Gap Year or Safety School? Advice Appreciated!

Applying to College
1

<p>Okay, unfortunately things didn’t turn out so well for me this year. After being rejected from all the schools I wanted to go to, I ended up enrolling at my safety school (Earlham College). At the time, it seemed like a pretty good idea: I would go their for a year and get good grades, and then, no longer being held back by my poor HS GPA, I’d reapply to my dream schools as a transfer.</p>

<p>However, some new things have come to light that are making me have second thoughts. Turns out I have to take some class titled “How Shall We Live?” which, based on the description on their website, sounds like some class where they try to convert you into a Quaker.</p>

<p>Then I just found out that it is “highly unlikely” (according to the person in registrar I talked to) that I’ll get into the Drawing I class that I had my heart set on. (It was actually one of my main motivations for going.) Apparently for a lot of classes you don’t know whether you’ll get in them or not until the first day of the class, at which point you show up and they draw your name out of a hat. I mean, what? Whatever happened to a first come, first served basis? What do you mean I won’t know until the first day of the drawing class?</p>

<p>As for Japanese I (the other class I had my heart set on), I have some mandatory “group study” thing I have to go to for 1 1/2 hours every Wednesday. That’s ridiculous! I have real difficulties studying with other people because I’m so easily distracted, so I study considerably better on my own. But moreover, what type of college says, “You have to go to our mandatory study group at this specified time, or else we’ll kick you out of the class”? This isn’t high school…I should be able to study whenever I want without the college breathing down my back.</p>

<p>But the most unnerving thing about Earlham is that NO ONE WILL GIVE ME A STRAIGHT ANSWER. The people who do give me contradicting answers. For instance, one person told me that it’s unlikely that I’d get into a 300/400 class because they’re for juniors and seniors and I’m going to be an incoming freshman, and another person told me that being a first year would not disadvantage me whatsoever. Do you know how long it took me and how many people I had to call to find out whether I’ll have to take math or science courses my first year? Whenever I ask any question about courses, I get answers like,
“I’m not sure.”
“You should talk to your adviser.” (She doesn’t answer her phone and no one knows when or if she’ll check her email before the school year starts.)
Their favorite response seems to be, “Oh, you’ll find out when you get here. Everything will make a lot more sense then.”</p>

<p>Wow, what a great idea! I won’t find out if I’ll get the courses I want until I get there, everyone gives me contradicting answers or avoids my questions entirely, and based on the dozens of phone calls I have made, the administration seems incredibly incompetent. But hey, let me take out a $7000 loan, pay more money out of pocket, and buy a plane ticket halfway across the US, because everything will just magically make sense once I get there! <em>Being sarcastic</em></p>

<p>Going to college is a big step no matter what, but not knowing, well, ANYTHING because no on will tell me is really not helping my nerves. Basically, I’ll be paying the college and have NO IDEA what I’m getting in return because the administration avoids questions like their lives depend on it.</p>

<p>Therefore, I am considering taking a gap year.</p>

<p>These are my two options at the moment:</p>

<p>Gap Year
I take the year off and get a job to save up money for college next year. I work on self-improvement and teach myself some new things. Mainly I’d like to focus on improving my writing and drawing skills. I think I might also like to take up the viola and/or piano. I’ll probably retake the ACT again in order to improve my college chances next year. I re-evaluate what colleges I want to go to. Next year, I reapply to some of the schools I got rejected from this year and some new ones; I also apply to some in-state safety schools this time. In the end, I’ll probably end up going to my state’s flagship next year (something I really didn’t want to do, but it’s currently looking better than Earlham at the moment), and transfer out the next year (2014).</p>

