Is it worth it taking a gap year?

Applying to College
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I finished 12th grade back in my country. But by the time I got here, the application cycle was over. I got admitted into an HS as a junior. I feel like I’m wasting time because I already studied these things. Is it worth it to take a gap year just to have better chances at better schools?

Finances are a huge factor too. I came here on January. If I applied for Spring, would I get federal aid from the beginning?

I am in NY. I want to study computer science. I can probably take GED to cover for my final public exam. I already took SAT. Scores aren’t out yet. I didn’t think about this before because I didn’t really want to go to CUNY schools. Would going to a CUNY school impact my opportunities?

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Are you a US citizen?

@sybbie719 ?

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“Are you a US citizen?”

Permanent resident would work the same.

I thought that I saw on a different thread that you will become a US permanent resident in the near future. If this is true, and if you are going to become a resident of NY state, then it probably is worth taking a gap year or two and becoming eligible to apply and attend university as a NY resident. You should check whether or not you need to live in NY as a US permanent resident for a year before getting in-state tuition.

I am not an expert on the NY in-state schools. However, for computer science there are quite a few jobs, and after you get your first job employers will care about what you know and what you have done and what you can do. The school that you came from won’t matter much. I know enough about SUNY’s to know that there are some that are quite good for computer science. Other’s here can point to which one’s would be best.

You should check with admissions at the CUNY and SUNY schools regarding whether your high school degree from Bangladesh is sufficient along with your SAT scores, or if you need to do anything further.

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If you finished your full secondary education in your country, and arrived here with all of your academic records, then there was no need whatsoever to enroll in high school here. Many school districts wouldn’t permit it at all. That you are considering taking the GED exam series makes me wonder if you did finish high school. You won’t be eligible for federal financial aid without a full high school diploma (from anywhere in the world) or the GED.

Did you finish your secondary education? Do you have full records of your foreign schooling? Have they been formally evaluated by an organization such as https://www.wes.org/ ?

If you didn’t finish high school in your home country, even though some of your classes are boring right now, it is better for you to complete a full high school diploma here. I teach GED exam preparation. The exam series is not easy - especially for international students. There is a lot of vocabulary and cultural material specific to the US in the English exam that you probably don’t know yet. In addition, the GED is only a minimum certification. A full NYS regents diploma is more than the bare minimum and will give you more options. You should be talking with your current teachers about taking honors classes next year and starting to create the relationships that will get you better letters of recommendation.

If you take a gap year, what would you do besides GED prep? What is your visa status? Are you eligible to get a job?

@sybbie719 is one of our NYS experts. She may have ideas for you.

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Actually if you have finished high school anywhere in the world you are not eligible for a GED and your high school should have not enrolled you as a junior or anything else. If you already have a diploma from anywhere else in the world (and you will have to submit those transcripts), then your NY diploma will be invalid because you can only have one diploma. It will come out when they do the transcript update and start awarding your course equivalents in NY.

You should let your school know that you have a diploma so that they can discharge you as a grad Since your parents are here you have to wait out the one year residency requirement.

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@“Erin’s Dad” I am a permanent resident.

I don’t have a diploma. I was supposed to take graduating exams on April, but I came to the U.S. before that. I was done with my school though. In Bangladesh, 12th grade ends after one semester, and then we get almost a semester break before the exams. I have all the transcripts.I didn’t have them evaluated by WES. I’m taking all honors classes right now.

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Your best option is to keep taking those honors classes, and graduate from high school here.

I have had several students like you in my GED classes. Every single one of them has told me that if they were not too old for the US high school (all of them were), they would never have chosen the GED route. Their advice would be for you to graduate from the US high school. The advantage for you is huge. You are getting the same classes here as the students you might eventually study with in college so your cultural adjustment to college in the US will be a lot easier. You have the opportunity to perfect your command of Academic English for free. Yes, you still might need to take the TOEFL, but you will be much readier for it, and your score will be a lot higher. You can participate in extracurricular activities if you want to, and chances are that you can make some long term friends.

Your second best option would be to return to Bangladesh and sit your final exams there. Then you could apply to college here using those exam scores. However, since that would mean you would be taking the exams in April 2019, there really is no advantage for you. You still would be better off staying here for your senior year, and getting the US diploma in May or June of 2019.

Some of your frustrations with school right now surely are due to adjustment to your new life here. In part of your mind, you are thinking that your old friends are really done with high school and going on to college while you have another year of school. That has to make you a bit sad and jealous. You are far from your friends and extended family and everything you used to know. The food here is strange. The weather is strange. Everything is strange. Some days you just want to stay in bed with the blankets over your head. Skype and facetime are not the same as being physically present. Been there, done that myself (how else would I know about the blanket thing?) except I was already out of college when I moved to a different country. If there are a lot of international arrivals at your high school, the guidance team should have good adjustment strategies to share with you. You also could make friends with the ESOL teachers even if you aren’t in any of their classes. They are pretty expert on cultural adjustment. If you like to read, pick up a copy of “The art of crossing cultures” by Craig Storti. He has the best strategies I know of for getting through this phase of your life.

