I go to a pretty competitive high school in Texas. I’ve taken 5 AP’s, (4’s on two,5’s on three), and 13 honors courses with mostly A’s and B’s. By the time I graduate, I will have taken 10 AP’s and 14 honors classes. I also have upwards of 300 volunteer hours, I played the lead of 5 school plays and have won 4 awards from the local to regional level in acting. I also have leadership positions on the board of my Theatre Club and the school newspaper. But I really struggle in math and science and I especially struggled this year. Despite pulling through with a 3.6 GPA freshman year and a 3.9 GPA sophomore year, my grades plummeted for me to have a GPA of about 3.3. I know I will probably get into a solid college, but I always dreamed of going to a T20 and I think a PG year would give me resources and connections to get there. Only problem is I’m sure if it’s wise to apply for college AND prep school and at the same time, I don’t wanna be left in the dust if I don’t get into any of the prep schools that offer the PG year.
The first thing that I wonder is: Why you want to attend a “top 20” university?
Rankings are overrated. There are a large number (hundreds) of very good universities where you can get a very good education.
I will admit that I might be a bit biased since I was a math major at a top 20 university. However, in my experience there are a very large number of universities that have very good professors and many strong students. The “top 20”, if they are unique at all, are mostly unique in two ways: The students are ALL very strong, and the classes are academically very demanding. There is a lot of homework. Classes go fast. Professors just assume that every student can keep up.
You should be looking for universities that would be a good fit for you. To me it sounds like you are likely to be accepted to universities that are a good fit for you.
I do think that you should make a strong effort to keep your grades up in this upcoming year (which I gather is your senior year of high school). Doing well this year will help you to be better prepared for your first year of university. Some universities might also ask about your mid-year grades (some do this, some do not, I do not know about universities in Texas). You might also want to think about getting a tutor for math if this is affordable and if an appropriate tutor is possible to find.
I’m going to ask a bunch of questions and make a few points that you should think about in this process.
What do you want to get out of your PG year? Is it simply an opportunity to increase your GPA? Is it to defer application to college so your entire senior year performance can be considered? You mention resources and connections to get into a top 20; I think you may be overestimating the leverage that a PG year will give you without another hook such as being a recruited athlete.
What are you offering a school in your PG year? Most boarding schools bring in PGs to fill a gap that they have in the student body, typically athletic, or a highly accomplished individual that will increase the profile of the school. Would you try and leverage your acting resume to appeal? Is that what you want to focus on in college or are you interested in a different path?
From what you’ve written you sound like an accomplished, capable individual, but you don’t give any indication about why your grades slipped. Was it more time spent on volunteer and theater activities? That’s a valid tradeoff that a small, selective college would take into account during the admissions process. Was it a personal event? Perhaps just a lapse in discipline? You have AP scores that back up your mastery of the material … that can help you tell an interesting story about your academic journey which smaller schools will have more admissions resources to consider.
Oh, one more thing, T20 in what? Schools have strengths in different areas. If I’m taking a nuclear engineering major then there are 10ish schools that are in the running and they’re incredibly different than the top schools for philosophy which are different from programs I would consider for political science. If you intend to go for an advanced degree then your undergrad school is far less important than you would think.
Simple answer. No. Find colleges that are a good fit for you, where your at now. No extra classes etc is going to change that.
Don’t fantasize about top 20 schools. Many kids try to force their way in and are disappointed, fail out, and tell us here how bad a choice it was /is.
Do the best you can since your getting ready for college. That alone is a different mind set. You can only change your future and not what happened in the past. Those are learning opportunities. Good Luck.
What’s the difference between #18 and #88 - in regards to experience, study, and the rest.
What do you want to study?
What will a PG gain you? How can you be assured?
What does someone get at UCLA / Berkeley (#20) that they can’t get at Texas Tech - besides a huge bill?
There’s 20 top 20s and many are different from one another.
Saying I always wanted to go to top 20 is - I’m not sure for bragging or what.
I always wanted to be a sportscaster - but it didn’t work out and I’m not.
My kid always tell me she was going to Harvard on a full ride and unless you’re not able to afford it, they don’t have any merit - and she didn’t apply to Harvard.
And she goes to #16 of 17 she got into - and is kicking butt. And my son got into a top 10 engineering schools with merit - and chose #90 - and is working with those same kids from the top 10.
Unfortunately, we don’t always get to choose where to go. It may be finances, the school’s choice, or qualification.
Tons of kids go to UT, Texas A&M, and even UTD - vs. Ivies and other top 20s.
