<p>This is the only thread I found that is somewhat relevant to my friend's son's situation. If there are others out there, please post a link.</p>
<p>Said student has some first rate qualities, good experiences, excellent test scores and grades, and some unique situations. Student is a senior this year but was very unsure about whether or not he wanted to apply to schools, wanted to truly go away to college (yet), etc. In the end, (and I don't have all the details yet) he applied to a private Christian college and two reachy-reach schools (and possibly the local UC-not sure). From what I can gather, he had at least a full tuition scholarship from the Christian college but was rejected from his other schools. Also from what I can gather, they really didn't know anything about applying to top schools.</p>
<p>I think this young man is very unique, intelligent and would have a decent chance at a selective college if they understood more about the application process. I would like to help him and his family but I am not sure I fully understand what he should be doing this summer and which schools he should aim for next fall.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>He cannot take any college classes or he will be considered a transfer, is that correct?</p></li>
<li><p>Do students ever do a "super senior year", that is, a fifth year in high school? He's homeschooled so he would have that option, I suppose?</p></li>
<li><p>I plan to go over everything with them to see exactly what they did in the application process. I know letters of recommendation were a red flag. Can I assume he should get all new letters? </p></li>
<li><p>If he's still unsure of what he wants to study, how might he best use his time during the gap year? He runs his own business online (which sounds cool to me but they never emphasized that) and he has some long standing interests in certain sports as well as a particular academic area. Would he just dive deeper into these things? Would he try something completely new that he's always wanted to try?</p></li>
<li><p>When he reapplies, will he be able to give a detailed description of his goals for his gap year? (As in, would that be a part of his essays or the homschooled counselor letter?)</p></li>
<li><p>I will encourage them to have a typical list (that they didn't have) of safeties, matches, and reaches. Should he reapply to the reaches or move onto other reaches?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Any other advice would be appreciated. This is a gem of a young man who has faced a particular challenge and dealt with it with grace. I would love to see him have more choices next year.</p>
<p>I don’t have the answers to your questions; I’m sure others will.</p>
<p>Just want to say that the young man in question is fortunate to have you interested in his future. You obviously have put some thought into his particular situation.</p>
<p>How does your friend (his mother?) feel about your involvement?</p>
<p>1 - true at some schools. Some will define a transfer as having completed a freshman year. You’ll need to check each school.
2 - I’ve seen some do (like prep schools for college, common for the military academies and certain sports). Would this still be home schooled or in the local HS?
3 - Are you sure the LORs were the red flag? If so get new ones, maybe with people associated with his gap year.
4 - I think both diving deeper or trying something new would be good options. It really should be something he wants to do so it will shine out.
5 - I think that could fit into either area (but I’m not savvy on home schooling)
6 - If he loves his reaches, sure he could keep them, but I don’t get that feeling from what you wrote. I’d start with a clean sheet of paper and see what schools get on there.</p>
<p>musicmom, yes, the mom specifically asked me to get involved. The father and son did the applications together and she feels that they didn’t do such a good job in really telling his story. As a homeschooler it’s really critical that you paint a clear picture of your coursework, ECs, etc. You have to go above and beyond other applicants because admissions have no context in which to compare homeschoolers except, of course, with other homeschoolers and most homeschoolers applying to top school are, well, top students who communicate this clearly.</p>
<p>I specifically asked about one LOR that I thought for sure would be good but it sounds like they didn’t really pursue it and I’m not sure they even got one. </p>
<p>Also, the student’s transcripts are coming from a support school (we call them Private Satellite Schools) that basically just keeps documentation for a homeschooling family but nothing else. I think they could do much better if they do their own.</p>
<p>Erin’s dad, it would all be done at a homeschooler.</p>
<p>Mostly, I was just wondering if people actually do this (take a gap year and reapply as a freshman) and if they’re successful.</p>
<p>I will talk with the mom today and ask about which schools her son is considering and then encourage them to contact each school and ask about the idea of a gap year.</p>
<p>Kudos to you for helping this student and his family. I have nothing to offer re the process of reapplying after a gap year, but I followed with some interest this thread from a well-meaning friend of a student, and you might find it helpful:</p>
