Gap year

[sponge008]

I'm a graduating high school senior, and I'm faced with a bit of a dilemma. I got rejected from all but one of the colleges I wanted to go to, and couldn't afford that one (Cornell). Now, I'm faced with the choice of either going to another college that, while more than decent in general, is my polar opposite in academic and overall focus and that I have a strong involuntary dislike for, and subsequently transferring out. Or, I could take a gap year to work (programming) and travel, reapplying to other places. I'm almost certain I'd do better in decisions this time because I've accomplished a fair bit since March, and I have a better idea of where to apply to.

Anyways, academically, I'm fairly confident that the better choice for me is to put college off for a year. Financially, it's a tough call, since one one hand the college I could go to next year is tuition-free for me thanks to parent faculty benefits, but on the other hand, I'd make a fair bit of money working for a year, and I could probably earn merit scholarships to several colleges better suited for me, should I apply for freshman admission. (Transfer students don't generally get merit scholarships, from what I gather)

So, my main concern is a social one. My friends are almost all going far away for next year, and without being a college student with a ready-made social life, I'm concerned about loning it out for a year. How easy will it be for me to find new people my age to hang out with? I get the feeling that most people my age that I'd like are going to be at colleges next year, so I'd have to either get involved with campus life somewhere I don't go, or get acquainted with some good hangout spots. (I live in Boston) Does that sound practical? I have a bit more concern since while I'm fine on social skills, I'm pretty inexperienced, having focused on my studies and athletics more than on the clique system at my high school.

If anyone has anything to say about my gap year/no choice, too, I'd be happy to hear your thoughts.


TL;DR: Is it practical for an 18-year old in the Boston area but not yet in college to start up a social life with new people his age that presumably are in college?

 

[dguy6789]

One year is nothing as far as social life goes. Tons of groups of friends have people 18-23 and sometimes older. You don't have to be in college yet to have friends that are. Don't worry about it.

 

[MrMatt]

Originally posted by: sponge008
I'm a graduating high school senior, and I'm faced with a bit of a dilemma. I got rejected from all but one of the colleges I wanted to go to, and couldn't afford that one (Cornell). Now, I'm faced with the choice of either going to another college that, while more than decent in general, is my polar opposite in academic and overall focus and that I have a strong involuntary dislike for, and subsequently transferring out. Or, I could take a gap year to work (programming) and travel, reapplying to other places. I'm almost certain I'd do better in decisions this time because I've accomplished a fair bit since March, and I have a better idea of where to apply to.

Anyways, academically, I'm fairly confident that the better choice for me is to put college off for a year. Financially, it's a tough call, since one one hand the college I could go to next year is tuition-free for me thanks to parent faculty benefits, but on the other hand, I'd make a fair bit of money working for a year, and I could probably earn merit scholarships to several colleges better suited for me, should I apply for freshman admission. (Transfer students don't generally get merit scholarships, from what I gather)

So, my main concern is a social one. My friends are almost all going far away for next year, and without being a college student with a ready-made social life, I'm concerned about loning it out for a year. How easy will it be for me to find new people my age to hang out with? I get the feeling that most people my age that I'd like are going to be at colleges next year, so I'd have to either get involved with campus life somewhere I don't go, or get acquainted with some good hangout spots. (I live in Boston) Does that sound practical? I have a bit more concern since while I'm fine on social skills, I'm pretty inexperienced, having focused on my studies and athletics more than on the clique system at my high school.

If anyone has anything to say about my gap year/no choice, too, I'd be happy to hear your thoughts.


TL;DR: Is it practical for an 18-year old in the Boston area but not yet in college to start up a social life with new people his age that presumably are in college?

I'd do it. Boston is a great college town. I'd say it's actually America's Largest College Town.

What part of Boston are you in? I live in the Allston/Brighton area.

 

[waffleironhead]

Now is the time to start living your own life. After HS you move on and make new friends. I highly doubt that you are going to recieve any "merit scholarships" if you did not make it into any of your first choice schools this go around. Not making it in to means you lack merit. What is so god aweful about the school your parents work at that would make you want to PAY to go somewhere else?

 

[sponge008]

Thanks for the input, everyone.

Originally posted by: MrMatt
What part of Boston are you in? I live in the Allston/Brighton area.

I'm in the north suburbs.

