<p>Right now I am junior and I am confused as to whether I should take an extra year of high school before I apply to college and if that would look bad to colleges that I took an extra year of school. </p>
<p>Why do I want to do this? Well the biggest reason is because I am not currently a permanent resident which would mean that I would have to apply in the international applicant pool which is harder to get into. Also financial aid is very hard (almost impossible) to come by for international students. Practically, it is much harder to apply as an international student(like I am right now) than wait an extra year and apply as a domestic student. </p>
<p>The other reason I want to take an extra year is because there are somethings that I wanted to have accomplished by the time that I was done with high school that I haven't quite gotten to do yet, like mostly extracurricular things. </p>
<p>My grades are pretty good (3.89 GPA unweighted w/ APs ) but my extracurriculars are not so good. I am a homeschooler so it wouldn't be hard to arrange to do the extra year but my biggest fears are colleges would interpret it like laziness or that I am below the level of my peers because I couldn't accomplish the same thing in the same amount of time. Also how would I word that on the college application? It wouldn't be a postgrad year because I would not have applied to college or graduated high-school? </p>
<p>During my gap year, I would like to take some college classes, do some independent research, work on my extracurriculars and art( like produce a CD because I love music and run a marathon because I am a runner. Are those decent extracurriculars, I don't even know.) Also I want to do some mission work. </p>
<p>So in summary I want to wait an extra year because I want to apply as a domestic student but I would take that extra year to do some really cool things so that i could stand out. Does that sound like a good idea and how would colleges interpret that? </p>
<p>Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks in advance! </p>
<p>Will you officially be a legal permanent resident in one more year ? Will you or your parents be getting green cards soon ? That is the only way your status on your applications will be viewed differently by colleges.
Your legal status is TOTALLY a function of your immigration status here in the US, and is NO way related to how many years you have been in school here or elswewhere. </p>
<p>Yes we have actually already applied for the greencard. I have lived here all my life(pretty much except I was born outside the US so I know that years living here don’t influence college decisions . But I am afraid that the greencard won’t get here in time for me to apply to college and scholarships. </p>
<p>when will you be getting it? in 2 more years?
What kind of a visa do you have? This is from USC’s website:</p>
<p>“Students already residing in the United States and holding other non-immigrant visas (for instance, an E2, H2, or L2) are also considered international students.”</p>
<p>Once you turn in your application(which we have done) you get in between 6 month and 1.5 years from the time you turn it in. </p>
<p>Well, If you could afford to do another year of HS [ like students do at some boarding schools ]
<a href=“13th year of high school - Parents Forum - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/8134-13th-year-of-high-school.html</a>
that would be a good way of showing your readiness for college.
. But TAKING COLLEGE CLASSES will mean you will be considered to be a TRANSFER student, and that will DRASTICALLY reduce your college choices, [ since most private colleges accept very, very few transfer students], AND will reduce the opportunity for scholarships, which are primarily awarded to incoming Freshman… </p>
<p>Okay. I accidentally put college classes, I meant AP classes. Thanks for the advise. Do colleges look unfavorably on extra years of high school? </p>
<p>No.
Especially since you are homeschooled, the ability to prove your readiness for college with High AP scores[ 4or 5] as well as high SAT or ACT scores is very important. </p>
<p>It depends on what college you are applying for. Top echelon schools really want students whom have shown leadership roles on a wider range of activities and have taken most of the AP classes available to you. It would not hurt to apply now and see what happens. You always have your back up plan of taking college classes for a year or two and applying again. There are many excellent colleges that I am sure you will be accepted into and then go forth with an exceptional career; so not to worry. The money thing and how to solve it seems to be your biggest problem. Good luck to you.</p>