son wants to wait a year

Parents Forum
1

<p>My son is a very good student who has been in AP type classes for several years and will graduate this spring. He has been turned down by the UC schools after being on wait lists and is quite disappointed and is toying with the idea of sitting out a year, trying to improve his SAT and do some volunteer work etc etc...</p>

<p>He was accepted to the school of Engineering at U of Washington but had his mind set to attend Berkley.</p>

<p>I live in San Diego and have hopes he will live with me, attend JC for 2 years and follow his dream to a UC school. Am I too far off in trying to twist his arm and follow my advice? He was a Sept. baby so I held him back so he is 18 and I don't want him to miss another year before contributing to SS...</p>

<p>Does anyone have any experience with their child sitting out a year? How about the idea of going to a JC and then to a major University? My son is a good student, I've spoiled him to a degree as he has never needed to work and now wants to sit out a year. </p>

<p>Your thoughts will be gratefully accepted.</p>

<p>-Doug</p>

2

<p>Getting a direct admit into Engineering at the UW is very impressive, your son must be quite accomplished, Doug. So unfair that you have a smart kid like that, are paying state taxes, and can’t even get into his own state schools. That is just plain wrong.</p>

<p>I don’t think he really has a good reason to just bum it for a year. He won’t be spending much time working on his SAT, and doing some volunteer work. What else would he do? It doesn’t sound like he wants to sit out a year because he’s not ready for school, needs to earn money, or has a passion that he wants to follow first. He is just disappointed.</p>

<p>I vote for your plan. He should go to junior college. But if he doesn’t want to do it for two years, perhaps he can do it for one year, get high grades and reapply to the UC’s, then if he doesn’t get in, do it after two years. That way at least he’d have two more shots. If he’s not willing to do this, then he should work. He can’t just bum around because he didn’t get into his top choices. He could be in the same situation next year, and I doubt the UC’s will be impressed that he spent his year doing very little.</p>

<p>I do wonder why he applied to the UW, when, after his top schools turned him down…he didn’t want to attend. Why bother to apply at all? The UW application is a huge pain to fill out.</p>

3

<p>busdriver11 - if he starts at a cc in CA then he is comitted to going for 2 years before he can apply to a UC as a junior. Unless he has enough APs that he can go for 1 year and apply as a junior transfer. This was instituted as a result of budget cuts in CA.</p>

<p>If your S does not want to do the cc then I it may be best to just work for the year and reapply. Many kids do very well going to cc then transferring. Also many do well working for a year before starting college. There are many paths your S can choose at this point. Good luck.</p>

4

<p>Ah, I see. So it is a two year cc commitment. I wonder if he does have enough APs for a years worth of credit. I agree with showmom though, work or cc. Of course as adult, he can do whatever he wants, though I suspect he will want your financial support.</p>

5

<p>Is UW simply too expensive? Or is it something else? It’s possible to transfer into Berk. after two years, but a bird in the hand…</p>

<p>Will UW allow him to defer for a year? I’d try not to lose that admission - it may still turn out into the best when he gets.</p>

6

<p>This site is awesome!</p>

<p>Some more history:
He is graduating from school in WA, where my wife and 2 daughters live. We have been seperated for 2+ years and it sounds like the girls want to move to San Diego and live with me. He is a type 1 diabetic and I think is a bit concerned about living in Seattle with friends and is still a bit immature to be so far from mom when it comes to daily treatment.
UW is very expensive and we have discussed and began process for financial aid. He has earned a $2500 grant from HS that he can apply and recieve each year of college. He mentions his “gap” year would be spent working, volunteering and some travel as he is fluent in spanish and wants to to a mission or something.</p>

<p>I feel he is straying from his goal and deeply disappointed in the rejection from UC schools but my understanding is that if he goes to JC, gets good grades the UC system guarantees him a spot so he would cut costs and still be able to reach his goal of graduating ucla or uc berkley.</p>

<p>lastly, he suggests that if he doesn’t attend a 4 year university he will miss out on the 4 year experience. I feel this can be found in the 2 year experience once he hammers out JC.</p>

<p>Sincerely,</p>

<p>Douglas</p>

7

<p>Is working, volunteering, and going to a cc in Washington while living with his mother an option? Or would it be very desirable if all the kids moved to San Diego with you? Because it really seems like he could do it all, while collecting credits towards college. It sounds like if he goes to cc in California, it’s two years before he can go to the UC. Then again, I wonder what the UC’s think of Washington State cc credit, would they make him wait two years also.</p>

<p>I second the asking for a gap year before the UW, as maybe he could go to cc either in Washington or California, and get those credits to transfer (though I don’t know the rules as far as the UW). He may regret turning that down, so it seems like there’s no harm in getting that gap year. Perhaps in a year he’d be more ready to be on his own living in a dorm or with friends.</p>

