<p>The 4 colleges thread raised this question in my mind. What are peoples experiences with cases where a kid was rejected, did a gap year, and reapplied and was accepted/rejected?</p>
<p>DS will be 17 when he starts college and could easily do a gap year and reapply if he doesn't get into where he wants to go. But maybe once rejected, need to just move on?</p>
<p>I have heard stories of deciding NOT to reapply after the Gap year. Kids have a better idea of what they want to do and priorities/goals change.</p>
<p>Not a gap year, but my son’s friend got rejected by Ohio State last year. He went to Univ. of Kentucky last year and reapplied at Ohio State this year. He got in.</p>
<p>Again, not a gap year, but my D was rejected by Tufts, applied the next year as a transfer, and was accepted. Though she chose to go elsewhere in the end.</p>
<p>There was a kid on CC who got rejected from Princeton, took a gap year, reapplied and got in.
There was another one who did not get into any schools he applied to, took a gap year, reapplied to a new set schools that included 2 from his “original” list (Yale and Swarthmore, I think), MIT, and a bunch of other schools. He got into MIT, and all the other “new” schools on his list, but not the 2 from the “original” one.</p>
<p>Conventional wisdom is that very few people are successful reapplying to a school that has already rejected them after a gap year. There are always exceptions, but I think if you decide to take a gap year because you haven’t been accepted to a college you want to attend, you have to have a new set of colleges to apply to next year.</p>
<p>Thanks for the posts. </p>
<p>I actually would like him to do a gap year as he is so young, but he’s not inclined to do so. I was thinking I could use this as a carrot, but sounds like not much of a sweet carrot.</p>
<p>This is the original thread about the tale of Andi’s son:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/47867-were-picking-up-pieces-but-what-went-wrong.html?highlight=andison[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/47867-were-picking-up-pieces-but-what-went-wrong.html?highlight=andison</a></p>
<p>who was rejected on the first round, took a gap year, and reapplied, with enormous success.</p>
<p>Note that enormous success for Andi’s son was at new schools, not at schools he had applied to the first time around. (as referenced in post #5)</p>
<p>Getting rejected at all schools applied to…even if the number is small…could be considered a great lesson for a lot of kids and one that will ultimately make them stronger. But, first it is extremely demoralizing and can do a lot of damage to a 17-18 year olds self confidence.</p>
<p>I’ve seen many posts on CC by students who decided to take gap years and reapply after being rejected by their dream schools. Most of them were rejected again. I remember a very sad tale of someone who applied ED the first time and then was deferred and rejected, and the same thing happened the second time.</p>
<p>Consequently, if one is rejected, the best thing to do is to move on…</p>
<p>My friend’s son was rejected by Princeton, took a gap year and was admitted the next year. During his gap year he lived in China and won several “speaking Chinese” competitions.</p>
<p>My S went to school quite young and did well.</p>
<p>Often a gap year requires even more maturity because it is self-structured. It is easy to waste the time and not accomplish much unless one has drive and discipline.</p>
<p>And I’d caution a voluntary gap year in this economy. There are just not as many opportunities as there have been before.</p>
<p>My D just graduated from college and decided on a gap year before law school. She could not find anything worthwhile or productive to do. She pursued Americorps, unpaid internships in her field, jobs, everything.</p>
<p>She has a strong GPA from a very well-respected school.</p>
<p>Colleges are now paying companies to take their interns.</p>
<p>It is hard to find something worthwhile that doesn’t cost money.</p>
<p>My D is now heading off for a Masters in London (happy ending a bit there – great program, great school) because when we saw she was in this predicament there was nothing still available in the US (late June.)</p>
<p>She still wants to go to law school, so this is an expense we certainly could have done without.</p>
<p>One of her friends, a college grad too, is spending a year at home “to write a young adult novel.”</p>
<p>Two have Fulbrights (a great option of you can get them), three are in grad school.</p>
<p>Only one has a job.</p>
<p>
The age of 17 isn’t unusually young to start college - lots of students start when they’re 17 (including mine). If he’s not emotionally ready to start college for some reason that’s one thing but I wouldn’t be concerned about the age itself.</p>