Thinking of Taking Senior year again in the US

Unfortunately it’s very expensive.
What’s your budget?

It is very unlikely he could go to a public high school. Once he has a high school diploma, they don’t have to admit him and likely would not. A private school might, but not with a 35 ACT and other high grades. He doesn’t need to be in high school.

A post-grad year is possible, even for this year. You aren’t going to change the high school record so I don’t think he will suddenly get into all the schools he didn’t get into this year. If he doesn’t something great with a gap year or gets help with putting together an application, he might get into some of the schools that didn’t accept him this year but more likely would get into other top schools.

@myos1634, how much would I need as a minimum? maybe I saved enough… Also, does anyone have feedback on Bridgton Academy in terms of being feeder to ivies? Thank you

Consider schools that give extra credits for ib exams…https://blogs.ibo.org/blog/2018/05/05/getting-ib-credit-at-university/

My DD who went to an international IB school went to SUNY Binghamton which is affordable for OOS students.

Students in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program may receive up to 32 credits. To receive the full 32 credits, the following conditions must be met:

The IB Diploma must be completed with a score of 30 or more points; and
The student must complete at least three Higher Level exams with a score of 5 or higher.
Diploma holders who meet these conditions receive credit for their individual exam scores plus additional liberal arts elective credit to total 32 credits.

The tuition is on most BS sites. It is comparable to a year of college at a private institution (~$65000). You really need to believe this is what you want.

Also, did you know that at many schools, a student can get a year of placement with the IBD? This could save a year of tuition but probably not at the schools you are targeting.

https://bridgtonacademy.org/admissions/class-of-2018-matriculation-list/

Bridgton is a good school with good college outcomes. Please do not choose a school based on whether it is a feeder to the Ivies—your constraint is the schools that have PG openings for the fall and that list probably does not include any highly selective boarding schools.

Here is Bridgton’s COA for 2019/20: $56,400 tuition, room and board, https://bridgtonacademy.org/admissions/tuition-and-financial-aid/

You will need to add in travel, personal expenses and probably health insurance.

The posters who mentioned that IB diplomas can earn a lot of college credit make an important point and one that would allow you to save money.

I think you need to keep re-calibrating: the ones that might be considered feeders are obviously very popular and highly selective (and only a few of them offer a PG year). Go ahead and call the super selective boarding schools that have PG years and ask if there is a waiting list, but again- there is a lot of competition for those slots. You need to get your head around the idea that you are going to be lucky to find a place at all- it’s late in the season. At Choate, for example, they will take 15-20 out of (say) 140 applicants- and they say “nowadays we tend to be very strategic with admitting postgraduate students; they tend to fill specific needs we have”. Often it is athletes.

Find any boarding school willing to consider him. You can’t think in terms of ivy feeders (they won’t have space more than three months after they admitted their class). See which ones still have slots, then look at cost, whether they have a robotics team, will be able to offer him an independent study so he can pursue scientific interests, whether they offer post SL classes in some subjects, a good team or support for his sport. You won’t be able to have all of this, I think, but even some will be helpful.

IMO the mistake is that per post #3 he only applied to “five very selective universities.” I don’t think you understood the landscape of the highly competitive colleges. Admissions rates at elite colleges are generally under 10% (some under 5%) and space is limited. What this means is that there is simply not enough room for all the very well qualified candidates. Applicants with perfect GPAs, standardized tests, and excellent activities are rejected. For an unhooked candidate there is nothing one can do that will guarantee an acceptance into one of the top tier colleges.

This exactly why people need to come up with a college application list that includes reach (including the top tier colleges) as well as match and safety schools that 1) appear affordable and 2) that they would be excited to attend. It appears that you only paid attention and applied to what must be considered to be reach schools. IMO it is even more important that people spend time seeking out match and safety schools that both appear affordable (run net price calculator) and that you would be excited to attend. Trust me – they are out there if you look for them.

In terms of next year I would suggest either: 1) tte a post-grad year or a gap year where your S finds something meaningful to do. I don’t think either will change things in terms of admissions but he will have time to regroup and develop a reasonable application list. If you go the post-grad year at a boarding school there should be counselors to help with this but I’m not sure it is worth the expense.

The entire concept of “top 20” universities boarders on “fake news.”

What are your son’s actual goals?

When CMU does not even make the “top 20” ranking with the USNEWS, it is clear that the ranking process is very arbitrary. CMU is quite clearly on the very top in many STEM fields. They accepted 17% of undergraduate applicants in the Fall of 2018 and only 7% of their transfer applicants. USNEWS numbers are dated. These are University wide numbers and do not reflect the lower admission rates for the most popular majors, particularly CS. “Street knowledge” of Universities like this do not inhibit the job opportunities for these graduates. This is very likely the University where the next big breakthrough in AI will occur, but they are only ranked #27!

As already stated above, you need a different approach to University selection.

This goes beyond general reputation and test scores. Why is University XYZ your “dream school?” What does it offer which is unique to you? Try to define that for yourself and the quality of your final applications will improve as you look beyond general reputation and into the nuts and bolts of the actual programs.

