<p>"it is harder to apply to an elite college when you have been out of school for a year. "</p>
<p>I don't think that's true at all. You can get recommendations your senior year, and make sure the GC knows about your plans, </p>
<p>Depending on what you do with your gap year, you can have a stronger app.</p>
<p>S didn't apply to college as a senior, but did apply during his gap year. Absolutely no problems with his doing this except for his need to work more independently than he would have as a h.s. senior since during his gap year, his peers, teachers, GC weren't around to remind him of what to do.</p>
<p>"I think you have a reasonable Plan B, to take a year off and retake your standardized tests. Then, when you apply to the same schools again next year, you will have your IB scores and higher standardized test scores."</p>
<p>I doubt if raising standardized test scores would get a student into colleges that rejected them senior year. If standardized test scores need to be raised, it would be better to do that as a h.s senior. The student also will be competing with a more competitive field next year.</p>
<p>Although many kids at my son's school take gap years, I don' t know of any who did not apply to any school at all. Also our counselors are pretty aggressive about picking some safety school so you would have an excellent chance of a number of choices. Remember you may not be of the same mindset in May or September as you are right now. By having a college that is a safety, you leave yourself that much more room.</p>
<p>That said, I have known kids who have not applied college, because they just were not ready to make that step. Many took a year off to take a break from academics and assess their situations. These kids are not transfer students, but first time applicants even with their year off, so the stats for them are commingled with everyone elses'. Depending on how you spend the year, you can have a stronger case for getting into colleges that next year. There was a case I read, where a student decided he really did not like any of the colleges where he was accepted, and decided to try again the following year, and spent the time honing his resume and stats. </p>
<p>I thought I read somewhere that you are not a transfer student unless you have a certain number of college credits--does anyone know about this? Can you take a couple of courses at local college to spruce up your gpa and apply, not as a transfer but as a regular applicant?</p>
<p>
[quote]
I thought I read somewhere that you are not a transfer student unless you have a certain number of college credits--does anyone know about this?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>By most colleges' rules, you are a transfer applicant if you have previously enrolled in a degree program (matriculated) at another college. Depending on which college is the first college, and which is the second college, transfer admission can range from very easy to completely impossible. Usually at the highly selective elite private colleges, transfer admission rates are even lower than regular freshman admission rates. </p>
<p>If you have previously taken college-level courses as part of your high school program (e.g., through dual enrollment), you are usually treated as a freshman applicant, no matter how many credits you have accumulated. But California may have special rules about this specific to California community colleges and the UC system.</p>
<p>"thought I read somewhere that you are not a transfer student unless you have a certain number of college credits--does anyone know about this?"</p>
<p>S checked on this before taking his gap year. He was told that after graduating high school, he could take, I think, the equivalent of four 4 college courses (I can't remember the total am't of credit hours) before being considered a transfer student. He ended up not taking any because he couldn't as an Americorps volunteer.</p>
<p>Just check with colleges to find out their policies.</p>
<p>Yes, Tokenadult. Which is why it is important that you do not go over that number if you are contemplating applying to such schools. I know kids in highschool can take college courses with no such penalty, but I don't know what the the situation is for someone taking off a year. As Northstarmom says, it probably has to be checked at specific colleges. I would not think a course or two would make a difference, but I don't know for sure. The 4 college credits sounds reasonable. </p>
<p>I take a course right now at a local college but am not in any degree program there, and there is a clear distinction between degree seeking students and non degree seeking even though you can move between those situations if approved.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I thought I read somewhere that you are not a transfer student unless you have a certain number of college credits--does anyone know about this?
[/quote]
Here is the rubric from one elite University. Criteria may vary school to school, so check the particular policy of any school you are considering:</p>
<p>You should apply as a transfer applicant if:
* you have been enrolled full-time in college/university after leaving high school, or
* you have attended college/university on a part-time basis and you have accumulated 26 or more semester or 39 or more quarter units of transferable course credit.</p>
<p>You should apply as a freshman applicant if:
* you are currently enrolled in high school, or
* you are concurrently enrolled in high school and college/university, or
* you have completed high school and are enrolled in college/university on a part-time basis and have accumulated fewer than 26 semester or 39 quarter units of transferable course credit by the time you transfer.</p>
<p>Forgive me if I missed some posts, but is there anyone out there who expected - because of relatively objective appraisals of him/herself from friends, family, guidance counselors - to get into a top Tier 1 school (e.g. the Ivies, Stanford, MIT, etc.) but found themselves rejected/waited from all and ultimately having to attend a safety?</p>
<p>Any personal stories/experiences would be appreciated, as I find myself in a similar dilemma as debateaddict: I think of myself as a pretty strong candidate and want to go to tier 1 schools not for the prestige but for the greater resources and learning/research opportunities that are available. If I am rejected/waited everywhere, then I simply may wait a year to reapply. </p>
<p>I don't have a "safety", but don't worry, I have a strategy.</p>
<p>My favorite school happens to be the least selective on my list - albeit that means that this school (Boston College) still rejects about 70% of applicants.