<p>The story has a happy ending, but one of the take-aways from this cautionary tale about trying to help might be to really clarify up front what your role is, and what the goals are for this student’s application process, and whether the student needs to add “financial safeties” to his list. Maybe even put this info in writing, even if it’s a handwritten set of “goals” that all parties have agreed to (meaning the student and the parents).</p>
<p>Good luck to him, he is lucky to have you involved!</p>
<ol>
<li><p>There’s no reason not to reapply at colleges to which he applied this year, but his chances of admission there are far lower than they will be at any other equivalent college. They will look at his prior application, the person doing the looking and initial evaluation is likely to be the same person responsible for rejecting him this year, and it’s really uncommon (though not unheard-of) for a selective college to accept a student it had previously rejected. So the student’s main focus should be on colleges to which he has not previously applied. It won’t be “reapplying” to them, and that changes the dynamics a lot.</p></li>
<li><p>You are surely right that homeschooling creates a tougher burden. One of the ways to overcome that burden is to have as much involvement and confirmation as possible from third parties outside the home. I would start focusing on that now, not next year, so that you have some substantial things to put on an application in 6-8 months.</p></li>
<li><p>The classic CC thread on this is the one involving “andison”. It’s years old now, but still relevant. It involved a kid with impeccable credentials (or so it seemed) who managed not to get accepted anywhere he applied. He took a gap year, planned it carefully, applied the following year to a mix of colleges (including some to which he had applied previously). Ultimately he was accepted everywhere new that he applied (including MIT, where he enrolled), and rejected again everywhere he had applied before.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The poster’s name is andi, referring to the poster’s son.</p>
<p>However, while successful, andi’s son took a risk of being shut out the second time by not applying to any safeties. Fortunately for him, he got into some of the schools he applied to the second time (but not the same ones that rejected him the first time), but it would likely have been more devastating to be shut out again.</p>
<p>But in this case, it looks like the main problem is that the student and family did not have a good idea of what suitable and financially realistic options there were for making up the application list, rather than applying to an all-reach list with no safeties like andi’s son.</p>
<p>Running the business during the gap year may be a good worthwhile activity if he prefers to do a gap year rather than the usual route of going to community college and transferring to a state university as a junior.</p>
<p>Does this young man not want to attend the Christian school with the full ride?</p>
<p>Our homeschooled son was just accepted into the Univ. of Michigan. What helped his application immensely is that he spent two years at the local community college. UM didn’t care about his non-impressive high school credentials because they could look at what college courses he has taken and what his grades are.</p>
<p>It’s true that he wasn’t eligible for freshman scholarships but there are transfer scholarships. Plus, we saved so much money just by having his first two years be at the community college.</p>
<p>I think this is a great way for homeschoolers to get their bachelor’s degrees from top notch universities.</p>
<p>I think two things were at play this year. One, student and his brother are really close and run the business together, so student wasn’t necessarily eager to go out of state yet. Also, as with my middle son, student is Type 1 diabetes and maybe that had something to do with the hesitance. He does a good job of managing it (we’re way more involved but my son is 15 so there’s still hope!) but maybe that was a concern?</p>
<p>I guess student didn’t want to go to the school. I think it’s a perfectly legit option but…I really need to know more.</p>
<p>Said student was really a standout in one of his sports as well as another EC before he got diabetes. The family pulled back at the time to deal with it and the mom regrets that they pulled so far back. I know with my son, we need some time to deal with it as it affected him in a lot of ways that made life really challenging.</p>
<p>Jane, I’ll take that story and chew on it. I have been paid for my services as a college counselor this year (bartered my services, really, but it worked out well in one case). So, yes, I will consider that.</p>
<p>He has done classes at the local CC but not sure how many.</p>
<p>I need to see the whole picture. They weren’t sharing a lot this fall and spring but seems like they’re willing to share more since things didn’t go as expected. I think they simply have no idea how competitive it is out there.</p>
<p>The second application list is in post #3; it did not appear to have any obvious safeties, so andi’s son was taking a risk of being shut out again. Fortunately, that did not happen.</p>