<p>I am a HS sophomore right now. I take all honors classes when available and I plan on taking about 6 AP classes for junior and senior year along with a 6 credit completer program in computer tech. I have an unweighted GPA of 3.8 and it will rise after friday because my grades go in and i got all A's. The only thing is that I dont do many EC's</p>
<p>I am interested in going to UC Santa Barbara. I have been researching UCSB for a very long time and out of the approx 50 colleges I started with on my list, this has remained #1 the whole time. Anyway, I realize that even if I am accepted I will likely be paying $200,000 for my college education at $50,000 a year including tuition, room & board, etc. </p>
<p>If I take a gap year and become a California resident I can save what like 80k to 100k? That way I can work and have enough to cover at least my first year. I can also take this opportunity to travel, volunteer, and really figure out my life. so here's my Q's:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Can I apply, hopefully get in, then defer(sp?) it until the next year at UCSB?</p></li>
<li><p>If I can defer it an extra year, will I then get In State pricing if I become a CA resident for a year before I start? (I mean I dont plan to leave after college. I plan to found the rest of my life there) When would I have to do this by? the summer i graduate?</p></li>
<li><p>What can I do to improve my chances to get in? I hope to do Nat'l Honors Society and Key Club but what else? I am going to start working so I think a sport is out. Any ideas?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>thanks.</p>
<p>I doubt that you will be eligible for in state, but I highly recommend taking a gap year</p>
<p>Your California residency issue, aside, my daughter is doing a Gap year, as I type–she had an intense and wonderful but intense high school experience, academically, and she is recharging and learning things about herself that she could only know through travel and exposure to foreign lands, language, customs, people, etc. As well, she gets the singular pleasure, for part of the Gap year, of being in a classroom, learning for the sake of learning–a purely aesthetic experience. No threat of grades that will count.</p>
<p>I may be wrong, but I was under the impression that one needed a few years of instate residency to qualify for in-state tuition.</p>
<p>One other thing: my daughter applied to college, ED, and got in during her senior year of high school, so the toil and uncertainty of college was behind her when she left for the first half of her Gap year, last September. The one person in her current program, who is applying to college, currently, is having his freedom and joy mitigated because of continual interaction and stress with the different and evolving aspects of his college apps. Just something to think about.</p>
<p>Good luck to you. UCSB is a great school–beautiful locale and great physics/engineering/languages/social sciences. I know more than a handful of students, with “lofty” college acceptances who chose UCSB and could not be more elated about their experience.</p>
<p>You should check out the rules for establishing residency in CA here:</p>
<p>[Establishing</a> California Residence for Tuition Purposes, Office of the Registrar](<a href=“http://www.registrar.ucsb.edu/residenc.htm]Establishing”>404 - Page Not Found)</p>
<p>If you are under 24 and have lived in CA at least 366 days, you must still prove self-sufficiency and/or financial independence for tuition purposes. At the link above, the UCSB registar’s office says:</p>
<p>“It should be noted that this requirement makes it extremely difficult for most undergraduates who do not have a parent domiciled in California to qualify for classification as a resident at a University of California campus.”</p>
<p>Keep in mind the financial aid, scholarships and grants that may be available to you, even as a non-resident. If you are from a western state, you may be eligible for Western University Exchange (WUE) scholarships, too. Tuition is reduced to 150% of what a resident would pay, instead of ~300%.</p>
<p>If you want to take a gap year for reasons other than establishing residency (academic burn out, travel, gaining life experience), that’s something else and will require some careful consideration on your part. Good luck in any case–sounds like you are thinking and laying some great groundwork toward your future!</p>