Benefits of a gap year?

Applying to College
21

OP, in another thread you stated that you got accepted to two Colleges…Jay Jay College of Criminal Justice (JJCCJ - Tuition = $6.4K) and Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC - Tuition = $4.8K). Apparently, there is now a third option. What College is this?

I think you are wasting time by taking a GAP year. There is no guarantee that you will get into other colleges after your GAP year. Your continued obsession with Cornell University or other high reach institutions is setting up barriers to you moving forward with your college journey. Taking the SAT/ACT after graduating high school will not change anything. The way I see it, you have two options. Go to BMCC for two years and then transfer to a 4-year institution or attend JJCCJ for two years and then transfer to another 4-year institution of that is commensurate with your career goals and college grades.

You said you low income and qualify for $11.4K of Grants (I assume TAP and Pell…no student loans?). The amount received is sufficient enough to cover the cost of Tuition, Fees and commuting cost at either BMCC or JJCCJ. You can take out student loans (help pay the rent) to avoid working while attending college. This would alleviate additional stressors, which could potentially exacerbate your medical condition, allowing you to focus on academics and getting good grades.

I think you should go to JJCCJ, pick a major with a strong likelihood of getting a job upon graduation and finish your 4 years at that college. Alternatively, your can start out by taking pre-med courses, see how you perform on those courses and then determine if you have what it takes to get into medical school. Keep in mind that many college students start out as pre-med and switch majors because they did not do well on their prerequisites courses. You could do like many students that have been accepted into medical school and do your pre-med prerequisites after completing the undergraduate degree.

“A genius is a man who takes the lemons that fate hands him and starts a lemonade stand with them.”

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@psata82 The third college was Pennsylvania State University (not University Park given numerous options in sub-campuses), but I don’t think it’s worth distance, cost, education and much more so I disregarded that.

Yipee, another person with different opinions. This entire issue has me so ambivalent but whatever, obviously I’ll listen. I only want the best option for myself, the power is vested in me but I believe I lack the reasoning to chose on my own.

I’m going to play Devil’s Advocate here, I’m receiving the advice, I should at least provide counter points from what I’ve heard collectively. I asked my college counselors, family, friends, CollegeConfidential (obviously) and the amount of mixed opinions is incredible. Time is closing and I have a week to decide. Again, it’s not like I don’t agree with you, but I’m going to provide you points that I’ve heard against attending colleges and your opinions.

(Obsession with Cornell University, laughed at that one because it’s true haha)

-A gap year would provide the student time to reevaluate his career, and for my case, I could use the time to sort of “catch up”. I’ve already studied intensively for the SAT Reasoning and numerous subject tests, I certainly wouldn’t like to make that time be in vain. Quite evidently, a 2100 is much better than a 1750, and I’ve researched that retaking the SAT would change a number of things, most importantly, my chance of being accepted in SUNY/CUNY will rise with it. Although my GPA will remain as bad forever, my extracurriculars will also increase (considering I’ve landed a few opportunities already and have till next week to commit to them) which will also increase my chances of being accepted into more fit institutions. But what do I mean by “more fit”? As you already know, I was accepted to colleges that don’t offer my major or anything close to it (except Penn State), so if I were to perhaps attend one of these colleges studying something in which I have zero interest, wouldn’t my GPA be lower as well? Considering the fact that students tend to be more likely to do better on areas of their interests, coupled with students who share distinct interests it’d be quite obvious that I wouldn’t feel comfortable in an institution that I can barely relate to. Perhaps I can “bear with it” and continue studying at JJ, but would I really receive the maximum amount of education in which I desire? Should I conform to the actions of others knowing it will “work out” because it went well for them?