<p>Safety School
I go to Earlham and hope for the best. If things turn out well and I do NOT have to take a math or science course, I will most likely pull off a stellar GPA and transfer out the next year (2013). The sooner I get to a college I want to go to, the better. However, this really is a leap of faith. I suck at math and science…no matter how hard I try, I barely manage to pass them, IF I pass them. (That’s with studying 3+ hours a day and seeing my teacher at every available opportunity.) It’s pretty ambiguous over whether or not I’ll have to take a math or science course. They say it’s not mandatory first year, just “highly recommended.” But based on the incompetence I’ve been dealing with and the contradicting answers, who really knows how true that is? Furthermore, I may have no choice but to take a math or science class if I don’t get some of the other classes I want. Taking a math or science course basically kills my GPA right there, along with any chances I have of getting into Smith. Not only that, but I REALLY want to improve my drawing skills. That was almost the only thing I was looking forward to at Earlham. Also, the fact that administration avoids my questions and gives me contradicting answers makes me very uneasy.</p>

<p>So, those are my options. Thoughts? Advice? Either would be appreciated. Sorry this post is so long.</p>

2

<p>If there is no specific written requirement that you take math/science/subjectX your first year, the only reasons why you would do so are:
Every other possible course was filled.
It is required for a specific sequence of other courses you plan to take.
You deliberately elect to take it for your own reasons.</p>

<p>As for the required study session for Japanese, this is the equivalent of a lab section for a science class. It will give you more practice with the language. Languages are not something that are readily learned on your own. They are mastered through repeated acts of human to human communication.</p>

<p>As for the “How to live” class, that looks like a Quaker version of the standard LAC freshman seminar course. If you don’t want to take that kind of class, you probably don’t want to study at a LAC. Which would be a further argument fir taking the Gap Year and re-thinking your goals.</p>

3

<p>After what you have described, a gap year seems most appropriate for the situation. Trust your intuition-- if the contact you’ve had with the college and its representatives so far has not been entirely comfortable, perhaps you shouldn’t put so much money towards this college, because it could be a sign of future inadequacies in their resources and organization. Taking a gap year and applying to better safeties (especially in-state schools as you mentioned) seems like a better option.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

4

<p>I second what happymomof1 said about the Japanese study section. That sounds like a lab section (simply with a different name), which is going to usually be required at any other school you go to - you can’t learn a language (and certainly not a tough language like Japanese) by just reading a book, even if you did a million writing exercises and went through flashcards a million times. You need to actually speak it with classmates.</p>

<p>As for the gap year, you should look into doing something relevant to your future goals (art in this case?). You could also look at some community service programs like Americorps.</p>

5

<p>So it already seems like you dislike Earlham… And if you go there, it’ll be with a negative attitude and uncertainty about classes so you’ll have a bad year.</p>

<p>IMO, take the gap year, work part time and spend the rest working on your future career goals (you could even try to get an internship). </p>

<p>You also have to consider that if you transfer, you won’t be eligible for as many scholarships (merit based ones from school) so you might have to take out more loans. But I’m not suggesting you go to Earlham, I’m just reminding you that you shouldn’t think of school next year as a temporary situation because you might not be able to afford a different one.</p>

6

<p>While the admin should be more responsive, I’m guessing that in the summer a lot of the regular staff are on vacation and those who are covering for them just don’t have the answers. However, do a search on cc for Earlham, you will find a few students who currently attend, who have answered posts. PM them with your questions about your classes. They will surely know the answer. There is also a forum for Earlham on cc (under the alphabetical listing of colleges in the college tab) - post your questions there as well.</p>

<p>I’m also guessing that some of this is just nerves. If you go in with a ‘wait and see’ attitude, you probably will be pleasantly surprised. LACs can be quite flexible and individual profs can be very supportive if you explain how passionate you are about drawing - perhaps they’d let you audit the class (and give you a seat if someone drops?) And while math and science isn’t your thing, I’m guessing you are not alone and there are classes specifically tailored to the math-phobic who still need such a class for distribution or whatever other requirement there is at Earlham. Ask about that too.</p>

<p>The bigger point is that if you want a LAC environment, Earlham is a good one and you should be able to make it work for you. If you don’t, then a gap year, and reapplying to a different kind of school makes sense.</p>