<p>It does sound like he’s interested in more than just bumming, with many different ideas…but it might make you feel like he’s still working towards his goal if he can take some courses. I know it can be very hard for a bright, scholastic kid to think about going to JC for two years, but I wonder if he could visit some of the JC’s and see what he thinks, would this be the right environment for him? Potentially he could test out of many courses and accrue a ton of credits. But if he doesn’t want to do that, it sounds like he has plenty of other plans.</p>

8

<p>Firstly - I highly recommend staying anonymous on this site since CC is highly public - i.e. don’t use real names or have too much identifying info.</p>

<p>UCB and UCLA are highly selective schools and a lot of people get rejected from them - especially from the schools of engineering which typically have a ‘higher cut’ than the college of L&S. UCSD is pretty selective as well. </p>

<p>There’s nothing to say that if he goes to a community college for 2 years he’ll definitely get into a particular UC. He could check the details on this though to see which particular UCs particular community colleges have an agreement with and what the criteria is. For example, if he went to a CC in San Diego and maintained a certain GPA after having taken certain courses, would he be an auto-admit to UCSD? What about UCLA or UCB? Keep in mind the criteria sometimes changes.</p>

<p>Even if he takes a year off and improves his SAT somewhat he might still be not admitted to UCB so that would be a waste of a year and ultimately expensive because don’t forget that the year delay also means a year delayed entry into the work force. How would he feel if he took a year off but still didn’t get accepted?</p>

<p>Since he went to HS and lived in Washington make sure you know whether he’d be considered in-state or OOS for California since OOS tuition to a UC is expensive. Make sure this cost aspect is determined before any plans are made.</p>

<p>You said UW is expensive. How would the cost compare to a UC in-state, which aren’t exactly cheap, or to a UC out of state if that’s how he’d be categorized?</p>

<p>Since he got into UW Engineering, why wouldn’t he just go there since taking a year off or doing the CC thing is no guarantee that he’d be able to get into the school he wants to get into?</p>

<p>I didn’t see in your posts what ‘he’ wants to do. I understand that you’d like him to be nearby but college is often the time people of his age move away and start to gain some independence. Is the real point of the CC-> 4/yr for his benefit in getting ready, a mutual benefit in the cost of college, or so you get to have him live with you for a couple of years? Again - what does ‘he’ want to do?</p>

9

<p>It wouldn’t likely work for him to stay in Washington unless he goes to UW. My wife and kids are somewhat set on coming down here but this is something we’ve considered where they stay in WA although I miss my daughters dearly.</p>

<p>I’ve even considered moving back the WA so he could attend UW and still be close to his family but this is a bit extreme.</p>

<p>I’ve requested he find out about UW and the gap year concept as well as the grant. </p>

<p>I still feel strongly the Cali JC is best and that he would be able to still get the nice large college experience, less cost and on a personal note I would be able to be close to him another year or 2:>)))</p>

10

<p>he wants to go to usla or berkley for the 4 year experience while UW is his secondary choice. </p>

<p>he is torn between staying in WA, attending UW vs coming here and living with his family for the 2 years. He is out of state in Cali for 1 year so the CC would be a bit high but the second year fairly cheap. he would also be avoiding room/board.</p>

<p>thanks for the advice, i just started this site today as he wanted to allow me to see posts regarding gap year.</p>

11

<p>You should check to see whether Washington considers him a Washington resident now (based on your wife being there), and whether your wife moving away from Washington will change him to a non-resident in subsequent years.</p>

<p>Also, check on California residency.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>However, if he only applied to the most selective UCs, then it would not be surprising if he did not get into them.</p>

12

<p>Before you make plans - make sure whatever CC he goes to has an agreement with UC and which UC it is. I think that is regional. I don’t even know if UCB is part of that. Sometimes even the “guarantee” is not quite iron-clad, there are many hoops to be jumped through. You might want to get on the UC transfer board and see what the kids there are going through trying to transfer to the UC of their choice - it’s not as easy as the CC’s would lead you to beleive.</p>

13

<p>See here: [Transfer</a> Admission Guarantee | UC Admissions](<a href=“http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/guarantee/]Transfer”>http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/transfer/guarantee/)</p>

<p>Note that Berkeley and UCLA are not in the TAG program, though a CC student could TAG with another UC as a contingent safety (based on GPA) and still apply to Berkeley and/or UCLA. But note also that some UCs with TAG programs do not guarantee admission to a particular major or division through TAG, so a student using TAG as a contingent safety needs to do so to a campus where it will guarantee admission to the desired major.</p>

<p>Also, use [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org) to check course articulation between CCs and UCs/CSUs. Note that some engineering majors at some UCs/CSUs have lower division requirements that are hard to find at CCs, so this path may not be the best one for a student with such a target major and UC/CSU (CCs near a specific UC/CSU are more likely to have better coverage). In addition, a student who has been taking lots of AP courses may be advanced in several subjects and may be the type who would take upper division courses in frosh/soph years; starting at CC would not allow doing this, since CCs offer only lower division courses.</p>

<p>Starting at CC is not necessarily a bad option, but if direct admission to his desired major at Washington is affordable (check the residency rules very carefully), it may be a better fit academically.</p>

