Yes, this is what I’m wondering - does a prior rejection put an applicant at an inherent disadvantage, biasing the admissions committee against them as a re-applicant, or do the results of a second application correlate with the prior results just because the profile hasn’t changed enough to yield a different result? I have heard the former asserted, but I don’t know how we’d prove it.
It does sound as if the lack of appropriate coursework was based on what’s offered on-site at the high school campus, whereas there are off-campus DE options that could make the 4th year highly productive, in addition to logging that 4th year of English which would remove an unnecessary disadvantage. So hopefully playing the long game by delaying graduation to the normal timeline will work out.
In addition to the potential benefits in terms of course rigor and GPA, the combination of the coaching/ problem-solving this community could provide over the next 12 months, and the prospect of becoming a Questbridge Scholar in next year’s application cycle, could all make the investment of another year pay off in notably better outcomes. And I see little downside, in that the “worst case scenario” outcome next year would be ending up at a less-competitive in-state public U, in which case all DE credits would transfer seamlessly and no time would have been wasted. But the likelihood of an acceptance at GT/UGA or a full-need-met private will be greatly enhanced.