<p>Ok guys I need advice as to whether I should attend uni or take a gap year. Here is my situation:</p>
<p>I am an international applicant. I applied to both the UK and the US. Seeing as I got into my UK backups, I decided not to waste a lot of money applying to backups in the US, so in the US I applied to:
HYPMS, UCB, UCLA, Cornell, and Columbia.
I'm not a bad applicant, like my stats are pretty strong, I have EC's and education counselors liked my essays. So I was extremely depressed when I was rejected from all these schools except UCLA. MIT was my top choice, followed by Harvard Princeton Stanford and Berkeley (I'm an engineering applicant).
After a lot of UCLA research, I really love the school and I appreciate it is really good and all, but I still feel stings of sadness now and then. And I'm at the point where I'm kind of hoping I don't get my I-20 and visa so I'm forced into taking a gap year and reapplying. Transfer admission into these top schools is extremely difficult (Princeton doesn't even offer it) so most likely if I go UCLA, I'm staying at UCLA. </p>
<p>I also have to pay about 60k a year for UCLA, my parents can afford it and all, but I still feel kinda bad because I was hoping for financial aid from whichever school I get into, and ucla doesn't offer it for internationals. So should I still go for UCLA even though I find myself hoping I end up reapplying as taking a gap year? I know that logically ucla is the best option, but there's still doubt in me :s</p>
<p>Most schools do not offer aid to internationals, those that do are usually need-aware. The only ones that are need-blind and full-need are Harvard, Yale, Princeton and MIT (of the ones you applied to). However, all of these are very difficult to get into.</p>
<p>You said that you can afford UCLA, which means you likely wouldn’t have gotten much, if any, aid from any of these schools anyway? </p>
<p>Students in the US do not typically take a gap year, and if you did, you would have to do something pretty interesting with your year off – i.e. do some sort of amazing internship or some such in order to ‘justify’ having taken the gap year. </p>
<p>However, if you can afford UCLA without any financial set backs, there’s certainly no reason to feel disgruntled about not getting into the likes of HYPSM, Columbia and Cornell – these schools are among the most selective schools in the world and MANY perfectly qualified applicants are rejected each year. </p>
<p>Which UK schools did you apply to and which did you get into?</p>
<p>Thanks, i know I wouldn’t get much in aid, but i couldve got some money you know? Also being on the East Coast and all, they are cheaper travel wise (I’m in Asia right now), so I guess I’m not 150% sure it’s worth all the cost :s My parents are all for it though hahaha.</p>
<p>I applied to UCL, uni of Manchester, uni of Bath, and Cambridge. Got into the first 3, had an interview at cam, got wait listed and then eventually rejected.</p>
<p>Go to UCLA. You have absolutely no guarantee of getting into one of the others next year. And no guarantee of any aid if your parents can afford $60K/yr.</p>
<p>You also have no guarantee of getting into UCLA next year if you take a year off; It’s very likely that next near UCLA will be the first school in the country to crack 100,000 applicants. (92k this year) So you’l be competiting with an even more competitive class than you did this year (as you would next year for the other schools as well.)</p>
<p>Sorry if that sounds harsh, but that’s a reality you should take into consideration. Best of luck on your decision.</p>
<p>You should be happy to attend UCLA. I understand the let down (my son was rejected at Brown -his #1 choice), but time to get over it and take the amazing opportunity you’ve been given. Not sure why you thought you’d get FA at the schools you applied. You will get a great education at UCLA.There is no need for a gap year since you are likely to have the same results next year’s application round. Go to UCLA Congratulations --plenty of students would love to be in your shoes right now!</p>
<p>If you want to take a gap year, do it because you want to - not because you believe it will improve your chances of admission at these particular universities. They are among the most difficult to be admitted to in the US.</p>
<p>If you want to be studying in the US this fall, go to UCLA. If you prefer one of your UK universities, go there. Chances are that you also have options in your home country. All of these can serve your academic purposes. It really is OK.</p>
<p>If you do take the year off, reconsider your list. You need to ask yourself whether your primary goal is to be a working engineer, or if it is to have a diploma from a HYPSM level institution hanging over your desk. If you really want to be an engineer, there are many other places that can serve that goal.</p>
<p>Thanks for your advice everyone! I wanted to see what other people thought, and you guys have made me much more sure that going to UCLA is the right way to go. Looks like I’ll stick with our current plan and attend UCLA :D</p>
<p>Engineering wise, it may be slightly weaker than Cal, but reputation wise it is not any worse than Berkeley and the Ivies on both coasts. And besides the number of schools that can beats its reputation in Asia can be counted on one hands. If you take a year off, you’ll “waste” one year of your youth.</p>
Congratulations --plenty of students would love to be in your shoes right now!</p>