Gap year allows you to apply to colleges as a freshman.
If you go to Community College, you will need to apply as a transfer, which may be easier if there is a guaranteed admit program, or significantly harder. Check the target schools to see what the policy is.
You have not screwed up your life. People take different paths. Choose what is best for you.
With a 2.8 HS GPA, the OP may find that attending CC and doing well there may result in a greater choice of colleges among the in-state publics than applying to in-state publics as a frosh.
There is nothing wrong with starting at a CC. If your parents feel a stigma, they can just say you wanted to stick close to home your first year. It’s no ones business anyway.
However, there are many schools with rolling admissions that go out well past May 1. And after the first week of May, many colleges open their admissions again because not enough students committed. You can look at that list and start your process all over again there.
There are lots of state schools in Michigan that will end up rolling or maybe even on that list.
Take that SAT and keep your chin up!
community college is better than gap year for you given that you have a chance to improve grades
^ Not if he needs financial aid. If he needs $ then he should gap year.
I think people’s advice to you could be very different depending on what your parent’s financial situation is. For instance, anecdotally I believe gap years for kids in families where money is tight correlates to a lesser chance of finishing a degree. And be wary of what constitutes financial aid; you don’t want to graduate with a lot of debt.
Would in-state Michigan public universities that the OP may be able to get into now with a 2.8 HS GPA be less expensive than two years of CC followed by two years of a Michigan public university (in both cases, after applicable FA)?
It could be much worse. At least you graduated. I dropped out at 18 and waited 3 years to start college. I have a master’s degree. I can tell you from experience that a gap year is literally a waste of time. Once you start working, it gets easier and easier to push it off and lose sight of priorities. Just enroll at a community college. You don’t even have to take your SAT. They have placement tests there. Typically after attending college for a year, you can just apply directly to a university without ever taking it. When you walk the stage, it won’t matter at all if part of that was at a community college. Your degree will be exactly the same.