| I'm an international, so everywhere I apply is a bit harder.
I'm also on a gap year.
Last year I applied to 3 schools in the US - MPH - and was rejected by all. I did not apply locally but I was accepted by 6 schools in the UK within days of applying. The point here is that I started (and finished) my application IN MAY. I couldn't afford it - in fact, I couldn't afford to study anywhere without a strong scholarship - so I deferred one admission and resolved to spend 2007-2008 in
1. Reading [free] e-books. You'll be surprised by what you can learn.
2. Teaching. Yes - GET A JOB. I was lucky because there was a vacancy at my own school and I was qualified by 2 years of practice.
3. Private Tutoring - don't expect to be paid respectably by your day job.
4. Math Research. I still have an inkling of spare time.
5. Sucking Up. To Companies. To Ministries [Ministry of Education, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Public Information]. To Powerful People. To Educated People.
6. Looking for funding. It worked.
7. Training for the Math Olympiad. This ties it all together - I want to redeem myself on an international stage.
8. Socializing. NOT Casually. I was quite antisocial. Thus I learned how to talk to people sensitively, how to get things done, how to write letters that work, how to get meetings, how to write a resume, how to interview, how to seem humble and how to win an argument and how to use charisma.
9. Choir practice. My former school choir is fairly high-profiel around here, and can always use help for musicals, fund-raisers, competitions and concerts.
With nothing to lose, I applied again to [more] US universities, and made sure to include an assessment of my professional contributions and academic constructions. Now that I'm actually training other people for olympiads, I think it's fair to say that my more elite 2012 positive decisions were partly motivated by the proof that I have not lost my edge. There's just one more thing, though it may not make sense to anyone from another country.
10. I registered to repeat my final exams. Here, a perfect score means something.
Whatever you do, be sure to do something that you can back with a self-contained, positive argument. Phrase yourself so that rather than focusing on avoiding wasting time, or focusing on making the best of a year you'd rather not have, you focus on the great things you can do outside school, and although you might have preferred to be in Uni by now, you see a golden opportunity that might well be unique. I would like to add that today I was at a professional event from 0830 to almost 1800 [!!] because of the adult contacts I have established.
In my case, bear in mind that most of the above are very situational. This sort of strengthens the argument for motivation, so look clearly at your own specifics. |