If you're a senior who was rejected by all your colleges, you can probably still go to college in the fall. But if you want to do it, you'll have to jump on the project right now. Here are a few steps to take to give yourself some options.
1. Meet with your counselor.
This is a time when you want your counselor to know what's happening in your life. She may be able to suggest schools that are still accepting applications, give you more advice about how to get off waitlists, appeal rejections, etc. And ask her about public university options available to you, which brings me to…
2. Look into public universities in your state.
Most states have public universities that are required to admit students who meet minimum eligibility requirements. That doesn't mean they're required to admit an eligible student who didn't apply before the deadline, but it's an option worth investigating, especially if it's a school that didn't receive as many applications as they'd hoped.
3. Use the Common App to find schools still accepting applications.
Go to the college search section of the Common Application website, select "first year student," "Fall 2010" and enter today's date under "deadline on or after." I just entered 4/19/2010 before writing this and there were 115 schools that came up. And a lot of them are good schools.
4. Use the College Board's college search function.
If you use the search function on College Board website and select "More than 75% accepted" under the "Admissions" section, you'll find a lot of colleges will still be accepting applications.
5. After May 1, watch for NACAC's "Space Availability Survey"
After May 1, the National Association for College Admissions Counseling conducts a survey of colleges to find out one thing–who's still got room for freshmen? Then they publish the results of the survey in early to mid May. So after May 1, check the NACAC website every day. Or just keep reading our blog and we'll let you know when it's up.
Linda says
I was not aware of NACAC’s “Space Available Survey” – what a great resource. Another option may be to take a Gap year to take courses at a community college or internship experience which would add to depth to a college application the following year.