<p>(I meant 'transfer applicant' in the thread title, but oh well.)</p>
<p>I'm a senior this year. I'm thinking about taking a gap year, but there's one important piece of the puzzle I'm not sure about. Will I be treated as a transfer applicant next year when I apply again if I take one or two college courses during my gap year?</p>
<p>It would depend on the college you are applying to, but it’s probably not worth taking the risk. Once you have graduated from high school, if you enroll anywhere, there is potential for trouble.</p>
<p>“Typically, this is NOT an effective strategy. Most colleges base their decisions primarily on academic factors, soif your year away does not include taking classesthen dont expect it to offer a back-door route to a top-choice college.”</p>
<p>[Pros</a> and Cons of Gap Year - Ask The Dean](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/archives/000308.htm]Pros”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/archives/000308.htm)</p>
<p>I’m confused. Does not including taking classes where? At a college??</p>
<p>“Taking a couple of adult education classes or community college courses are an inexpensive way to sharpen those math, writing and technology skills.”</p>
<p>[Delaying</a> College in Tough Economic Times - Is it Time for a Gap Year? | The Digital Student Blog](<a href=“http://blog.gocollege.com/2009/03/22/delaying-college-in-tough-economic-times-is-it-time-for-a-gap-year/]Delaying”>Delaying College in Tough Economic Times – Is it Time for a Gap Year? | The Digital Student Blog @ The Digital Student Blog)</p>
<p>So I’ve found two websites that suggest taking college courses part time during a gap year. So you’re not treated as a transfer applicant if you only went part time for a year after high school?</p>
<p>“Holly Bull, director of the Center for Interim Programs, the oldest gap year advisory service in the country, says that for students who’ve had less than stellar grades during senior year, a gap year offers a second chance to show solid performance, through an academic program abroad or some other curriculum-based program”</p>
<p>[Is</a> a ?gap year? before college a good idea? - Parenting & Family](<a href=“http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24260521/]Is”>http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24260521/)</p>
<p>But this website makes no mention of taking community college courses. What is a curriculum-based program?</p>
<p>…Does anyone have a definitive answer to my question? It likely depends on the school, but do most schools automatically treat anyone who takes one more college courses after they graduate from high school as a transfer applicant?</p>
<p>“Gap year is NOT affected by “dual enrollment” college courses. Those are college level classes taken at community college or online that are taken while the student is officially a high school student. When they have dual enrollment credits, you put the information from the community college course onto the high school transcript, to prove that it is “dual enrollment” and NOT just a college class. Only college classes taken AFTER high school graduation will mess up your gap year. Your student can take anything BEFORE graduation but NOTHING after graduation (no classes during the gap year.)”</p>
<p>Well this quote seems pretty definitive…</p>
<p>It depends on the university you’d like to apply to. The only way to know for sure is to ask each university you’re even considering applying to.</p>
<p>At many universities, completing (or possibly even attempting) a defined number of credit hours automatically causes you to be considered a transfer applicant for admission purposes. This number is frequently as low as twelve credit hours and can even be as low as three credit hours.</p>
<p>Note that some universities require a transfer applicant to have a minimum number of credit hours completed elsewhere. This can be as high as 60 credit hours. In this case, you have to either have few enough credits to be admitted as a first-year student or else meet this minimum requirement.</p>
<p>Even if applying as a transfer, your high school record will almost definitely still be considered given that you only completed a couple courses.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply.</p>
<p>“At many universities, completing (or possibly even attempting) a defined number of credit hours automatically causes you to be considered a transfer applicant for admission purposes.”</p>
<p>So you’re saying that I could possibly take one or two courses at some (or possibly most) schools and NOT be considered a transfer applicant? The quotes from the websites I posted mostly seem to agree that you cannot take a SINGLE college course after high school…</p>
<p>A lot of schools have a minimum number of hours to be considered a transfer student. For instance at our State U it is 7 credit hours which is not much. One thing we were warned about at a presentation was that if a student took summer classes between HS graduation and starting college the following fall that it could change their status to a transfer student and make them ineligible for any freshman scholarships they had been awarded. A really big deal as freshman awards are usually much higher than those for transfers. They said to be especially careful if students had any dual enrollment or AP credits. These are not normally put on the students college transcript until completion of the first semester of college (therefore keeping the incoming freshman status). But if a student took summer classes at a CC the dual enrollment credits would be added to the CC classes and possibly change the student’s status to transfer.</p>
<p>So be very cautious about this if there are freshman scholarships you are hoping for. transfer scholarships seem, in general, to be much smaller in $$ terms.</p>
<p>You need to be extremely careful with this. There is no “right answer.” It will depend on how each university handles it. For many universities, community college is college. If you enroll in a community college and take courses after you graduate from high school, poof, you are a transfer student.</p>
<p>I’m taking two college courses right now…</p>
<p>Looks like I can’t take anymore during the gap year… which means I probably won’t do the gap year in the first place.</p>