I am applying Early Action and I definitely think I will get in. </p>
<p>Then, once I have that "safety" under locks, I can apply freely regular decision to a whole bunch of other awesome schools, with selectivity ranging from 9% acceptance to 17% acceptance.</p>
<p>echang08: Bad idea, I think. I think you would definitely be better off attending a "safety" and trying to transfer after a year. If your reason for taking a year of school before college is that you didn't plan well enough to get into one single school, (or wouldn't go to a school up to your standards), I wouldn't be too sympathetic as a college.</p>
<p>It is possible to get rejected from the all of the very top tier schools. They are not a match for hardly anyone. On the other hand, if you are a strong match for those schools, you are very likely to get into some excellent schools that just don't have accept rates hovering around or in the single digits. It's where you draw the line as to what is acceptable. And even then it is statistically possible not to get into any of those schools. There are a number of excellent state schools where the top students are high calibre and the sky is the limit in terms of quality of the courses. If they have honors programs, so much the better. Pitt is one, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois. And with rolling admissions you can get your answer quickly. The apps tend to be shorter and less expensive. Then you can decide if you want to take a year off and try it again as an undergrad or go there, give it a try and try to transfer the following year. The best of both worlds would be if you can find a a good solid school near by, take a few courses and find a strong activity to do for the year. Excellent performance on college courses with heavy duty focus on an EC could put some real meat on the app, and if you stay with the limits, you can still apply as an freshman, not a transfer.</p>
<p>Honestly, anyone who thinks they're above having a safety is a pathetic snob. Selectivity is a poor proxy for quality, but so many applicants are misled into conflating the two. Sad. In the end, college is more about who you are and what you make of it than where you go, and if you can't find anywhere that's sure you to admit you that you'd be happy to attend, you need to search harder and take a better look at yourself. The only people who can't find a safety they'd be happy at are the ones who think they need a "brand name" school.</p>
<p>In high school, I got caught up in the top-tier frenzy that was the norm in my community and among my classmates (all of my closest friends had an elite-or-bust attitude and ended up at Ivies), but because of some odd circumstances ended up graduating a year early at the last minute. This left me with a high school diploma, but without a college to go to in the fall and no other plans. Rather than taking a gap year, I went to a local state school--a definite safety I never would have considered otherwise--thinking it would only be for a year and I'd transfer out to one of my "dream" schools. Lo and behold, I loved it, even though according to my high school criteria it was too big, too close to home, and not selective enough. </p>
<p>I've had an amazing time at my "safety"--fantastic professors, learned more both inside and outside of class than I could have imagined in HS, hands on research experience my Ivy-student friends would kill for, and great social life. My friends are amazing, brilliant, diverse people, and my outlook is much more down-to-earth and inclusive than that of most of my HS friends who ended up at private schools where the upper/upper-middle-class paradigm dominates things more.</p>
<p>To the OP: You're indeed a debate-addict. It seems that you've already made up your mind, why would you bother posting it anw? Dun worry coz I'm with you. I'm an int'l student as well. Unfortunately, there aren't many int'l students on CC (I think they kinda stick together in the Int'l box). The majority don't really understand the competitiveness for Intl students' FinAid. And yes, I've done my research: Need-blind colleges for Intl students are all "reaches".</p>
<p>"it's a year of my life off, but it's gonna be four years of my education" -->
makes perfect sense to me!</p>
<p>Having said that, I think I'm still applying to a few safety LACs. From what I've been told, LACs seem to be more generous towards Intl students than research and state unis.</p>
<p>Thanks to those who replied to my post. pseudonym, what state school did you end up going to?</p>
<p>I guess the problem is that I can't think of a safety that I would gladly attend. Although I live right outside of Boston, and have some excellent possibilities right at my doorstep, I'm concerned about the preppy, rich-white-kid culture that are dominant at many of the better ones, like Tufts and BC. Having spent my life surrounded by this culture, I am anxious to find something new. However, my family is not in the financial situation to go explore other safeties like the state schools pseudonym mentioned because of travel expenses.</p>
<p>Right now, you are in high school and the admissions buzz is intense and so is the emphasis on the right school, etc. But in a few months you will have graduated and your perspective will be different. Right now it seems like a the college you go to is somehow a statement about yourself, or an indicator of who you will be or have been. It really isn't. In fact, its subject to change, you can usually transfer.<br>
By not having a safety, you are limiting your options for the future. I have heard bad things about the "take a year off" strategy. Admissions is not likely to find you more compelling after one year than they did as a high school senior, in fact, I think that generally a gap year lowers your profile. Further, as someone who got into several matches, it's difficult to know now what your decision making process will be like when you hold your acceptance letters in your hand, so give yourself a good additional option.</p>
<p>I haven't read through the thread, but the last post I guess definitely summarizes what I was about to say. </p>
<p>Even if you are going to your dream college, no body really would care in the long run, it's a lot more about what you can make out of it. A one year off isn't just the best idea, and it certainly doesn't give you the guarantee that you'd make it next year there..what if they ask you why you waited a year? it's just rather obstinacy if you wait a year..just becoz u cudn't make it to your dream college!</p>
<p>Being deferred is a learning experience which everyone in the life faces once in a while..so, just learn from it and overcome the struggles..idk..that's how I feel abt it.....no one in the college wouldn't even care abt ur effort (of course if there's a better chance for u next year anyway..which I highly doubt) to get into that school...like really, grow up and face it!</p>
<p>Haven't read the whole thread, so I apologize if this is redundant- but my s refused, REFUSED to apply to flagship state U (which would have been a safety and cheap) saying he would rather live in the basement and go to the local U than to go there. Noway, NO WAY would he go. He finally found a safety (a good private U), which he actually loves, and it is, at least for the moment, at the top of his list. And, he is already in, so we are all somewhat more relaxed around here knowing he wont have to live in the basement. He definitely loves his safety. If his priorities change (he has applied to 3 other schools and may apply to one more) we will see what transpires. But I feared he wouldnt have a safety and it all worked out fine. Whew.</p>
<p>Don't be so proud. Depending on your scores, there are some good schools that could be safeties. Plus you can always transfer. University of Oregon has many great accademic programs and accepts 90% of its applicants. I think any one with a GPA of 3.25 and takes the SAT is guaranteed admission.</p>