<p>Well, I'm an unlucky fella. I was rejected everywhere I applied except my "safety" school (I applied to about ten). Since decisions came out a few weeks ago, I've tried to fall in love with my "safety," but I just can't. I've realized the atmosphere is too centered on partying (for me), and research and other opportunities seem scarce. I'm strongly considering a gap year to apply to a couple different "dream" schools but mostly to apply to more "match" or "safety" schools so I have more options. I would ensure I made the most of my gap year by volunteering, working, and continuing to study (and hopefully do some travelling). So, suck it up or go for it?</p>
<p>For whatever it's worth:
ACT: 33
SAT II Math 2: 800
SAT II Physics: 800
GPA (UW): 3.9+
Varsity baseball starter</p>
<p>It depends on what the safety school is, and what your academic and other interests as they relate to schools are. Of course, costs matter as well.</p>
<p>You have great test scores. I’m not sure what a gap year gets you except a new admission round and a chance to apply to schools that are more of a match. Your safety was supposed to be somewhere you would not mind attending. I doubt that research is all that important freshman year. You will mostly be taking core classes. You probably have the chance to really shine at the safety school. Why not go to the safety, do very well and start looking right away at transfer opportunities for fall '15? I’m just not sure the gap year you describe looks very impressive. You might lose your momentum. </p>
<p>@ucbalumnus My “safety” is a large, in-state public university (not the best, but also not the worst). My interest is primarily in Computer Science. Cost makes out-of-state public schools nearly impossible (with a few exceptions such as UNC, which have good financial aid even for out-of-state students), so I’m bound to my “safety” or a private school with good financial aid (which, in my case, seems to be most).</p>
<p>@OspreyCV22 That probably would be a better path. What’s the transfer process like? How does it differ from a regular application? Would I still be fully eligible for need-based financial aid?</p>
<p>Does this university have an honors program/college? Try to get in it, if you haven’t already. It’ll definitely help you make the most of whatever this school has to offer you.</p>
<p>It seems you probably did not pick the schools properly. You should have included more matching schools on the list. Also, safety should be a viable solution although you may not fall in love with it. Otherwise, you should not even apply to it if you do not ever want to attend there.
With your credential, you are probably at or above the 75% of admission at the safety school. That may be a good opportunity for you. Did you receive any merit scholarship offer from it? Also, you should be able to get better GPA there which may help your transfer. As the safety is your in state public, you are likely to get your need met. Many students applied and admitted to other schools and still go to the in state public due to financial reason. Furthermore, many students would go to community college for a couple year and then transfer to a better college to save money. So your current situation is not bad at all.</p>
<p>Being a top performer among other less-achieving students can have its benefits. My co-worker’s daughter turned down UMich Ross undergrad to accept a “Presidential Scholar” designation at a “less ranked” school. She is among a handful of the top undergraduates, is invited to the topmost events, has access to the best internships/mentorships. Basically, the faculty clamor over her.</p>
<p>As for the excessive party atmosphere – it can be avoided personally. Maybe the hungover idiots on a Sat or Sun morning will never be tolerable but keep this in your mind: “I’m saving a BUNDLE of money I will use once I graduate” At your first job, your co-workers will be living at mom’s house, driving a used car, paying off loans. Not you…</p>
<p>Here is the problem. Even if you had gotten into those better schools, you might not have gotten much good aid (no loan) because you would have been near the bottom of the freshman class. The best aid goes to the people near the top of their class. In other words, you reached way too high.</p>
<p>The ONLY advantage of a “gap year” is that maybe you can get better financial aid, namely freshman merit aid. Otherwise, you can transfer from your “safety” and be finished a year earlier, and thus start earning money earlier. A “gap year” now will cost you one year of a computer science salary later on… a lot of money in other words. My advice is to avoid the gap. It is a very risky option.</p>
<p>If you absolutely cannot tolerate the “safety” then you need to target schools a whole lot lower if you want good (no loan) financial aid. You just learned the risks of aspiring too high. Don’t compound it by making a similar mistake.</p>
<p>By the way, at state universities it is not that hard to avoid the “party scene.” Choose your friends well, and you will be fine.</p>