7

<p>Hi! I’m an Earlham student who works in Admissions and Res Life. </p>

<p>This is a lot to reply to. I’ll break it down into chunks:</p>

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</p>

<p>Earlham is incredibly diverse, and the administration, students, and staff never proselytize. So I wouldn’t worry about that. This is the first year that this class is being offered, and it’s one of the ideas of the new President of the college, David Dawson. The class will focus on group discussion and will work on critical reading and writing skills. I haven’t taken it, so I’m going to be of limited help here. Ask the admissions office to see what they know about it :)</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Art classes at Earlham are in high demand - students that are interested enroll and show up to class on the first day - at that point, art majors and other high priority students get first pick, and the rest of the students there get in through a lottery process. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s what we have. The upside is that if you don’t get in the first time, they make sure you can get in for the next semester.</p>

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</p>

<p>Earlham’s language classes are intense. We have one of the strongest Japanese programs in the country, and the extra .75 hours (it’s actually 45 minutes, split into two sections - you only do half of that time) is really crucial to building language proficiency. Trust me - I’ve taken it. If you miss that section, you fall behind. We don’t take language lightly here. As for getting distracted, I don’t think it’ll be a big problem. This is a class, and that 45 minutes is mostly drill and other exercises.</p>

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</p>

<p>I’m sorry you’ve been getting mixed answers! I’m curious though - who are you talking to? It sounds like you’re talking to students, not the staff. Either way, yes, you should be able to get into 300/400 level courses- the only problem may be pre-requisites. You can get around these, but remember - pre-requisites are there for a reason. Our academics can be challenging, and professors don’t want first-years to jump into the toughest classes without the tools they need to succeed. A few classes also have “caps” on how many students can get in - you’ll find that this is true at most colleges. For these courses, it will be difficult for first-years to take them unless there are open spaces at the start of the year.</p>

<p>If there’s anything I haven’t answered let me know! I’m short on time, as I need to head home from work. Sorry if this sounds a bit hurried!</p>

<p>Also, sometimes we can be a bit disorganized, but everyone means well! :)</p>

<p>Also, I have a question for you - what is your intended major?</p>

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<p>It sounds to me that you failed to pick a true safety school. A safety school should be a place where you are all but certain that you will be accepted (you got that part right) AND a place where you would be happy attending and obtaining a degree. </p>

<p>If you are already planning on transferring, then Earlham is not your safety school and you should not attend. If you are miserable there, then chances are you will not get that high gpa you are craving. And from my experience, Earlham is not a place likely pass out A’s like Pez.</p>

<p>Take a year off, re-think what you want in a school (perhaps a liberal arts education is not what you really want, considering your aversion and distaste for math and science), save some money, and find a safety school where you can get admitted and where you can see yourself getting a degree.</p>

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<p>@ECAdmStudent
Thank you for giving me some answers. I have to say, your response has been considerably more helpful than anything the administration there has told me (and yes, I am talking to the staff, not students. Mainly I’ve been talking to people who work in the registrar; I also talked to student development, admissions, etc.)</p>

<p>As for my major, I had originally planned on doing a double major in English and Japanese Studies at either Wellesley or Smith. After graduating, I would then most definitely get accepted at HYPS for graduate school. And then, I would get a job at Ivy League as an English professor as soon as I got my PhD. -_-" Yes, unrealistic, I know. At the time, it seemed like a brilliant plan that would undoubtedly work out. Now, not so much. 2012 has not been a good year for me so far; I got rejected from almost every single college I applied to, did extremely poorly on my AP exams, and I failed a class for the first time in my life (a math class, of course.) This has all been a MAJOR blow to my self-confidence, so at the moment I’m currently re-evaluating everything, including my intended major(s).</p>

<p>@icemaker
I am well aware that I did a terrible job picking out safety schools -_-" I honestly thought that I would be accepted to at least one of my top choices. I knew Wellesley and Scripps were a reach, but it really never crossed my mind that I would also be rejected from Smith, Mount Holyoke, AND Bryn Mawr. My counselor was a terrible help and acted like I would definitely get accepted to one of these schools. She never told me that these were all near impossible reaches. Therefore, since I was assuming that the worst case scenario would be getting accepted at only one of the above schools, I more or less just pulled my safety schools out of a hat.</p>

