<p>Given that the student is above average, i.e. straight As in O levels and A Levels. A few national highest in a few subjects. 2200 SATs, 1600 SAT IIs. Some extensive extracurriculars such as running an ambitions youth organization, internships, tutoring in a firm that he founded, most school clubs....</p>
<p>Gap year? Or try to get into a college in his own country? Or take more subjects and do a 13th year of A Levels?</p>
<p>Or any other option?</p>
<p>Just for some perspective, the way that I have approached it is that I basically have a guaranteed spot at my top local/ national uni so when I applied this cycle I was basically just shooting for the stars. Now since results haven’t been released I’m still hoping for the (very unlikely) best but if all fails I will still be able to get a bachelors degree ( two in fact) from my local uni.</p>
<p>It is February.
How did you get rejected from all 12 colleges already?</p>
<p>Applicants, even those with top credentials, need to believe that some schools are reach/lottery schools.</p>
<p>What is the ultimate goal? If you wait a year, will you apply to different schools? Or try for the same ones?</p>
<p>Are finances a concern?</p>
<p>There are US schools still accepting applications for next year. Probably not top internationally known schools</p>
<p>???</p>
<p>Were these all EA and an ED schools? If not, how do you already know you’ve been rejected?</p>
<p>Were these all schools that are “need-aware” for int’ls and you have need?</p>
<p>Anyway…I’d suggest taking a gap year and reapplying…and this time include a couple of schools that will give you large merit awards for your stats…those can be your back-up financial safeties.</p>
<p>I didnt get rejected yet. I didn’t even get any decision yet.</p>
<p>I am just planning ahead. I don’t want to feel lost after rejection.</p>
<p>Blogs after blogs are filled with “guidelines” for getting accepted…I don’t see many that address what to do in case one gets rejected from all US colleges. Hence, I am putting the question out there.</p>
<p>What schools did you apply to? That would give us some perspective of whether you should worry or not.</p>
<p>Well, that’s not really the point. (mostly reaches, few “matches”, one safety I am not very excited about). Assuming that I get rejected from all, what should I do?</p>
<p>And I am not worried really, I am just planning ahead.</p>
<p>No one knows what you should do. It’s really up to you what you choose to do if you happen to get rejected from all 12. If you’re deadset on going abroad for college you should have applied to a few safties, just in case you don’t get into the more selective schools you probably appplied to.</p>
<p>First of all --</p>
<p>Did your College list have a combinstion of Safeties, Targets, Top Top Schools (which have low acceptance percentages for everyone) or did you limit yourself to Ivies and Ivy Equivalents.</p>
<p>If you applied to a range of schools, I wouldn’t worry too much about it (even if you only applied to top top, I wouldn’t worry too much).</p>
<p>Otherwise – if you really want to go to school in the US. Every year there are many very respectable schools who for one reason or another will accept applications after acceptances come out. </p>
<p>This can be for a number of reasons, including – they didn’t get enough applicants from qualified students or even that they held a few spots open for people who only applied to Top Top schools and got rejected everywhere. </p>
<p>Btw --many of the schools, though not in an Ivy or Ivy Tier are very respectable schools that have a good reputation and can provide a quality education.</p>
<p>Unless you are a full-pay applicant, as an international student you have no safeties here. If you are a full-pay applicant, you may have a safety or two depending on your stats and your budget, but it is more likely that your list is just matches and reaches. So yes, it does make sense to have a plan in place that you can activate if you aren’t admitted anywhere. Usually the plan is to attend a university in your home country. Is that possible for you? If it isn’t, then what are you going to do with your life? Are you going to take gap year after gap year until you get into college in the US?</p>
<p>Take a look at your budget, and at the educational institutions in your home country and other countries that aren’t the US, and see if you have any viable alternatives.</p>
<p>Attending a university in my country is very much possible, although, I am not very excited about it. They just don’t have the collegiate/academic environment I look for. But I have my eyes open for a few.</p>
<p>I am not planning to take gap year after gap year, but ONE does not seem too bad. Isn’t it better to take one and try again, and include some other colleges in the US that time, and not regret my rejection for the rest of my life…(I won’t but…you never know)?</p>
<p>If you truly believe that you would prefer to study here, and if a one year delay would not negatively affect your chance of being admitted in your home country, then a well-planned gap year may be a good choice for you.</p>
<p>
Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched</p>
<p>Well, they have hatched now.</p>
<p>Rejected at Colgate, Northwestern, Duke.
Waitlisted at Grinnell.
Accepted at 2 safeties.</p>
<p>hey nineinchnails (great band, btw), i’m on a similar boat. accepted at 3 safeties, one waitlist, one rejection. </p>
<p>if you really applied to 12 schools… well, there are six still to give you an answer, right?</p>
<p>i’d say, BREATHE and WAIT. i’m as desperate you, and ventilation was never that hard to do… but we gotta wait until the last school gives us an answer, so we can start being rightfully desperate and do something about it. </p>
<p>what are your safeties, don’t you like any of them enough to attend?</p>