<p>Man, I was just gonna suggest Deep Springs! My son was not interested in philosophy (as a major) and I didn’t research those schools. But I would guess that your best choices in schools wouldn’t be the Ivy-equivalents anyway, because my UNINFORMED GUESS is that those schools are for more standard students than you anyway. (Honest, I’m not dissing the Ivies, I just think OP is a little off the wall for my uninformed guess about those schools!) I suggest you get the book “Cool Colleges: For the Hyper-Intelligent, Self-Directed, Late Blooming, and Just Plain Different”. Colleges I’ve heard of that sound interesting for you are Reed, Marlboro, St John’s College (and of course Deep Springs).</p>
<p>And as for the gap year, I’d apply to colleges in senior year of high school and take a deferral from your favorite, or, if you don’t like the options in April of senior year, THEN plan to redo it all during the gap year. The reason for that is 1) it’s easier to collect letters of recommendation, etc., when you’re in school all the time, 2) if you get into a school you like in senior year, your gap year can be all the more scrumptious for not having to worry about applications, and 3) you’ll only have a few months of gap before applications start again and it really isn’t that much time to reinvent yourself on the applications.</p>
<p>For your essays, I’d advise not even mentioning your GPA. It’s good but not great, but it would be hard for you to mention it without letting a hint of your “woe is me” or arrogance out. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things you’ve done and what you’ve learned from them.</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me if you want. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>