Originally posted by: waffleironhead
Now is the time to start living your own life. After HS you move on and make new friends. I highly doubt that you are going to recieve any "merit scholarships" if you did not make it into any of your first choice schools this go around. Not making it in to means you lack merit. What is so god aweful about the school your parents work at that would make you want to PAY to go somewhere else?

Well, there are three factors that are probably going to help with admissions a second time around:
1) My profile has improved since decisions season by quite a bit: I went from being god-knows-what in math competitions to placing top 50 in my grade nationwide; I founded a math team at my school with a teacher and captained and coached it to take second place in New England the very same year, as well as some other things (I went from being mediocre grades for top colleges to pulling them up and being named "most outstanding all-around graduate at my school). I'll also put the gap year itself to good use.

2) I now know what a bad job I did with the actual applications, essays included. I'll be able to show myself a lot better given a second chance.

3) I now know much better what kinds of schools I want to apply to. With my stats (I have a 2400 SAT as well as the abovementioned things), I stand a good chance of getting merit scholarships at some of them, like Carnegie Melon. Why didn't I apply to them this year? Stupidity, mainly.

And I'm really not liking my current prospective university because it's weak in the areas I want to study (Math and CS), and the kind of person it generally attracts is really different from me, so I doubt I'll ever feel comfortable there.


If the consensus is that I won't have too much trouble leading a balanced life on a gap year, I'm inclined to take that route.

 

[IronWing]

My advice: go to college, any college, for the year. Work like hell, have no life but academics, get great grades, not just good grades but a 4.0. Then apply to your dream college. Colleges view success in college level work a far more important indicator of worthiness than any essay you could write or your high school grades.

My story: I didn't get into the college of my choice. I did exactly as I stated above. I applied again to the college I wanted and was accepted...straight into the honors program to boot.

 

[Mo0o]

What do u mean "can't afford it"

I thought elites always gave you enough money provided your parents are willing to pay their contribution

 

[Farang]

Originally posted by: ironwing
My advice: go to college, any college, for the year. Work like hell, have no life but academics, get great grades, not just good grades but a 4.0. Then apply to your dream college. Colleges view success in college level work a far more important indicator of worthiness than any essay you could write or your high school grades.

My story: I didn't get into the college of my choice. I did exactly as I stated above. I applied again to the college I wanted and was accepted...straight into the honors program to boot.

This. anything else is a waste of time, a year down the drain that you'll wish you had been more productive.

Academically, the better choice is to put off college? Why? So you can not earn credits? So you can not fulfill prerequisites to take higher level courses? So you can not learn in an academic environment for a whole year? Academically the best choice is to get back to academics.

The tuition is free, so anything you tell yourself to skip school and screw around for a year is bullshit and you might as well be honest with yourself about that.

 

[MotF Bane]

Check with your health insurance provider. They may refuse to cover you if you are not enrolled as a student, i.e. attending college.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

I would recommend going to the school you dislike, getting good grades, and transferring out 2nd semester. Oh, and make sure to live in the dorms during your first year, no matter what.

My social life is actually getting a giant jump-boost this summer; I'm studying abroad and my peer group is awesome. So happpppy.

Edit: By the way, colleges care much more about college grades than anything else, and freshman courses are usually easy enough that you can get a 3.5+ GPA with a little effort.

 

[sponge008]

Responding to previous points:

-Cornell vastly underestimated our "family need". I think it's supposed to be the stingiest Ivy.

-Health insurance is a problem from the time I turn 18, but by then, I should be able to find work that provides it. I'm currently gearing up for summer internships, and I don't turn 18 until October.

-Transferring is definitely an option, but were I to go that route, most of my class credits wouldn't transfer, and I would have to spend time on pointless problem sets for easy classes to get good grades and earn a transfer. That would be time I could have spent learning more advanced material instead.

And Farang - be sure that a year between high school and college for me would not be a waste of time. I would work, probably full-time, and develop my programming skills further, and I would of course continue educating myself with things like MIT OpenCourseWare. My high school didn't offer much for me academically, so I've gotten very good at teaching myself things. To boot, that would give me a better picture of what I want to study in college. I'd also continue/start with useful other activities; I'd keep training MMA and I'm looking to take up Toastmasters. And if I had extra time left over (so probably if working part-time), I'd be able to release and maintain the web app startup I've been working on for the past couple of years, and/or do research at a lab at a university nearby.

I hope that gives a clearer picture of where I'm coming from. It's a difficult decision, and I appreciate the perspective I get from everyone who responds, most of you having a lot more perspective on life than I do.