<p>I think you should tell us the safety, you are anon enough here and it isn’t really that private of info. I think a lot of CS students underestimate the value of a safety at the right price. One crazy guy yesterday is thinking of going to Purdue for 150,000 debt vs Suny Binghamton at affordable cost. That’s nuts. Someone may know a bit about your school. Any party school usually means typical college, at a large school it doesn’t matter, there are plenty of people in engineering and other serious students working hard. Just remember the state U is going to have a wider range of students but the top 20 percent are likely your peers. </p>
<p>There are still schools accepting rolling applications. If none of those appeal to you, you should just do a year at the safety and transfer. It’s not where you start but where you finish. If you are on the waiting list for any of your “rejected” schools, try to find out where you are ranked on the list, deposit at the safety school and appeal to the waitlist schools.</p>
<p>If it is a school like Rutgers, UMass - Amherst, or Stony Brook (schools which are commonly despised by their in-state students), remember that they are all quite respected for CS.</p>
<p>If financial aid is crucial, DO NOT try to transfer: financial aid is bad for transfers. Most “100%need” schools do not meet need for transfers, for instance. It’s even worse at schools that don’t promise to meet need. Furthermore, there are no full tuition/full ride scholarships for transfers. Spending a year at safety school before transferring is terrible advice if you are low EFC.</p>
<p>While all colleges have parties, some colleges center more about parties than academics. It all depends whether you’re talking Georgia Southern vs. Georgia Tech ( for instance). When 75% classmates are hungover in class, it DOES affect learning and it does not motivate students used to challenging themselves. </p>
<p>It seems to me you don’t risk anything taking a gap year: you have plans to fill it and your goal is to apply to a more reasonable list of schools, which would certainly pay off. At worst, you could still apply to your safety and I don’t see why wouldn’t get in if you apply as soon as the app is up, and email this year to explain you’ve decided to take a gap year to work, volunteer and travel (don’t know if you can defer? Ask, perhaps).
With these stats, for instance, you’d have qualified for UA’s Honors College with an automatic full tuition scholarship, honors dorms, and $2,500 stipend, and you could have applied for the competitive programs within the Honors College.</p>
<p>I’m not sure that you’ll go anywhere where 75% of your classmates are hungover all the time. Of course you don’t want to go somewhere where the students are absolutely not concerned about learning and really just went for a four-year party, but I don’t even think Georgia Southern can be characterized that way, much less most large public flagship universities. I’ve noticed on CC a lot that students have very deflated visions of their own state’s public universities, especially in comparison to their “dream” schools or the top named schools on U.S. News.</p>
<p>However, I AM curious about how a student with near-perfect test scores and a very high GPA managed to get rejected from all but one of his schools. Where did you apply?</p>
<p>I agree that this all depends on what your safety school was.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus @Ctesiphon Auburn University, which is known regionally as a great engineering school. Prestige really isn’t too much of a factor for me; I’m just looking for where is best for me, which I may realize is Auburn once I get there.</p>
<p>@MYOS1634 @federalconman14 If I end up staying, I’d try to get into the Honors College (didn’t apply for Freshman year).</p>
<p>@juillet I applied to Harvard & MIT, UPenn, Vanderbilt, UNC, and a few of each’s “peers.” I knew it was ambitious, and I tried to “diversify,” but in hindsight not enough. I wouldn’t say surprised, since they’re all hard to get into, but I was caught a little off guard when they all didn’t pan out.</p>
<p>Auburn does appear to have a large and reasonably complete selection of CS courses in its course catalog, as one might expect from a large state university.</p>
<p>Auburn does have an Honors College - not so hard to get in, not so easy to stay in.</p>
<p>I can think of a few good men/women that “ended up” at Auburn and were quite successful. At my son’s Camp War Eagle (orientation) they asked how many gave up “Hope” to attend Auburn…he said about a quarter of the class stood up. Hope is Georgia’s free tuition scholarship.</p>
<p>Email Auburn and see if you can get into their honors college. Auburn isn’t bad, especially for engineering.
You can take the gap year if your parents are supportive because you’re likely to do better than Auburn without Honors - you’d have gotten Honors, at least, if you had bothered applying, so clearly your heart wasn’t in it. Your gap year will only matter if you apply to actual match schools and safeties that you like, so you need to do a lot of soul searching, otherwise it won’t serve any purpose. If you choose to take a gap year, you must NOT waste it.</p>
<p>The current CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, is an Auburn graduate. So is the founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales (and he is still an advisory board member of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence)</p>
<p>You can go far, very far, in a computer career with a degree from Auburn,</p>