10

<p>@UFONinja</p>

<p>I’m back from work! </p>

<p>The good news is that Earlham does an excellent job preparing students for graduate school. We have some of the highest PhD production rates in the country in all of our majors, but Japanese studies is one of our strengths. I’d bet money that our program in JS is superior to most of the other schools you’ve listed - if not in terms of ranking (who ranks Japanese studies as a major anyways?) but by outcomes. As an example, one of our Japanese Studies alums is the current US Ambassador to Vietnam, and he has stated that his opportunity to study at Waseda (an Earlham-Waseda exchange program) was a really formative part of his career.</p>

<p>Furthermore, we provide a lot of support to our students, but sometimes, like I said earlier, we’re a bit disorganized. It seems like you’ve sort of fallen through some of the cracks, which really sucks! Shoot me an email at ilsuzuki09 (at) earlham.edu and I can get you some people to talk to who may be able to answer specific questions better than I can.</p>

<p>Another note… like someone said, if you’re thinking you can get straight A’s at Earlham, you may be mistaken. We don’t give out A’s like a pez dispenser. However, if you work hard, you can make it happen! Additionally, you only have to take 8 credits worth of science (two classes total) over your four years at Earlham. Many students don’t take any science for their first couple years - I wouldn’t worry about it yet (though as a Bio major, I recommend it :P)</p>

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<p>@ECAdmStudent
Yes, I know that Earlham really raves about their Japanese Studies program. Thing is, I want my main focus to be English. What I really want is to be an English professor. (Please note that this is what I originally wanted…I am currently re-evaluating everything right now.) I’ve yet to hear anything about Earlham’s English program…could you tell me anything about it?</p>

<p>As for the A’s, I don’t care if I have to work 20 hours a day and function with 4 hours of sleep, I’m willing to do whatever necessary to get straight A’s and transfer to Smith!</p>

<p>I realize that 2 science courses might be no big deal to some people, but the majority of colleges I applied to only wanted 1 science course. If I have to take 2 science courses, please, shoot me now. This is one of the many reasons why I’m so obsessed with getting into Smith: no core requirements.</p>

<p>Another reason why I don’t want to take math and science courses my first year is because they don’t transfer at a lot of schools I’m reapplying to.</p>

<p>The fact that there is no guarantee that I’ll get the classes I want is really freaking me out. I mean, once I go there, I’m stuck there for the year. Meaning I might be paying to take classes that I have no interest in because I couldn’t get the ones I wanted. I really didn’t want to go to Earlham at all, but at the very least I thought I could look forward to taking that drawing class. There goes one of the only things I was looking forward to…</p>

<p>If you don’t mind me asking (you seem to really love Earlham, so please know that I mean no offense by asking this question), about how many people successfully transfer out of Earlham each year?</p>

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<p>UFOninja, I’m truly sorry you didn’t get admitted to the schools you wanted to attend. Don’t compound the mistake by enrolling in a school you don’t want to attend. I think it’s very clear that you should do a gap year. Earlham isn’t a safety for you. You’ve made up your mind that you don’t want to go, you plan to spend all your time working on a transfer, and you aren’t excited about any aspect of the school - not only will you not enjoy it, but you will be a downer to everyone else who is excited about entering the freshman class. </p>

<p>Spend your time instead on identifying Gap Year options that will be meaningful for you. Take a look at The Gap Year Advantage. It offers lots of resources to students who want to do a gap year. I’d also rethink whether LACs are really what you want - one of the hallmarks of LACs is small class sizes. That means that you will sometimes get shut out of a course you really want to take, especially if you are a freshman or sophomore. Usually, there are many more courses that students want to take than they could possibly enroll in, so getting shut out for a semester isn’t a big deal - but in your case, it sounds like you really aren’t interested in much beyond what you had already mapped out. You’d be better off at a school that has more and larger classes so you can almost always get into whatever you want, when you want it. </p>

<p>If you want gap year advice, do a search on cc for other gap year threads.</p>

13

<p>

</p>

<p>Hey, no offense taken. Everyone’s different, and if everyone felt at home at every college, decisions wouldn’t be so hard to make! And if that were the case, the world would be a pretty boring place.</p>

