Where to begin – I’m finishing up 2 years at a CC in the Pacific Northwest. Applied to 10+ colleges with a 4.0 GPA supplemented by many extracurriculars, student leadership, volunteering, editing, and creative projects. Due to location, I commute long distances to my classes, with long breaks in between, so school is typically 12-13 hours/5 days a week for me.
My high school record was pretty unremarkable, not great, not bad, except for graduating early… well, in short, I was rejected everywhere I applied with the exception of one OOS public school which is not an option financially, and while I do expect to get into UW (state flagship), I don’t feel I would be happy there. I’m interested in attending a small, humanities-focused LAC with a close-knit community, and would rather be away from a large city.
I’m looking into options for applying to different schools for Spring admission, though my parents are very skeptical about this and would prefer I chose a school for the Fall. I’m just having a hard time accepting a school that doesn’t feel right for me. – I don’t want to seem ungrateful, though. I’m happy to be accepted anywhere, just looking for advice if possible.
I would think I’d need to either defer admission for Fall (if possible) or take a few months off since I already have 90+ quarter credits from CC.
Also, I was not waitlisted anywhere. I did appeal to one school, but I won’t count on anything. I was outright rejected to all the LACs.
I’m curious but where did you apply? I’m pretty surprised that you didn’t even get waitlisted somewhere. What do you think the weakest part of your application was?
I’m in a very similar situation except I’m only a freshman with a 4.0. I applied to 9 schools and got accepted to one (can’t afford it) and waitlisted at another. If I was in your situation next year (and I very well may be), I would just accept the L and go to my state school. If there is some notable improvement in your application that can be made by deferring and applying to places spring semester, by all means, try. Would you be applying to schools that weren’t LAC’s? I’m assuming if you applied to them for the Fall then you would be applying to different schools in the Spring, correct?
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@Transfersssss I’m sorry to you as well. Yes, I would be applying to different schools. I’ll pm you my college list. 
@lookingxaround okay, you can just PM me. I think waiting a few extra months might be worth it in the end.
If you are accepted to UW, that is quite the catch. Will you be able to afford it?
Transfer applications are different in a number of ways.Schools are more often not need blind even if the school is need blind for freshman. They often have very limited funds for transfers.
The things most important in transfer applications are your grades, an academic direction and a strong reason as to why you want to transfer to a given college. For larger, public schools, especially in the same state as the community college from which you are transferring, there isn’t usually much holistic assessment. The system worked for you in that the state schools accepted you.
But when you are dealing with private colleges, the smaller schools, the LACs, your story becomes essential to acceptance. You need to convince the AOs that you will be an asset to that school, that you have a direction, and that you love the school.
I’m interested in what colleges were on your list and whether they are need blind for transfers and how you fit with them.
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Humanities majors at Washington are likely to be smaller than some other majors, so you may be able to find the smaller close-knit community among students in your major there.
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@ucbalumnus @cptofthehouse Thanks for your advice! I’m happy to announce that I was accepted to USC today, so now it comes down to UW vs. USC. Cost is an issue to an extent, we’ll see what the offers for final cost are. I would still have preferred a smaller school, but I’m glad to have a few options now.
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