<p>For those who didn't get into the schools they wanted to, what did you do after high school? I mean, is it bad to take one more of year of high school level classes to raise your chances? Or retake CLEPs, APs, and SATs to boost your scores? Or did you just settle with the schools you got into, hoping to get into your dream school as a transfer student?</p>
<p>Most people I know settled with the schools they got into, though some considered transferring at the beginning. However, by a month or two into the first semster, almost everyone is THRILLED with where they ended up. To me, this means that most colleges are really great places. Anyway, the schools these people got into were there match or safety's rather than their reaches, and this underscores why you must also carefully consider schools in these categories.</p>
<p>If you really have your heart set on better schools than you can get into now you can take a year to do something thoughtful and reapply. There are many gap year opportunities abroad, at prep schools as a post graduate student, doing community service in another country, etc.</p>