About “I would add that if the ED college is a dream school (financial and you’ve always wanted to attend, you eat, sleep, drink that college), then consider community college or other in state school. Blow out your GPA, and transfer. If you begin in the summer, It may be possible to transfer In the spring. Or fall sophomore year.”
It seems to me that CC is a good option if the CC has an agreement with the dream school such that graduating with a certain GPA from that CC guarantees entry to the dream school. But A’s at a CC won’t make up for lack of such in high school. If the reason for the initial rejection at the dream school was poor scores, that is a different story because most schools are more score conscious than grade conscious for freshman. Scores for transfers are not included in the information used to establish placement in various college ranking lists. When grades are what lead to the rejection, the issue is often concern about how a student would fare in the college and CC grades don’t necessarily inform since the courses can be pitched at a low level. Schools are always looking for ways to accept students with low scores and not have the scores count. Certain schools have pitched it to a fine art form.