<p>And, btw, our instincts about D1 were right- she was the youngest in her grade, though physically very mature, and an excellent student, performing artist and athlete, great scores. She could have used more social confidence and maturity. There are not many ways to opt out. Planning and taking a gap year is actually challenging for kids like this.</p>
<p>OT:
Her approach to college apps was to undershoot by a long shot- she applied ED to a LAC that was a sleepwalk for her. She subconsciously wanted to avoid the stress of worrying about being rejected, etc. And by Nov of freshman year, she knew she wanted out of that college and also to pursue a major not offered at the college.
So, on her own, she applied to five more schools- she visited, did all the apps completely on her own. Totally independent and self-directed. A great confidence-builder.
She landed at a different LAC. Her new friends were all freshmen. She walked on to a sports team and the coach is now asking her to play all 4 years, so she is trying to figure out if she can take a semester OFF to intern while all her new friends are on semesters abroad, and finish up after a Fall term [her sport is a Fall sport]. We have no idea if this sort thing of this is allowed, but it will be up to her to find out and structure it, with our support and advice, of course.
Her coach mentioned the possibility of being a “super-senior”, but she does not know what that means… for her to investigate.
I believe that the college rite of passage does not hit everyone at the right time, so we do have to improvise.</p>
<p>And, obviously, we were fortunate to have the financial resources that transferring can require.</p>