<p>First of all, congratulations to each of you who got into a great college! I’m sure you’re all great students and truly deserve your acceptances. Be proud of yourself, you all accomplished something really great! </p>
<p>Unfortunately I cannot say the same about myself: I applied to 13 colleges and got rejected by all of them. (Okay, I still didn’t get an answer from Williams, but after my 12 rejections I’m confident that I won’t get in there either.) I didn’t apply to any safety school because it would have been very hard for me to qualify for financial aid as an international student at a state school, but also because I fell in love with some great colleges and just didn’t want to make a compromise in my education. </p>
<p>I have to say that even though I only got rejections, I don’t feel too bad. Actually, I feel relieved and am not really disappointed. The reason is that since at least five years I dreamed of going to the US for college, and had I already gotten in, the biggest dream of my life had been already fulfilled. That would somehow just be too easy 
I actually moved and lived on my own for the past two years just to be able to go to an international school to have better chances of getting into one of my dream colleges, but even though somehow all my effort seems to have been in vain, I’m feeling fine. So I’m not disappointed because I still have my dream and I’m not giving it up. When (not if!) I get in next year, I can be even more proud of myself. </p>
<p>I have a couple of options right now and I’d like to get your advice!
As I said, I don’t intend to give up my dream and so I hope to be able to go to college in the US in one or two years. To accomplish this I see a couple of options:</p>
<p>1.: I could attend a university in Germany for one or two years and reapply as a transfer applicant. Unfortunately Harvard and Princeton don’t take transfer applicants at all so that I’d basically only have a shot at Yale (those 3 are my top choices) and, given the even lower admission rate for transfer applicants, this option doesn’t seem very promising. Apart from that, it would be hard to get good recommendations at a German university because the professor’s are not really experts on US colleges and the classes are very large (hundreds of students) in most first year courses. Additionally, I don’t really want to do that. One reason why I want to study in the US is the great sense of community at many colleges and the fact that all students live together on campus – this practically doesn’t exist here. It might also be bad for a transfer application because the language of instruction wouldn’t be English.</p>
<p>2.: I could possibly find a college in another country and attend for one or two years and then transfer. Apart from the fact that I’d actually like it more because I’d see other countries and would get to know other cultures, it really is the same as #1.</p>
<p>3.: (At the moment my first choice) I could do a postgraduate year at a very good boarding school in the US and then reapply. Then I could work on my major weakness (SAT scores, I’d probably be able to get a much better preparation in the US than here), take more courses and probably also get better recommendations etc. (unfortunately teachers at my school were not very experienced with this, even though it is an international school). Possibly I could also take some courses at a community college or so in addition to that. The problem, however, is that I’m not sure whether it is still possible to apply, especially since I would need financial aid. Apart from that, this seems to be the best option to me, I’d finally be in the US and improve my chances of an acceptance (also because I probably could apply as a domestic applicant.) I’ll probably call a couple of schools in the next days and ask; however, do you think I should tell them about my rejections and thus probably hurt my chances of admission, or should I just ask if I can still apply and then simply apply? Also: I’m already almost 19; Once I’m finished with my PG year, I’ll be 20. Could that hurt my chances?</p>
<p>4.: I could take a gap year and try to do something impressive in that time: I could participate in competitions, travel, do a lot of ECs and retake the SAT. </p>
<p>5.: Community College / Extension School: I don’t know too much about this right now, but if my assumption is correct, I’d be able to still apply for a community college / just attend, right? Then I could be there for one year, work very hard and try it as a transfer applicant. The advantage of this is that I’d finally be in the US, but the transfer chances are still very low.</p>
<p>Please comment on my ideas and make some suggestions. Does anyone know how the chances of reapplying are? The Yale FAQ say that it’s possible but that not many people end up getting accepted after the second time. Also: what would colleges think? Would they be impressed because I’m not giving up or would they just say “hey, we already rejected him, let’s not even seriously look at his application”? </p>
<p>Thanks a lot to each of you who is taking the time to read this long post and, again, congratulations to each of you who got accepted! Please don’t just post: “just give up” or “we don’t want people who are not from the US and need financial aid”, I really have no interest in reading such posts right now Thanks!</p>