a year and reapply as a freshman. If you think there’s a possibility that you might actually enjoy it, and it offers the majors and activities you want at the right price - in short, if it really was a safety - then take the plunge with the attitude that you are going to give it a fair shot - and transfer only if it is a poor fit, rather than if it doesn’t live up to ‘dream school’ standards. And before you make this call, spend some time really digging into what U of Wash has to offer - you may be surprised.</p>
<p>Why not just go to Washington (assuming that it is affordable, and you liked it enough to apply in the first place) and complete your bachelor’s degree there?</p>
<p>The only hitch would be if your major is a competitive admission major with very high selectivity thresholds (e.g. computer science), and you were not directly admitted to the major as a freshman. In that case, you would have to consider alternate majors, or apply to transfer to some other school where your major is less impacted so that you can do your major if you are not admitted to it at Washington.</p>
<p>Are you pre-med? If so, then the grading is going to be brutal no matter where you go.</p>
<p>Dreaming, Unless you do something meaningful during your gap year your chances of getting into JHU, WUSTL or any other selective private are exactly the same as they were this year. Your luck may change in your favor, but other than that it’s up to you to DO something that would make you a more appealing candidate. Simply applying again with the same credentials will make acceptance less likely, not more.</p>
<p>There are lots of ways to use a gap year to your advantage, but you have to be a willing participant. It’s not easy and there’s no guaranteed success. The first thing you should find out is if UofW will hold your acceptance for a year. You don’t have to tell them why; just that you’d like to take a gap year before starting. That way, you won’t be any worse off if your other options don’t materialize.</p>
<p>You should be aggressively pursuing the waitlist at WUSTL. I don’t know the specifics, but as a general statement it’s only mid-May so the chance of something opening up there is still positive.</p>
<p>I got an email from WUSTL saying that they didn’t accept ANYONE from the waitlist this year, which is quite surprising.</p>
<p>Anyways, I agree I would have to improve upon myself a great deal to be considered the following year. Thanks for the reality check guys. I really don’t mind UW, just heard a lot of stories about the harsh grading :/.</p>
<p>Are you pre-med? If so, then I highly doubt that the grading is harsher at UWash, then it is at WashU, JHU, or the many other schools where pre-meds go. Pre-med pre-reqs are weeder classes for all STEM majors. They’re harsh for a reason, to weed out those who don’t have what it takes to be in those majors.</p>