<p>Hey all – I posted this in the Yale forum as well because my top two choices were Yale and Brown, and i’d be interested in getting opinions from both of the communities.</p>
<p>I was obsessed with Yale, and applied early decision only to be deferred and ultimately rejected. I was ok with this, because Yale was definitely a reach school… however, in the end I was waitlisted at Brown, Columbia, Harvard, and accepted to my last choices – Wesleyan, NYU Gallatin, and some others.</p>
<p>I decided to accept NYU’s offer of admission but also request a gap year (so that I would be entering the class of '11), and now I’m debating whether to re-apply to my top choices come March of next year.</p>
<p>Besides the ethical “wrongness” of applying to other colleges, would this make for an even worse chance of being accepted (to Brown and Yale)? My hooks in the application process were a GREAT art portfolio (1x international, 2x national recognition, solo exhibitions and a lot of regional awards) 16+ years of viola, violin, and erhu, and creative writing; I feel that the first two could be vastly improved upon in the coming year, making for even better music/art portfolios. Also, during my gap year I will be studying in Paris at a University there… not sure if that would also help, but it would show that I’m not just taking a year off as a “break”, but more as a continuation of my academics in a foreign country.</p>
<p>Anyway, I’d love to hear what you all think. I’m completely ignorant as to how colleges respond to an application re-applying after being waitlisted/rejected and after taking a gap year.</p>
<p>btw, if anyone’s curious… art website is <a href=“http://www.wi-ch.com%5B/url%5D”>www.wi-ch.com</a> (yay for shameless self-promotion right? ;p)</p>
<p>A lot of schools make you promise not to apply to other schools if you accept their offer of admission after a gap - better make sure if that's true -</p>
<p>I don't want to corner myself into doing 100% art for my undergraduate.. and that's basically my reason. I've kind of figured that, if I truly want to continue with art, I'll do that in grad school or something. I enjoy taking random classes that aren't all with the same group of people.</p>
<p>You have some really amazing art, and I've actually heard of the erhu!</p>
<p>I suppose if you really gained something during your gap year, you could be accepted. I don't know why they rejected you in the first round but considering that you improved yourself it wouldn't hurt to apply. What are you majoring in?</p>
<p>I would reapply but also hit up RISD or atleast one art school.
Your portfolio is breath taking.
She Modeled Clothes and In An Expression of Solitude where my personal favorites.</p>
<p>I am not sure of this, but when I was taking my daughter to colleges for visits, they said that it is OK, after deciding to go to College A, to take a gap year before entering College A, but if you go to College B during the gap year all bets are off and you have to reapply to College A because College A will no longer recognize your original acceptance for admission.</p>
<p>Since you have (1) stated publicly that you intend to study at a university in Paris during your gap year; (2) you have given the web address where anyone can see your name and beautiful artwork; and (3) NYU admissions people sometimes look at the postings here, I think you should be careful that NYU does not see this because it might jeopardize your well earned spot at NYU.</p>
<p>The gap year thing is actually through a program called CEA -- it's not an actual enrollment in a university. Sorry if that was confusing. I was more asking about the year <em>after</em> the gap year, but it seems that it would just be a lot more wise to apply out of NYU as a transfer student if I truly don't like it.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the feedback -- I think I've got it straight now :)</p>
<p>If you can afford it might as well take the gap year. I would withdraw from NYU (you'll get in again) and say you wanted to do something interesting abroad. I think you will meet better success the next application cycle. OR go to NYU and transfer, just keep the grades up. It depends on your point of view. I think the gap year would be awesome and an enlightening experience, but if you only view it as a means to a better school I wouldn't do this.</p>