And the same can be said for most of the main publics and even smaller privates that pay.
If you wanted UCLA, Texas Tech or Arkansas can provide similar opportunities.
If you wanted Emory, maybe it’s U of Denver or Tulsa, etc.
Find the right fits for you.
Ranking is the last thing you should look at. Once you get on campus and you are there for four years, it will be forgotten - and you need to be happy.
PS - what will you major in. Different schools have different strengths - and not all top 20 are even top anything in certain fields.
There are reasons to go post grad. Your desire for top 20 is not one.
Edit - PS - desire to be, not attend, the top 20. Top 20 parent (eventually), co worker, etc. Top 20 ensures nothing. Many top 20 work for non top 20. Many non top 20 go to top 20 grad school over the top 20 UG student. Be top 20 in happiness. College is a quick stop on the journey of life and if you’re top 20 in hustle and persistence, that will make you top 20 in life - and that’s far more important than the name on the diploma.
Good luck.
PG years aren’t really meant for someone like you, so I would say that you should focus on your college list.
PG is most often used by athletes who are on a coach’s radar who either need another year to get bigger, stronger, better at their sport and/or to bring their academic stats up to snuff. This often happens at the college coach’s suggestion.
There may be other situations why someone would do a PG year, but it’s rarely a good, unhooked student like you hoping to be more competitive in college applications a year later. When you see students from top BS getting into top schools, what you may not realize is that many are recruits (including the PGs), legacies, fac brats, major donors, and full pay. Iow, the advantage you are seeking may not exist for you anyway.
Yes this is my take as well.
I tend to agree with others, PG years at prep schools are almost always for athletes…and even if you got accepted as one, a 4.0 in your current school Sr year + 4.0 PG year will not guarantee admission to the tip top of the highly-selective school list anyway. Also, reiterating, the “top” universities are all very different, and not all going to be a good fit most likely. UCLA and Dartmouth are really quite different experiences, I’d imagine. (Never mind the top 20 SLACs…)
Also, do you want to go to school for acting? If that is the case, your audition will mean a lot!
Thanks for your response! My grades did indeed slip due to theatre but also some turbulence in my personal life. I’d like to take a PG year to improve my GPA, but also test scores and to pursue some of my personal hobbies like writing and music in a way that makes me more well rounded. Although I’m a little ashamed to admit, a part of me also hopes I can play lacrosse in college and a PG year would give me more time to develop and be recruited. Theatre takes up to 20 hours of my free time each week including about 2 hours of rehearsal every day and 6-10 hours rehearsals on Saturdays. A lot of those days I would go straight from 2 hours to theatre to another 2 hours of lacrosse and THEN go home. I wanna go into corporate law/private equity and theres a lot of talk about how connections are everything in those industries, thus my interest in T20’s. However my guidance counselor pointed me to some small liberal arts schools like Amherst, Colby, Williams, etc and I’ve gotten more open minded about where I wanna go.
These are just as selective as ivies and are still T20s imo….
Have you started with reaching out to coaches? Have you talked to PG coaches?
If you’re intent on taking a PG year, then do so.
But I haven’t read anything from you or any responses that says - gap year.
You needn’t go to top 20 to get into PE/corporate law. In fact, look at both Harvard MBA and Law - kids from 174 schools are in the law school and 169 if I remember right in MBA. Kids from colleges - not just not top 20 but not top 200 - the Cal State LA and Northridge, Oakland, Fairleigh Dickinson and U of - whatever - Arkansas, Hawaii, Arizona, Kentucky - you name it.
Top 20 is a magazine ranking - not real life - and yes, Williams and Amherst and Bowdoin, etc. are the equivalent.
Lots of people from lots of schools are in private equity and especially corporate law.
Listen, if you’re intent on going to a post grad year and your family can afford it, go ahead.
If you need a year to mature and gain confidence, go ahead.
But if you want the answer based on the info you provided, you should go to college. The reality of you getting into these schools you mention vs. not likely won’t be impacted by your decision.
Best of luck.
Look, the fact is, there is no guarantee that your senior year grades are going to be any better than junior year, because:
- you’re going to continue prioritizing theater, and
- any serious course builds on the foundation of your previous courses, and you haven’t taken the time to strengthen those weak foundations, focusing instead improving your craft in theater.
And there’s nothing wrong with being passionate about theater. But it does mean that you should focus on who you are, where you’re at, and what drives you right now. Play to your actual strengths, not hypothetical “what ifs”.