<p>I was just rejected from Stanford this year and am absolutely crushed. I was also rejected at Penn, Princeton, Harvard, Dartmouth, and Columbia. I am now deciding between Georgetown business school or UVA. I am in-state at UVa, but don’t want to go there because my older sister goes there. I don’t want to go to Georgetown because their business school is not very good. I am wondering if it would be smart to defer a year and then apply to Stanford again next year. Also, if I defered a year, I would want to volunteer during my year off. Does anyone know of any good programs out there?</p>
<p>peace core</p>
<p>Georgetown and UVA are both hardcore good. Don’t be too upset.</p>
<p>_42-- Peace Corps is not only incredibly difficult to get into, but they also require a 27 month commitment at least. Do you perhaps mean Americorps?</p>
<p>mate, if you defer a year, you’re essentially just reapplying with your high school stats. better as a transfer, i’d think =).</p>
<p>could you volunteer somewhere in asia or africa? i would think that sorta thing would really set you apart if you manage to make some changes in the areas you’re volunteering in. Our school actually has a gap year program where they send a few students to Kenya to volunteer at a school; they organise extra-curricular activities, set up tutoring systems, help train the teachers in english and computer skills etc. That sort of thing is really great coz not only do u get a diff perspective on culture but it allows you room to innovate and make changes = leadership!</p>
<p>If anyone knows the names of these kinds of programs, I would really appreciate a posting so I could research them a little more. Your suggestions have all been really helpful!</p>
<p>the one I’m talking about is only for our school’s students and doesn’t really have a name, but you can easily find opportunities like this if you just do a google search for volunteering in asia/africa. There are some sites that offer you a choice of what you can do, or you can talk to some people that you know that have taken a gap year. basically if you search for some charity/service organizations on the net, and contact them, they shoudl be able to find you something.</p>
<p>One comment … if your sister being at UVA is the main reason you don’t want to go to UVA I’d suggest you reconsider going to UVA. At a school as big as UVA you do not have to ever see your sister unless you want to; you can be totally out from her shadow there if you want to (assuming you won’t both be on the same sports team or something) … if she was not there what would you say about UVA?</p>
<p>Second comment … it seems most times a gap year is recommended it is so the student can apply to a new set of schools the next year generally covering a broader range or selectivity. Taking a gap year to apply to the same schools with the same application does not sound like a likely scenario for a different outcome next year.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I strongly suggest that you go to either Georgetown or UVA and try to transfer next year. Don’t take a year off unless you’re going to do something incredible. What makes you think that you can get into Stanford next year with the exact same application? Go to a college that you’ve been accepted to, and if you still want to go to Stanford after a year, apply as a transfer.</p>
<p>But applying as a transfer decreases your chance. The fact that only 90 people out of 1000+ got into stanford via transfer shows that transfer admissions is brutal. Then again, it’s transfers into 2nd AND 3rd year - of those 90 people.</p>
<p>But applying again as a freshman with the same stats is pointless. The adcoms will know that you’ve applied before, so unless you do something extremely worthwhile during your gap year, there’s no point in reapplying as a freshman. It’s better to move on and go somewhere you’ve been accepted to. Who knows? You might end up loving the college you go to.</p>
<p>Congratulations!</p>