Hang in there. It will get better.

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Were you enrolled in A levels or IGCSE?

If you need more academic challenge, take many AP classes and take CollegeNow/dual enrollment classes.
What’s your current schedule?
What exams DID you complete in Bangladesh?

A GED is not meant for you. Also, TD bar you from applying to some colleges. Its not designed to show you’re college ready. (Also,ithink NYS is using tasc?)

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If you have not completed high school in Bangladesh and you are now enrolled in a NYC high school, you must meet the city/state’s requirement for graduation.

Has your counselor updated you foreign transcript? This way you will find out what you need to complete for graduation. You need 8 semesters of Core english and 8 semesters of social studies (Global History - 4 semesters, 2 semesters of US history, Economics and Government)6 semesters of math with at least one semester above high school algebra, 1 year of life sciences with labs, 1 year of physical science with lab and a third year of science, a minimum of 2 credits in foreign language, 7 elective credits, 4 credits in Physical Education, 2 credits in the Arts and 1 semester of healh.

You must past a minimum of 5 state exams; English, Mathematics, Social studies, Science and one additional regents exam.

By coming to school in NY for the first time as an 11th grade student, the global regents will be waived provided you pass the US history regents.

If your counselor has updated your transcript and see that you should be placed in the 12th grade, you should ask for that placement (you will not graduate in june, but you were still part of the cohort as a person who did not graduate with the class anyway, when they placed you in 11th grade). This way you would be exempt for both the Global and the science regents leaving you to pass the English, Math and US history regents.

You cannot take the GED (now TASC) in NYC until you have missed your graduation date. If you are part of this year’s cohort (you belong to the cohort based on when you started 9th grade anywhere in the world.

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@happymomof1 That was really helpful.

@MYOS1634 The problem is that my school doesn’t offer a lot of AP courses. I wanted to take Physics and Chem but they don’t offer these exams. I was under a science program, so I have four years of higher maths, physics, chemistry, biology. All of them covered a broader syllabus than the AP exams. I signed up for Calc, Bio, and CS AP senior year.

@sybbie719 My counselor did update my transcript. I didn’t take arts or history classes so I still need a year’s worth of credit. I’m not taking the waivers though. I’m taking 7 regents in June.

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Take the waiver in global. The global exam is going through a transition, where is is going to change 3 times over the next two years. This June, the exam is a new transitional exam that has never been given and in a totally different (it will be given at the beginning of June because they have to get results from across the state to norm the test). Format from any of the other previous exams along with different content.

You will still need to pass US and get the global Regents credit.

Registration time to sign up for fall college now courses is now (OP would have to be college ready today by the regents or SAT to register for Fall College Now. the deadline just recently closed for summer college now).

Unless you are trying to achieve mastery in science your science sequence is Living environment, earth science and Chem) You would be better served getting and using the living environment waiver .

You cannot double dip and get credit for both AP chem and regular chem (you get credit for one or the other), the same with physics.

Do you need all of the social studies credits (4 credits in global, 2 in US, Govt and Econ) or just US History, government and economics?

Are you attending summer school? You can enroll in summer night school take one music class and one art class to knock out the arts requirement. If you are really feeling adventurous, ask if you can be enrolled for Econ and Government in summer day school.

So you will need 2 credits in the arts, social studies, English (you must take English 7/8 senior year english) PE (2 courses if you are graduating in June) Calc, Bio AP CS. If your school runs on a 8 period day, you may not be able to take the three courses along with the courses that you need to graduate.

Which regents are you taking?

English
Algebra, Algebra2/trig.
Lote,
Global (you should waive as the WA won’t help but a low grade will hurt unless you plan on retaking in the summer or next year) US history (even though you only have one term of US)
Science

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Do you have the sat score that allows you to take CollegeNow classes? If so, hurry and register - those will be challenging, will help you get into college, and will count toward your college degree thereby reducing time to complete it. And as long as you take them as part r your high school it’s free.
Useful classes would include calculus 1, chemistry, philosophy (<-rigor), plus one art or art appreciation or music appreciation class.

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@saitama123

You wrote this on another thread…

So…please clear this up. Do you have a bachelors degree…or not? And how old ARE you really? How many years have you been out of HS.

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@thumper1 That was a hypothetical scenario. I am a high school student.

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MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Closing thread. Nothing left to say considering I can no longer tell what is actual and what is hypothetical.