14

<p>If he ends up in San Diego he should look at both UCSD and SDSU for engineering after cc.</p>

15

<p>So your son applied as an OOSer to the UCs? That may have been a contributing factor to the denial. Did you check out that there are provisions for OOS kids of divorce who have a parent as a resident can apply as an in stater and get in state rates as well as in state consideration. I am not a Californian, so I don’t know the rules, nor did I follow the discussion that came up on this very subject with various links to the rules provided, but yes, there are provisions that permit this. I suggest that the OP research and read up on those provisions and see if any can apply in his son’s situation, and whether it is worth it for him to take a gap year and try again under those instate provisions.</p>

16

<p>

Thanks, ucbalumnus, that’s the point I was concerned with - i.e. there is no guaranteed admission to either of those even if the student does everything right at a CC - especially a CC in San Diego where the local UC would be UCSD. </p>

<p>I know that at least very recently UCSD had a TAG program and UCSD has an excellent reputation in its School of Engineering although TAG doesn’t necessarily mean getting admitted to the School of Engineering where again, there’s a separate cut for admissions. I don’t know if your S applied to UCSD.</p>

<p>Someone else referred to the phrase ‘a bird in the hand’ which is something to consider here.</p>

17

<p>Unless I am missing something, why can’ t he attend the University of Washington and then apply to transfer to one of the UC’s if that remains his preference? I don’t know anything specific about the engineering program at UW as compared to UCLA or Berkeley but the University of Washington is a very well regarded university in many areas. I cannot imagine the engineering program would be shabby. Is another option to accept University of Washington and then defer acceptance? That might not solve the issue 100%.
The issue of which state is his legal residence needs to be established as a priority I would think because if a WA legal resident, he is OOS for the UC’s. If CA is his legal residence he is OOS for University of Washington, all of which makes a huge difference in financial aid and tuition.
If he was accepted at University of Washington, is there not a concern that the academic coursework at community college will not be challenging enough?</p>

18

<p>There’s a fairly clear transfer path from the California CCs to the UCs but the path is less clear, and possibly more difficult, transferring from another 4/yr college, including the CSUs, to a UC. Before strongly considering attending UW with the idea of transferring to UCB after a couple of years one should investigate the likelihood of being able to actually transfer that way.</p>

<p>Regardless, by the time he does 2 years at UW he probably will be set and won’t want to transfer anywhere.</p>

<p>And then there’s always grad school for a chance to attend a different college if one plans to do grad school.</p>

19

<p>There is no TAG for UCSD, it’s been phased out:</p>

<p>From the TAG page:</p>

<p>Note: The TAG program is being phased out and the last available term for TAG admission will be Fall 2014. To apply for fall 2014, you must submit your TAG online application – and the UC application for admission – in fall 2013.</p>

<p>If your S decides to join you in San Diego, San Diego State has an excellent engineering program, there’s your TAG. BUT-- the state residency issue is complicated. You really have to do your research. When my D, who goes to school out of state, came home to take a summer course at a cc, we initially had to pay out of state tuition. She had to go in person and show her CA DL, her voter registration, and a copy of her CA state income tax for that year–then they refunded the out of state tuition we had paid. If she hadn’t filed, they would not have considered her a CA resident for tuition purposes. We have lived in CA for more than 20 years.</p>

<p>I am pretty sure of the following, but check: It is likely that S, because he graduated HS in Washington, and has been living with mom, probably has a Washington driver’s license, maybe registered to vote in Wash, he is in state for Washington. Certainly mom had no reason to file CA state taxes(?), so therefore if he moves to SD and starts taking CC classes, he will be out of state for California, and that won’t change for his entire undergraduate experience. CA colleges will not change his status after one year in most cases. They MIGHT if mom moves to CA as well–research that. The way he can become in-state for CA would be if he moved in with you without going to school, just gets a job for one year. He’d be moving to CA for work, not school, he gets a driver’s license, registers to vote, files CA state income taxes. You’ll need to check how the one-year residency rule is calculated–I think he has to be in CA for one year at the time of application, (by Nov 1 the fall before), not matriculation. But, check, your case is more complicated because your wife and you have separate state residencies. What is certain is: CA makes it very difficult to get in state tuition. There is almost no chance of admission to any CA state U or UC as a transfer unless you come from a California cc, as a junior. Transfer from a different 4 yr school, in or out of state is next to impossible. The priority goes to the local cc students, with or without a TAG.</p>

<p>What does your S want? The difference in “fit” between UW and UCSD and UCB is enormous, completely different environments. Good luck figuring it all out! </p>

<p>ETA, he did send in a commitment deposit for UW by May 1, right?</p>

20

<p>As far as the UW, the OP said, “He is a type 1 diabetic and I think is a bit concerned about living in Seattle with friends and is still a bit immature to be so far from mom when it comes to daily treatment.”</p>

<p>So it would be far better for him to live with or very close to one of his parents, and neither of them live that close to the UW. Being a type 1 diabetic and if they think he’s a bit immature, I completely understand dad’s concern.</p>