<p>Is anyone here thinking that a gap year might be a good althernative for a disappointing college acceptance outcome? I'm not thinking no acceptances, because S has a couple of sure bet UCs, but an outcome where he may not have an exciting choice that he feels is a good fit. His top choices are a few LACs with pretty low acceptance rates. I know kids do this in England a lot, and some Americans as well, but I haven't heard from people on this board that have chosen this route, and how it worked out for them.<br>
Some of the opportunites you can find online sound adventurous and broadening. Would any of you encourage your kids to do this rather than go to a university they were only lukewarm about attending?</p>
<p>u didnt get in this yr...chances are u will have a similar chance of admission next yr..of coz unless u done sth miraculously......</p>
<p>My S says that he might do a gap year if he isn't thrilled with his college acceptances. He is applying to a range of schools but not too many safeties are included; says he doesn't like the real safeties & doesn't want to attend them. My H and I would encourage him to take
a gap year although he still would need to apply to (other) schools. He's always been an adventurous kid, very sociable and receptive to new experiences plus he doesn't have a specific academic area of focus yet.</p>
<p>There are many threads from last spring if you do a search "Gap year".</p>
<p>My son did this and it worked out in his favor.
Also if you look at threads from "andi" you will find how her son was rejected last year from Swat and what their plan is this time around.</p>
<p>I am very much in favor of allowing your child to try to achieve their goals even if they have to try a second time.</p>
<p>I believe a year off spent wisely will mature and humble a student and the new application will be much improved.</p>
<p>I'm contemplating a gap year just because I feel like I could use the extra year to mature. I'm young for my grade and have always felt a little left out when the other kids were getting their driver's licenses and I was still being chauferred around by my mom. </p>
<p>Also, as part of the Running Start program, I'll enter any college in washington as a junior instead of freshman (I'm on track to earn my associate's degree before I graduate high school). This would allow me to graduate from in-state college with my bachelor's degree after two years. I don't think I would really want to be all done with college and into the corporate world before I was 20. </p>
<p>I'd really like to take the year to study abroad in Israel, but my parents are very opposed to that idea because of the current safety concerns. Also, my GPA has been kinda low so far (3.7ish) and I think by taking off a year colleges might see that I had matured that year?</p>
<p>Sometimes a 'gap year' is an excuse not to go to college and that
is what it turns into. Also, some classes, like math and physics, are best gone into when the mind is still fresh with the subject from h.s.. If I had any influence with the kid I would encourage him to at least enroll for a class at night, like at an ivy which is trying to boost part time student enrollment. Something to stimulate students interest and confidence. Of course, my own personal experience with children who want to do a gap year is, I have had no influence with them whatsoever and for us it turned out the 'gap year' was just an excuse to quit college.</p>
<p>as I have spoken about elsewhere on Cc my daughter took a gap year after high school as did a good chunk of her friends. About 1/3rd of graduating class actually-. ( this was from a private prep school)
She was always young for her age- and while she applied to 4 schools and was accepted to all- I encouraged her to take a year off, because she just didn't seem ready. Her top choice school, that she had intended on attending for about the past 10 years, just * to me * didn't seem to be that good of a fit.
She spent a year volunteering through cityyear/Americorps- and grew enough in the process that the subsequent year she added a school to her list that suited who she was now- and she is now a senior!