The way you see things is that I can attend either one of the two institutions and transfer after two years, but, if I’m not mistaken, the colleges I seek will only look at the first year and my high school transcript. With the grade inflation at JJ and BMCC, how “admirable” is achieving a 4.0 (theoretically) after an 80 at a University that is incoherent to his intended major (JJ) or at a University where 4.0’s are given to most people (BMCC)? Maybe a little bit in their eyes. But wouldn’t it be more admirable for the aspiring STEM student to take a year off, do medical volunteer work, score a higher SAT along SAT subject tests, study abroad for a term at an established institution, self-study numerous subjects, perhaps land a job for a summer program and then reapply? Perhaps I may not achieve all of these opportunities, but most of them will put me under better positioning and perhaps a miracle may happen. Now some will say that I can do most of these things all while attending college, but I’d personally much rather start fresh. Like a previous user mentioned, transferring should be a “last option” in which many sacrifices are made like losing connection, GPA, possible recommendations and the list goes on.

As for the cost, well, really it would be nice to have free tuition and more, no working which means more studying but should I disregard a better option due to money? As for myself, I don’t care about the cost. I’d become a surgeon at minimum wage if required, it’s a personal aspiration of mine and if I need to live in a small apartment paying off student loans for the rest of my life knowing I achieved what I had longed for, I’d die content knowing that I had succeeded. However, as for the present, I believe my parents will do fine with me out of the house, although I pay a portion of the rent, the expenses of me being present succeed what I contribute. But as for “exacerbating medical condition” I don’t think that’s what you meant but either way mental illness and physical illness do not correlate in my situation.

I like your quote it’s true, but I don’t think I should submissively accept what I’m given. Those who succeed usually take the “shortcut.” I do however keep a poster in my room to return me to realism (the words are listed below), I tend to dream too much, those who’ve read my posts can assuredly agree.

I think I'm starting to ask for too much information really, maybe I'm presumptuous, but I apologize for the (poorly written) college essay and all the questions. I do not agree with all that I've stated in this post nor do I agree with all that psata82 said. If you believe I'm starting to get annoying make sure you say so! Thank you all for your contributions!

“Ambition is a wonderful force, but sometimes it can be blinding.” Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

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I do think your reasoning holds. You’ll have time to mature and improve some aspects of your application. I don’t think you’ll end up with the two same choices you have right now. At the very least you’ll have a shot at City and Hunter, which are better for science.
One of the issues is that you were admitted to John Jay and you want to study science, which is like going to an institute of technology to major in poetry writing.

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when you read through your old threads and start to cringe…

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What do you mean, Hamlin, and what did you decide?
Knowing how this turned out would likely help current students who may be in your situation.

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OP has another thread now on his upcoming applications. Don’t worry about what is past, focus on your next steps.

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Well, what I meant was that it hurt to read my posts. They don’t make any sense and I was thinking about going to Ivy Leagues and MIT but at the time I didn’t really know WHY I wanted to go, the name was just pretty.
I decided to deal with that I deserve, attend a college within my range and stop trying to shoot for the stars with a rubber band… not going to happen, my grades just aren’t ‘stellar’ enough. With that, only a couple of SUNY’s are my reaches instead of freaking Cornell… If I get denied I will go to CC and do as much work in CC as I would any other University, get a job related to my new associates degree and then use it to my advantage as an extracurricular itself while studying at a more prestigious institution.

For those of you in this situation. I recommend going on Collegeboard, using the college search tool and input your actual RECORDED SAT score. Unless your dad is the president of Harvard or you own a billion dollar company you’re not getting in and no amount of EC’s and high SAT’s can change your GPA. The same goes with any other quality of your application, GPA, Testing, EC or Essays. It’s just not going to happen and if you convince yourself you’re a special snowflake that maybe has a chance (thinking colleges pick students to accept while blindfolded), you will lose valuable time and money. You should only take a gap year if you are offered participation in a great program, if not, take what you can get… CC included.

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I think you are saying it is very unlikely that you can compensate for a low unweighted GPA, low standardized test scores, and/or limited ECs when spying to the very top schools. Even with a hook, there is little leeway. Agreed… now go get 'em with your new plan!