Two gaps years, switching colleges, how to proceed?

Applying to College
1

I’m in a weird situation: as any typical person would, I applied to colleges in senior year. I was accepted to University of Maryland, College Park (yay!!!). I did have the intention of taking time off before going to college, an idea my parents were unsure about, so they told me to accept the admission to UMD and apply to take a gap year (they only allow one gap year at UMD). I guess I never made it clear to everyone that my intention was to take two gap years. I have several reasons to take two gap years, but as far as academics are concerned, I wasn’t sure at the time what career I wanted, what I wanted to study in college, and which college I even wanted to go to. In essence, I was undecided on several aspects of my future, and it led to my parents making decisions for me (albeit sensible decisions). Now, after being half a year into my first gap year, I am more than certain on nearly everything. My problem is that I want to back out from UMD to apply to a couple other universities (once I’ve finished my two gap years), and I fear that doing so will “burn a bridge” that hurts me in the future when I apply elsewhere. I’ve been told that colleges talk, so I’m afraid that when I apply elsewhere, my chances to be accepted will be severely hindered since those colleges may believe I have a commitment issue (which is not the case). Is this enough reason to change plans, go to UMD after my one gap year, and go from there, or am I overthinking this and should be fine proceeding with telling UMD that my life has taken a new direction causing me to drop out and apply to my newly decided colleges?

For context if desired:
In my two gap years, my plans include becoming a realtor and exploring the field of real estate (currently underway); reading dozens of books I have not previously had the time for; learning Romanian (the language of my heritage), Italian, and Chinese; focusing on learning to play the piano and sing (two of my smaller passions); taking classes to decide which subjects I want to pursue further (currently underway but I’ve already decided); and self-improvement (in short, I’m shy with low self-esteem)

Common belief is that colleges want to introduced a diverse freshman class, so as to alleviate that worry and convince you, the reader, that I have a good chance of fulfilling that for most colleges, these are my distinguishing factors: two years of experience running a business as a realtor (once my two gap years are up), a knack for learning foreign languages (I know french, skipped three years of high school Spanish in one summer, and will soon know Romanian, Italian, and Chinese), 8 years of bodybuilding experience, and I will be married as of the end of 2019.

TL;DR
I’m unsure of which way to proceed given the circumstances described in the first paragraph, and I’m wondering how college admissions would go if I chose the route of dropping out of UMD before I even step foot in class and applying to the couple of colleges I truly want to go to.

Sorry for making this so lengthy, but I’m looking for good advice, so I had to tell the whole story with details.
Thank you SO much if you took the time to read this and are willing to provide good answers :slight_smile:

2

Colleges don’t “talk” to each other about this kind of thing. Wherever did you get that notion?

Withdraw your enrollment at UMD. Get on with your life. When you truly are ready for college, apply to the places you are interested in and can afford.

3

I’d worry more about the taking classes than about withdrawing enrollment from UMD.

4

If you want merit aid as an entering freshman, taking any college or CC courses could bar you from that option and require you to apply as a transfer student.

Both merit & FAid is much more limited for transfer students than incoming freshmen.

5

If you’re taking college courses somewhere you may no longer be considered a freshman or eligible for freshman grants. You may have to apply as a transfer student.

6

If entering a profession & getting married are going to occur during your two gap years, then attending college as a full time student may not be a realistic option due to your increased responsibilities.

7

The notion was primarily from my parents, and it was a logical belief I guess, but if it’s not true, then thank you for clearing that up :slight_smile:

8

The classes were neither college nor CC, so as far as the classes go, I think I’m good. Thank you regardless since before now I was unsure of this exact thing.

9

Consider majoring in real estate &, possibly, finance, if you do go to a university full time since you have demonstrated interest & will have real world experience in both areas.

10

Since the gist of all these comments say that I should withdraw enrollment (barring if any classes I took made me illegible for certain things), it sounds like I should go on and follow my heart. I’ve considered the responsibilities of marriage and profession during college with family if I take the route of withdrawing from UMD. That contingency plan was created so everything should work out. Thank you so much for the advice!