<a href="http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?70/89377%5B/url%5D">http://www.collegeconfidential.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?70/89377</a></p>
<p>Keep in mind that the rising number of college applicants peaks in the 2006-2007 school year, making a gap year especially thorny for the class of 2006, at least from a demographic point of view. Of course, the benefits of a gap year could outweigh the demographic downside, but this downside speaks to the need to spend the year wisely.</p>
<p>
I agree with this idea. To me, the best option for a student who receives some acceptances, but isn't excited about them, would be to investigate the idea of deferred admission. If at least one college would hold a place for your son for the fall of 2007, then he could take the gap year, pursue something he's really interested in, and reapply with the knowledge that his options are no worse than if he had entered in the fall of 2006. But I hope that his admissions results are just what he's hoping for. Good luck!</p>
<p>The CC students who went on Gap Year because of disappointing results did so because they could not abide their results. Those results weren't 'mildly' disapointing, they were gutting.</p>
<p>Not sure I'd recommend a Gap Year as a method of hedging bets, but a Gap Year is a great idea--especially if the student is able to move out of the house to travel or study. </p>
<p>Yes, bhg, that first semester is an adjustment, one of many they will make in life--and not dissimilar to many other freshman adjustments! ;)</p>
<p>I think it is probably most important that the idea and design of a gap year come from the student. They need to genuinely want to step off the "conveyor belt" and feel ready for it. Parents obviously need to endorse the idea, but I think the biggest gain is when the student knows for him/herself that they want a year for growing or going to places beyond college first. It is pretty amazing to see what you learn about them by what they propose to do. (And it IS hard not to pester them with a 100 ideas you have about what you probably would have (or would) like to do.</p>
<p>It seems like it would be better to go ahead and plan a gap year the student would like to do--whether he gets into the more selective schools or not--and let the idea develop fully. He may get excited and then need to defer a "non-disappointing" admission--or might choose to give up the gap year plan. But planning a year only as a hedge against disappointment risks diminshing the value of the year itself (and some of the excitement in planning it...)</p>
<p>My son is currently having a great gap year. Many LACs, like his, actively support deferred matriculation.</p>
<p>Hi. I'm also doing a gap year. I am very dedicated towards volunteeing (2000 hours) and its been one of my personal goals to engage in humanitarian activities in a third world country (I want Africa). By no means are my parents rich, and I am willing to work to gather the money. I would like to work for at LEAST a week (TWO would be great). Can anybody tell what is the best program in terms of the cost (cheapest is best for me)? I wanna make this possible but money is always a factor. Please give me some suggestions!</p>
<p>From the perspective of a current gapper...
I decided to take a year off because I wanted to go abroad to volunteer, get a different perspective, learn things I wouldn't be able to in college, etc. I was afraid that if I waited until I had completed undergrad to take a year off I would have built up too much debt to be able to do so. I applied to 12 schools last year, admitted to 8, waitlisted at 3, and rejected from 1...but none of that ended up mattering in my decision to take a year off.
So far I have spent my time working (graduation-late July), doing Spanish immersion (late July-early August), volunteering in Guatemala (early August-late October), and traveling in Central America (late October-late November). I have just returned from 4 months in Central America, and my perspective has changed in a lot of ways. My interests have evolved, which has changed what I'm looking for in a college and in the second half of my gap year. I've learned quite a bit and the experience so far has definitely been worth it.
As far as taking a gap year in response to less-than-exciting admissions results goes, that wasn't my situation (I was torn between 3 schools that I was very excited about), and I'm not sure it's something you should plan on. If it does turn out that the student is not comfortable with any of the schools he/she gets into, it may be better to take a year off and try again next year. Generally, though, I think a gap year should either be something a student is really passionate about doing and thus plans on it, or it should be a plan adopted in an emergency, otherwise I feel like it takes away from the passion of both the college applications and the gap year.</p>
<p>I also have a request for those who have responded to this thread who have taken a year off or have kids who have done so...
I am thinking about spending the second half of my year (mid Feb-July) volunteering somewhere in the US but not in my hometown (can't stand the parents for that long). I don't have enough time for AmeriCorps or any of the year-long commitments. It would be nice to be working with other volunteers in my age range. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!</p>
<p>ASAP, Im strongly in favor of a gap year (although my son chose not to take one). The added maturity, international exposure or opportunities to give-back through volunteering are invaluable. The best combination is a gap year with an acceptance in hand. Most colleges allow or even encourage a years deferral. </p>
<p>However, the idea of taking a gap year to enhance your profile because of disappointment with acceptances is more difficult to appraise as a strategy. Sometimes its the best option available, but actually planning for this eventuality seems unnecessarily defeatist. Aside from worst case spinning which appeals to the best of us:), if you anticipate disappointment why not take more aggressive action now?</p>