<p>There are definitely some students that transfer out - and in - every semester. I wouldn’t know, personally, how many are successful at transferring out. However, I do know that at least one of our former students is at Brandeis, and in my freshman year one of my friends transferred to University of Chicago, and a sophomore transferred to Brown as well. It can be done! </p>

<p>Going back to the English program, my friends in it love it. The professors are great, and the class sizes are small. I have a few friends in the English department, if you’d like an English major to talk to, I can make that happen.</p>

14

<p>I think M’s Mom is absolutely dead on. If you don’t want to attend a college, then you shouldn’t attemd simply because it is your only option. </p>

<p>And this should in no way be taken as disrespectful to Earlham. My younger brother (and easily one of the top ten intellects I have ever been acquainted with in my 47 years) graduated from Earlham. He received a challenging, rich and diverse education. He chose Earlham over Carleton and has never had any regrets with his choice. But if you don’t want to be there, you will be miserable.</p>

<p>Have you visited Earlham? If you have not, then I would certainly go take a look at the school in person (even though there is not much activity on campus during the summer months) to see if it is a place where you think could be happy. See if you can talk to some professors, roam the back campus, pay a visit to the hippies at Miller Farm. Just get a feel for the place, recognizing that during the summer that feeling will be somewhat artificial. If you feel comfortable and buy in, then attend. If after you visit you still feel like Earlham is not a good fit, then for goodness sakes don’t waste a year of your life and a chunk of your parents net worth to go to a place where you know you will hate it.</p>

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<p>@icemaker I agree 100% with what you’ve said.</p>

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<p>Thanks to everyone who responded. I’ve decided to take a gap year. M’s Mom’s response really struck a cord for me. I’ve visited the school and really didn’t like; I’ve been dreading having to go there in the fall. The only thing I was really looking forward to was that drawing class, and after I found out that I probably wouldn’t be able to take it, I REALLY didn’t want to go.</p>

<p>I think I really need to spend some time re-evaluating things, such as my future goals, where I want to go to school next year, and if I really want to attend a LAC. (Until now, I had no idea that at LACs it’s likely that you won’t get a spot in classes you want if you’re a freshman or sophomore.) Short of LACs and state universities, what type of colleges are there? Can you get the class you want if you attend a larger LAC, such as one with 4000+ students?</p>

17

<p>@UFOninja there are universities and colleges inbetween what are considered “typical” LACs and state universities. One example I’ve heard of that falls here is Elon University. Jay Matthews has rated it the best underappreciated institution of higher learning in the country twice now (Earlham was second, incidentally). They have around 5000 students, and everything I’ve heard about Elon has been positive. :)</p>

<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_University[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_University&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>“it’s likely that you won’t get a spot in classes you want if you’re a freshman or sophomore”</p>

<p>That’s not correct at all. You would probably get into most if not all of the classes you want at a LAC as a freshman or sophomore- if you couldn’t get the classes you wanted as a freshman or sophomore, no one would choose to attend them. But you may not get into every class you want to take in every semester that you want to take it. You may find that you are closed out of a class once in a while - but you generally get priority the next time it’s offered. (S, at a 1,600 student LAC, did not get shut out of any classes until his senior year - and those were not classes he needed to graduate.) </p>

<p>Getting shut out happens at larger schools too with the more popular classes - but at a bigger school, the same class or a similar one may be offered at more times or they may expand the class if it’s lecture based. </p>

<p>As for size, I can’t think of any LACs that have more than 3,000 students (Oberlin - with the music conservatory included). Remember LACs are schools that are entirely undergrad focused and have no graduate students or schools. There are a few private universities that are LAC-ish in size, like Rice and Wesleyan - but they do have grad schools.</p>

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<p>@M’s Mom, good catch. I forgot to address that point as well - Art classes at Earlham are somewhat of an exception - there is limited studio space and high demand, hence the difficulty getting in. I haven’t had trouble getting into any of my classes, but I haven’t taken any visual arts.</p>

20

<p>I think you should go to Earlham and get on with your life. Give it a chance. College is fun. It will grow on you if you give it a chance. If you feel you’ve given it a chance and still don’t like it, then by all means apply to transfer. However, taking an unplanned Gap year is a serious disruption in your life and I think you are way overreacting.</p>