The best American Universities do not select the final reviews completely by algorithms! It is not just about test scores and GPA even when you look at highly selective universities that are not even in the “top (USNEWS) 20.”

Are you a student with a collection of listed activities or do you have a passion which pushes you into the activity? What pushes you to learn and develop solutions beyond participation? It is not just about test scores.

I believe if you use this approach, you with gain admission to the right school for you.

Depending on the major, transfers are not easier than freshman admission. Re-consider the Universities already available and look at graduate school placement or take a “productive” year off or take a PG year. Exeter would be great, but it is too late to apply. Universities with strong student retention do not have a lot of transfer space.

You might call the admissions offices at targeted universities and ask if they have “articulation” agreements with any CC and how that works. WPI takes in about 12 students each year through one of these programs. It can be an effective, low cost approach. USNEWS ranks them as #59 based on old data. They admitted 42% of applicants in the Fall of 2018 with an average, unweighted GPA of 3.9 on a four point scale. Some Universities are "self-selective, by nature of their demanding majors.

WPI '67

There are only 3 schools still accepting late applicants… which one should we choose? Bridgton Academy, Gould Academy and Western Reserve Academy… Any info will be appreciated…

You might start a new thread and put it in the prep school forum, you will get more eyes on it who have recent BS/PG year experience.

Do these 3 schools look to be affordable for your family? Another way to think about it is that you will be paying for 5 years of college. Of course, you S might receive merit or need based aid for undergrad, but you should consider the financial impact of the various options too.

Paging @MYOS1634 for input as well

Of those, I think that WRA is the most academic. If your son is a skier or musician, Gould might be interesting. You really need to post on this question on the prep school forum. Way more informed folks there, and many have looked at these schools in the last year or so and can answer specific questions.

@Depressed01 -

Were the classes at your son’s school taught in English? If not, a semester of an Academic English program might be in order. The advisors at those programs usually are pretty good at college applications.

How many students from his high school apply to top colleges and universities in the US each year? Was he the only one this year, or is it just that he was the only one who didn’t get accepted at the places on his list?

Where exactly did he apply this time?

What major is he interested in?

What exactly, is wrong with taking a gap year and pplying to a new list? There are many places that would be matches or safeties for an ACT of 35 and an IB of 38.

@happymomof1 , yes- English is the primary language. the top 10% of their batch applied to top colleges and universities in US and UK, none were taken in, some where waitlisted like my son. He is interested in either engineering or finance… the problem is if he takes gap year, the poor quality of teacher recommendations will persist for his next iteration of college applications. As MYOS1634 mentioned, the teacher recommendations are generic and are given to all students regardless of academic standing…

@Depressed01 , re this question from happymom not answered “What exactly, is wrong with taking a gap year and pplying to a new list? There are many places that would be matches or safeties for an ACT of 35 and an IB of 38”,
From your responses, it’s not clear to me that you are taking on board any of the recommendations about match and safety schools? Even if he takes a year PG it would be remiss to only apply to top schools again. At least this time I guess he will have a college counselor who will hopefully ensure a rounded application list.

@SJ2727 , yes access to the US based college counselor who can help him get a rounded list as well as having new teacher recommendations since he would take a PG year, I assume if he does take a PG year the recommendation letters will now come from the PG teachers and not the out of the country H.S. teachers right?

Virginia Tech and probably other very good public universities do not require letters of recommendation. In fact, Virginia Tech won’t accept letters of recommendation.

I’m not so sure about the focus on the letters of rec. These colleges get a ton of applications from overseas and they are very well aware that schools in some (many) countries just don’t write recs in the same way US teachers do.
I think your focus should be on realizing that reaches are just that, that your son’s grades are very good but not fantastic for these schools (my admittedly very small sample of people I know with IB admits to top schools probably averages around 42), and that a lot of attention needs to be paid to match and safety schools.

Maybe worth adding that while a number of students in my daughter’s year this year got admits to tippy-tops, there were also a couple who looked fabulous on paper who got shut out of the very top colleges (not that they are attending shabby colleges instead - UVA, Vanderbilt). These kids certainly had the right kind of letter of rec writers (because other kids in the same school made it) and top grades (one had a perfect 4 uw throughout high school). There just isn’t enough space in the top colleges for everyone who could get in there. But there are a lot of really good colleges out there that will be good matches for your son, and I firmly believe that’s where your focus should be.

No one was admitted this year. What about last year or the year before? How many usually are getting in? It might not be a generic recommendation letter issue at all. It might just be random bad luck.

Is there a specific school policy requiring generic letters of recommendation? If not, letters can be written that are more expressive, but still honestly reflective of the teacher’s thoughts. A good college placement advisor could help with that bit of editing for a lot less money than a post grad year. Check the thread on placement advisors in the Parents Forum.

What does your kid think about spending an extra year in high school after completing a full IB program which is arguably equivalent to having already completed the first year of college in the US? Ask your kid about that. Most young people I know who have their IB diploma in hand can come up with mich better uses of their time than sitting in fairly generic high school level courses for a whole other academic year.