Road Map for April: Seniors

The final admission results are out, and congratulations are in order for all of you! I hope you are thrilled with your choices. If you’re torn, try to identify the things that are most important to you to have in your college experience and which options will offer the best opportunities for those things.

As you review your offers and make your decision over the next few weeks, here are a few things to keep in mind:

  • If you need additional financial aid, you can make an appeal to the college. Check out the links in this post for advice on how to proceed.
  • Remember, you can only accept one college offer by making a deposit. You may, however, accept a place on any waitlists that you wish to, and your final report will be sent to those schools in addition to the school where you deposit.
  • If you’re on a waitlist, you can send additional information to the schools to improve your chances, but remember that the likelihood of a school making offers from the waitlist varies, even from year to year at the same school. Rather than counting on an offer that may not come, focus on the colleges that have accepted you and decide which of them would be the best fit.
  • If you’re considering taking a gap year, make sure to understand your college’s deferral policies, including how a deferral might affect financial aid. The Gap Year Association also has a great planning guide that can help you define your goals for the year and explore opportunities to work towards them. And for additional guidance, you can schedule an appointment with our gap year experts.

And finally, if you’re disappointed with some of your results, keep in mind that you will probably have a wonderful academic and personal experience at any of the colleges that DID admit you.  Rejection stings, no doubt, but in college admissions it’s usually not about you.  For some perspective, I recommend Frank Bruni’s book Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be. It’s full of great stories about great students who landed “somewhere else” and thrived, both in college and beyond.



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