<p>i am an international student and i graduated class of 2012. i applied previously to some ivy league schools but didnt get in, i was waitlisted and yale but didnt get of the list. my application at that time was really messed up and didnt include some really important stuff and i was still waitlisted so i'm guessing thats kinda good. but anyway im applying again this year. im taking the year off from school - i was gonna defer my admission anyway even if i were accepted - and am working on a major enviormental project throughout my country and i will be volunteering abroad for three months. do colleges have a less preference for students who haven't freshly graduated, and if so, will my enviornmental/voluntary work over the year compensate for that keeping in mind that some selective colleges allow you to defer your admission if your gonna do something usefull and constructive. also my grades have been steadiliy declining throughout high school. im guessing thats bad, but my teachers recommendations (and me) say that its not because of lack of studying or hardwork, its just cuz the course load really increases after the first year and here we get assigned like 10 courses per semester and at the same time my extra-ciricular work inscreases mercilessly. also my gpa isnt weighted and if it were it would be significantly higher than most of the other students. despite my declining grades they still translate well into a 4.0 and i was selected as valedictorian in recognition of my contributions to the school ( the first time a student who didnt get the top grades was selected). even still my gpa/grades are in the top 10%. currently my sat scores are 800(M) 740(R) 780(W) my subject tests are 760 (Math2) 770 (Phy) and 790 (Chem). my essay seem really great or at leats thats what my counsellor/friends.... tell me.
so taking all of this into consideration would my chances of admission be hurt because of my grades or my taking the year of? im refering to my chances at Yale/Harvard</p>
<p>I think you still have a chance, your SAT scores are really good.</p>
<p>any thoughts at all...??</p>
<p>I think writing about your experience and taking the year off would be a great place to talk about your interests. </p>
<p>As previously stated, your SATs are good. I don’t know how you are going to get teacher rec’s though…do you plan on reusing the one’s from your old school?</p>
<p>i plan to start the application all over again, new essays, and teacher recs. i spoke with them and they dont mind writing them again. my application before was messed up i applied last minute for lots of reasons… anyway i am more worried about the fact that my grades have been declining from start to finish. but the thing is, grade systems give students the benefit of the doubt, that is, you only see the grade not the actual score so if your grades decline gradually throughout highschool but not by enough a difference so as to change the grade then admissions officers will never know. the same happened in my case, except that we dont use grades, only the actual scores. my gpa therefore has been 4.0 throughout. even though there was steady small decline in grades. so i dont know how colleges will look at that. my teachers assured me they’d address that in their recs cuz they know its not because of lack of hardwork or abiltiy to put up with intense work, on the contrary a look at the SAT scores shows some relative academic ability, and I hope the ECs more than make up for the possible lack of initiative/hardwork that the admissions officers may see in the declining grades.</p>