<p>Your parents can’t stop you from taking a gap year, assuming you’re going to be a legal adult at that point. They might threaten to not pay for school, but if you don’t just waste the year, you get into an affordable school you love and they really care about you and want you to get an education, it’s hard to believe they would refuse to pay in the end. If you approach them as an adult making a firm decision they might cave.</p>
<p>You need to do the following:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Apply to as many schools with late deadlines as you can possibly manage. Try UMass Boston, CUNY schools, UIC (hurry!), and other large, urban universities. Don’t obsess over fit. Just try to ensure that you have as many options as possible.</p></li>
<li><p>Seriously consider every school that accepts you, even the ones you think you hate. You might not see yourself on a particular campus now, but you might change your mind–if not by the spring, later on. I’ve met plenty of people who went to safety schools they thought they’d hate only to fall in love later. Take time to consider and visit all the schools that accept you, if you can. Go to the one you like best and give it a chance. If you hate it, you can always transfer. People have survived a lot worse for a lot longer than a few years at a great flagship university that isn’t a perfect fit.</p></li>
<li><p>If you absolutely hate all the schools that accept you, consider taking a gap year and see if your parents come around as I said above. Really, I think a lot of parents here “gap year” and think “backpacking across Europe, sleeping on trains and smoking weed”. If you show them you’ll do something worthwhile you might persuade them. If not, why not just go to community college, get a job, work hard, and transfer to BU after 2 years?</p></li>
</ol>