The Gap Year

That year between high school and college in which study or service programs help students transition to college with more FOCUS and

UNDERSTANDING of the world they will be entering as young adults…..

Questions BEFORE taking a Gap Year

• Why do you want a gap year?• What do you hope to learn from your gap

year?• What type of program are you considering –

local, national, international?• What is the emphasis – academic,

volunteering, internship, teaching, certification in a skill?

Some Benefits of a Gap Year

• Easier to take time “off” when younger• Natural break between high school and

college• K – 12 years of schooling = potential burnout• Opportunity to create one’s life for a year• Create a relevance of classroom study to the

world• Explore interests through hands-on learning

Benefits (continued)

• Find one’s passion• Build self-confidence and independence• Gain skills• Gain clearer sense of college studies• Improve chances for college acceptance (if

one hasn’t applied to colleges yet)

• Lauren Rhode spent a gap year between high school and starting college at Princeton University. She spent the first three months of her gap year last fall in Morocco with Global Learning Across Borders (Global LAB), a non-profit that runs international immersion gap year programs. Lauren's gap year experience living with a Moroccan family and learning Arabic, working on community service projects, and traveling to Marrakesh and the Sahara desert have given her time to explore her interests and passions without being burdened by assigned curriculum . Lauren says of her gap year...

• During my current gap year I have rediscovered my love for literature, civilization, and life. My time has been action packed, experience intensive, and has given me the reins to control my own education. I’ve had the opportunity to pull, prod, and wrestle with everything from the beauty of language to tax returns. The wrestling with reins feels oddly resonant with how I managed a raging mad camel in the Sahara desert.My gap year has intensified my desire to learn and experience many things, both at home and abroad. The University lies before me, a great feast. I have spent a year developing a ravenous hunger.

http://www.planetgapyear.com/gap-year-options

History of the GAP YEAR• Gap year concept had origins in the UK – and since the 1990’s, taking time

out has become a natural rite of passage for thousands of UK students.• The GAP YEAR is becoming more popular with US students.• Parents are more open to this idea than in the past.

– Studies conducted by universities like Harvard show “conclusively that students who take a year out before college are more focused and motivated when they arrive on campus. Harvard’s admissions department is so convinced of the benefits of a gap year that they offer the option to every admitted freshman in their acceptance letter.”

• College admissions offices are reporting more requests from students to defer enrollment – and are granting “gap year” requests provided the student can demonstrate specific goals that will better prepare them to succeed in college.

• “Gappers” travel, volunteer, study, intern, work, perform research, and spend either several weeks to a year off.

Questions from Students

• How do I defer my college entrance so I can take a gap year?• What happens to my financial aid award if I defer entrance

for a year?• I want to take a gap year before college. Should I even apply

for college first?• What type of gap year would suit me best – as I’m just

graduating from high school?• I’m concerned that if I take a gap year, I’ll be older than

other students when I start college.• How do I know if a gap year is right for me?

Questions from Parents

• Is a Gap Year safe?• Is a Gap Year for my child?• Will my child go to college after a Gap Year?• Will a Gap Year add to the already high cost

of going to college?• What do Colleges think of a Gap Year?• How do we plan for a Gap Year?

How to Plan a Gap Year

• Plan it yourself…..

• Have a Gap Year Adviser Plan it for You…..

• Plan part of the Gap Year Yourself and the rest with help from parents, counselors, and a professional resource like Planet Gap Year or The Center for Interim Programs

Some Final Words

…As someone once reminded me, and as I now remind each incoming class at Princeton, ‘the person each of you will spend most of the rest of your life with is yourself, and therefore you owe it to yourself to use your college years to become as interesting a companion as possible.’ But I am also convinced that one’s college education is greatly enhanced by the more maturity, experience, and perspective a student can bring to it. Alas, it strikes me that these three traits are the very ones that are most difficult for most young people to come by given the lock-step nature that currently characterizes such a large part of the school-to-college process…Indeed, of all the enthusiastic letters I send to students in one year, none are more enthusiastic than those I send in response to students requesting to defer their entrance to college. -----Fred A. Hargadon, former Dean of Admissions, Princeton