<p>Hi there.
I am from Germany.
I finished High School this year. Because I was put to school at the age of 7 and repeated one year (6th Grade) I am already 21 (I just turned 21 though).
Nevertheless, I am an excellent student considering I was under the best three students of my year at a really competitive private Highschool in Germany. I also have several EC's such as singing in one of the best youth choirs of Germany, going to an art school besides Highschool, being chairman of a political youth organization of my hometown and playing the piano, guitar and violin as well as composing my own music.
In Germany, we have to do either a military service or a civil service. Instead of the civil service I organized a voluntary year of social service abroad. I organized it on my own without the help of a professional organization. Right now, I am living in New York City and I am volunteering with a social institution called Project Hospitality for one year. Due to my lack of time to finish all the tests in time I am considering to do another year of work&travel in australia.
I am preparing for the SAT right now, but like I said due to the lack of time I apprehend that I will present myself much less competitive than I could!
I am really interested to do such a year and I also think it is a really significant experience. I do not want to waste a year only to be able to get into a really good school.</p>
<p>The only thing why I am hesitating is that I do not want to hurt my application (and also my future career).
I mean, intercultural competence and experiences abroad is always a good thing but do you think another year travelling instead of studying is too much of a good thing?
Will it hurt my application at HYP, Stanford, Columbia, NYU and so on?</p>
<p>One should also consider that I do not have the time to take any APs yet.
So I would have much more time to prepare for them and to do good on them which would save me a lot of time and money when studying! Therefore, it would at least compensate the lost time a bit.
The bad thing is that I would begin studying with 23...</p>
<p>Do you understand my problem?
I would appreciate your opinions, especially because I am not from the United States and I am not that familiar how the American Education System works.</p>
<p>Top colleges give little credit for APs, so I would not spend a lot of time on them.</p>
<p>If you’re applying at 23, some of the non traditional programs like Columbia’s might make the most sense. It would seem odd to live in the dorms with 17 and 18 year olds at that age.</p>
<p>@2college2college:
Yeah, that might be true.
But to be honest, that is the most unimportant problem for me!</p>
<p>I mean does a “high” age hurt my application at all?
Do Ivy League schools consider age at all?
I mean, I know that most Americans apply with 17/18.
Even for German standards (I am not standard), that is really
young! </p>
<p>I think, I won’t “waste” a year because I am doing something that has a sense!
I am not lazy and I am willing to work a lot!</p>
<p>Okay, I think you know what I mean.
So what do you think about that?</p>
<p>I’d be more worried about the repeating 6th grade. You have to check the box on common app that says that you graduated late. It could be a problem for HYP. I have that same problem, I failed 10th grade (in germany), but since then have been top of the class (motivation problems… lange geschichte…) and want to try to get into harvard. since i’m also in the last g9-year, i’ll be 20 when i graduate, so also a bit older than everyone else.</p>
<p>Okay, that may be true! Do you want to apply for next winter term?
I wish you all the best!
Do you have ICQ or something like that? We could change information if you like.
Just send me a PN with your number! :)</p>
<p>But actually, we have to live with the fact that we repeated a year.
I think if you can justify it (for example in the interview) than
it is not that big problem (ofc it is a disadvantage!) But there are so much ways to
compensate it!</p>
<p>You actually have a pretty compelling story - but you will need to ace your SAT and submit a solid applictaion to get into HYP no matter how compelling…</p>
<p>Hi!
I have the age problem as well! Though I never repeated but I just appeared for SAT1 in september and didn’t get a good result. I want to apply to NYU and wanted to know if spending a year after giving my A levels on SATs and getting good results in them could create any kind of problem!basically when I apply to collage ill be 19! So please some good advice!</p>
<p>@aliness:
IMO, that is not a good idea. You should do “anything” with sense during that year. Maybe you volunteer full-time or you also travel for a year.
But spending a year only to prepare for standardized tests would be a disadvantage IN MY OPINION. Honestly, 19 is not that bad so that is not the point.
But, like I said, you should have something to “justify” your break. I mean, I also do it because I want to prepare properly. But if it comes to college admission I will say I did it because I wanted to see something of the world and get a wide spectrum of different experiences which is also true!
Be creative, wrap your story and make it impressive!</p>