I applied to the Ivies (UPenn/Columbia, etc.) and didn’t get in. I got into WashU and a few other “ivy safety” schools. Should I take a Gap year and reapply or try it out and transfer if needed? this was the single toughest college admissions year in history. I’m not interested in hearing “you aren’t going to get in”, etc. I got into washU, meaning I probably met the bare minimum requirements for my other choices–at least.
I’m not happy about WashU (more reasons than just bc it’s not an ivy), which should I do?
You don’t want to hear it, but if you didn’t get into any Ivy League schools this year, it isn’t likely it will happen next year without some noticeable addition to your application. You will need to show something pretty meaningful that will make them notice you. That probably means something more meaningful than a job or casual volunteer work.
Transferring is extremely unlikely. The transfer acceptance rate is supremely low. If you decide to transfer, make an impact at Wash U or in the community. Get very high grades. Form great connections with profs, because your letters of rec will need to be great. All those things are hard to do if you don’t like the school you are at. And you need SOLID reasons why you must be at Harvard, for example, instead of Wash U. Good luck.
Your mind is made up and set on nothing but the Ivies you want. The usual response to the many students in your situation (very many, because the Ivies have a collective acceptance rate below 8% which means hundreds of thousands of applicants are denied every year) is to go where you were accepted and learn to like it. I think I’m finally coming around to your point of view.
After all, you put in so many years of hard work. Who wouldn’t be disappointed by being accepted to a university ranked #16 in the entire USA by a famous magazine/website? All that work you put into studying is worthy of a top 10 university, maybe even a top 5 university. 16? Pshaw!!!
If you think the best reward for all your work in high school is to reject the highest ranked school that accepted you, take a year off school altogether, and reapply to the schools that rejected you, I don’t think I should be the one to tell you no.
I will suggest that you spend a lot of time thinking more about what’s good about WUSL and less time thinking about why WUSL is not Penn/Columbia/Ivy. If after a deep dive into all the greatness that is WUSL, you still want to take a gap year (and your parents agree with you) I think a student with the intelligence to get accepted into WUSL is smart enough to decide if taking a gap year and reapplying to Penn/Columbia is a better option than attending WUSL.
I think you would be better off focusing on doing well at WashU and applying to the Ivies again for grad school. I think that has higher odds than either re-applying after a gap year or transferring.
You didn’t get in this year. Yet you think there magically won’t be any competition next year and somehow you turning down other schools is going to make you look more favorable. Newsflash, its not.
Pass up your offers this year and I foresee you crying 5 years from now because you wasted time because you were too arrogant. Meanwhile your friends will all be done with college or be in grad school while you keep whining about how you “should have gotten accepted at an Ivy”.
You are an adult or will be one very soon. Time to make the best out of opportunities versus waiting for miracles that will never happen.
D20 is attending a different school that likely would be called an “Ivy Safety” by you, although it still isn’t a safety for anyone. She met someone this fall who did nothing but complain about where he is because he shoulda been at Princeton, or at the very least Dartmouth, not at that lousy school. He is so much fun to be around with that giant chip on his shoulder and positive attitude. If you can’t find something to be happy about, don’t go. Whining about what shoulda, coulda, woulda isn’t going to help you settle in and make friends.
I’d say try again if it means that much to you, you think you’ll be that unhappy at WashU and you don’t mind postponing your education for a year. I think this admissions cycle was very challenging this year because elite schools seem to be taking fewer transfers because due to over enrollment, return of gap year students and cancellation of study abroad. That being said, those issues may persist into the next cycle and there is no guarantee that you’ll get into your preferred schools in the next round. Just meeting the stats threshold isn’t all it takes.
No one can answer this for you but you. I would not presume next year will be easier. Still test optional and given the atmosphere of admissions this year people may apply to even MORE schools next year. Best of luck with whatever you decide. You are obviously bright and can have an amazing education at any school!
I didn’t read the other thread, but with so little to go on, I’m not sure how you’d expect quality advice.
You haven’t articulated what’s so special about the Ivies or why not WashU. I’m going to wager that you’re not actually much interested in Ivy conference sports, so why are you concentrating on a particular sports league? If the Ivy League had invited WashU to join them instead of Dartmouth/Brown back in the day, would you suddenly be happy to go to WashU?
I have visited Washington University in St Louis. I had a great tour of the campus and of St Louis, and got to participate in a seminar. The students were smart and engaged and asked great questions. The students and professors that I met with were excellent. I definitely would not call it an “Ivy safety” school.
I think that you need to understand that which university you attend is not the most important thing. What you do when you are there is much more important. You will have a very wide range of opportunities at WUSTL or at any other “top 200” university. You will find other very strong students. You will find strong professors. You will have opportunities to participate in internships or in research. You do not need to attend an Ivy League university to find any of this.
You will also find other students there who are way smarter than you expect. This will not be the same as high school.
In an article in their alumni magazine a few years back Stanford said that 80% of applicants were academically fully qualified to attend. Yes, you are probably in this group. However, a year ago they only accepted 4.3% of applicants. I doubt this year was much different, and yes it was probably slightly worse.
I do not see much harm in taking a gap year so long as you have something productive to do when you take the gap year. I would not expect your admissions results to be much different. You might however gain a different perspective on life.
If you take a gap year, make it productive. And if you are going to chase higher ranked schools, don’t reapply to the same ones you did before. Your chances of admission to schools that rejected you the first time around are practically nil. Really think about your college choices this time so that you only apply to places that you’d actually be happy to attend. That seems to have been an issue for you despite the fact that you were admitted to some excellent schools.
It goes beyond the prestige/ivy factor. i would’ve also been happy with Northwestern!!! I went to WashU, and toured it. I didn’t see myself there, I’m not crazy about st. louis, and the social climate doesn’t excite me. They also aren’t known for the programs I’m interested in (applied math/history/econ/physics/CS/some kind of engineering possibly)…It’s a FANTASTIC school and I’m VERY lucky to have gotten in. It just doesn’t feel right.
It goes beyond the prestige/ivy factor. i would’ve also been happy with Northwestern!!! I went to WashU, and toured it. I didn’t see myself there, I’m not crazy about st. louis, and the social climate doesn’t excite me. They also aren’t known for the programs I’m interested in (applied math/history/econ/physics/CS/some kind of engineering possibly)…It’s a FANTSTIC school and I’m VERY lucky to have gotten in. It just doesn’t feel write.
Northwestern/the ivies offer a “work hard/play hard” yet balanced life, WashU is more “work hard”, there is more diversity both in interests and demographically, the schools I’m interested in are energetic and vibrant, close to exciting cities.
It goes beyond the prestige/ivy factor. i would’ve also been happy with Northwestern!!! I went to WashU, and toured it. I didn’t see myself there, I’m not crazy about st. louis, and the social climate doesn’t excite me. They also aren’t known for the programs I’m interested in (applied math/history/econ/physics/CS/some kind of engineering possibly)…It’s a FANTSTIC school and I’m VERY lucky to have gotten in. It just doesn’t feel right.
Then your answer is to go to Wash U, work as hard as you can and get close to profs who can give you amazing letters of recommendation, and then try to transfer. It’s a rare student who can do something truly significant with a gap year, in time to make a difference for applications for the next year. A gap year will probably be a wasted year, and you are unlikely to see any difference in your acceptances the next time around.