<p>Hey everyone,
I’m taking a gap year this year because college applications didn’t go very well last year. I have graduated with a 4.0, multiple honors courses, I’ve taken AP tests and gotten fives on them in Calculus BC with the AB component, English Language and Composition, English Literature and Composition, Spanish Language, and US History. I’ve also taken the SAT and got a 2270, an 800 on the US History SAT and a 770 on the English Literature SAT. I’ve been involved in many drama productions, my school’s environmental club, DECA (an association of marketing students in which I won a number of awards), dance, NHS, Spanish Honors Society, and a number of other things. I didn’t fully comprehend how difficult it was to get into some of the more competitive colleges up in New England, so I only applied to Dartmouth, Middlebury, Bowdoin, and my safety school Calvin which I later visited and ruled out because it had very few of the things I really liked about the other schools and I had only applied because of family pressure (everyone in my family and all the Dutch, Christian-Reformed people at my school have gone there and send their kids there). I was rejected from Dartmouth and wait-listed for Middlebury and Bowdoin before I was rejected. I’m trying to build a gap year that will give me a more competitive edge for college (I know I need to find some less competitive schools so that I don’t make the same mistake and end up in the same situation a second year in a row). I’m working a part-time clerical position in a law firm during the year, and since I’m interested in biology/marine biology I’m going to volunteer at the New England aquarium. I was wondering what else I could do to improve my resume for college. I don’t have any money, so anything I do has to be low-cost.
Thank you very much,
Kristin</p>
<p>Read The Gap Year Advantage. Lots of good ideas in there. </p>
<p>Volunteering at the New England Acquarium is a start. Use the connections you make there to find research opportunities. Do you have any universities near where you live? If so, use the acquarium connects to connect with faculty in the marine biology or bio or related departments and see if you can work out an unpaid internship, so you get some research experience under your belt, even it it’s at a very low level. See if you can audit some marine bio classes. Or if marketing is really your interest, see if you can get engaged with the marketing staff at the acquarium.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, try some new things or invest further in your existing ECs. If dance, the environment or drama matter to you, find new ways to stay engaged. </p>
<p>This should be a year of self-discovery and exploration - and your application should reflect all that you’ve learned and discovered.</p>