<p>I think the best thing your son could do right now is to expand his application list to include some more matches and some true safeties. Even if the UCs are a sure bet, if he doesnt want to go big and in-state, they are not true safeties. Its a bit on the late side, but not TOO LATE. He still has a month. You might all sleep better between December and April if he widened his options.</p>
<p>As far as what happens if he does try another year, another round of applications:</p>
<p>First, you have to think about what will be different next time. If a student was rejected as a senior, what can he do that will make himself more appealing for another try? (Presumably were talking about re-applying to the same schools.) </p>
<p>Second, you have to think about the timing. If your child graduates in June, he will only have six months at best to add to his resume. Hell need to do that early on in the year (which is really 15 months) in order to gain benefit. If that something includes travel especially to off the beaten track places -- then hell have to make sure hes in a position to organize his application from wherever in the world he is. </p>
<p>Third, a gap year can be lonely and emotionally demanding for all but the most motivated and independent kids, especially when their friends are packing up for college. Unless theyre involved with a gap-group, basically, they miss the other kids. </p>
<p>Fourth, consider the expense. There are plenty of organizations that offer activities in travel, the arts, volunteering, adventure, just about anything, but these can be quite pricy.</p>
<p>These are all negative comments, but, really, I dont feel at all negatively toward a gap year. For maturity and experience it is incomparable. As route into a college that was blocked the first time, it is risky possible, but difficult to pull off. (Though as No Poison Ivys son demonstrated, there are circumstances when it works out just fine.)</p>
<p>"Is anyone here thinking that a gap year might be a good althernative for a disappointing college acceptance outcome? "</p>
<p>No, I think that all students should select colleges, including safeties, where they would be happy to go and that also would meet their intellectual and social needs.</p>
<p>Last year, there was a situation on the Harvard board here in which a student who longed to go to Harvard took a gap year after being rejected so as to be able to reapply. The student had been accepted to some schools that many would have been delighted to attend, but the student believed that only Harvard would do.</p>
<p>The student took the time off, reapplied EA after obsessively using the board to get tips, and was deferred and then, rejected. At that point, the student decided to go elsewhere.</p>
<p>I don't think that the reason that you are considering is a good reason to take a gap year. Preparing a newer, better application, using a gap year to pursue ECs that one thinks will impress the colleges that one wants to attend, aren't likely to open doors IMO to colleges that rejected one before. The exception would be if a student really had no idea how to do college applications, so their original applications showed them in a weaker light than was actually the case. I doubt, though, whether this would be the case of the applications of avid users of CC.</p>
<p>Excellent reasons to take gap years are: immaturity, a desire to pursue EC or other interests such as travel, community service, working a job in a field that one is very interested in; being a late bloomer whose high school grades do not reflect one's intelligence and current intellectual motivation; desiring to spend time, for instance, with a family member who is fatally ill.</p>
<p>My son is considering a gap year. Although he loves learning and school and has SAT scores in the 99th percentile, his gpa is below 3.0. After years of trying to figure out what the reason is, he finally was diagnosed as ADD and is now on medication and getting biofeedback therapy designed to help him change the way that his brain works.</p>
<p>He's considering doing a gap year in he'd spend time volunteering with a local community service organization that he is president of now, but lacks the free time to proceed with the major, time-consuming projects that he'd like to implement. He also would like to work a part time job related to two fields that he's considering. And he plans to take some courses at a local community college so as to keep his academic skils sharp and prove to colleges that due to his ADD treatment, he has developed the organizational skills to excel at college work. </p>
<p>If he does this gap year, it should boost his chances of getting into the type of college that he wants to (loosely speaking, this would be a college with a supportive intellectual environment that encourages interdisciplinary studies and with bright students who assertively pursue ECs, particularly community service) and getting the merit aid that he needs. He also would have developed the internal resources to flourish academically while also creatively and assertively pursuing his ECs of choice.</p>
<p>And, please, maintain some kind of health insurance during the gap. You just never know.</p>
<p>For 70reve4rotag--some possible options. There is a program called CityYear that may have longer committments than you want--but would be worth contacting just to network because they will have links to programs in several major cities that might offer shorter term options. I'd also consider the American Friends Service Committee and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. I know they always have projects locally and abroad and there are some additional ones this year related to hurriicane relief. </p>
<p>Good luck. My son will be home in 2 weeks from this first gap-year stretch (art studies in Greece) and while I'm eager to hug him, I am also thrilled with what has happened for him so far and looking forward to what he's working out for the next phase. From what we've heard from him so far, he'd confirm all you've posted about the value of the time..</p>
<p>Mmaah, When your son gets home, please email me. I passed the information about your son's program along to my daughter and she'd like more information. Glad to hear it's still going so well for him, and I can't wait to hear what he's going to do next.</p>
<p>I have a question about these gap years that kids do. Who pays for their living/traveling expenses during that year? If they are "volunteering" does that mean there are no living expenses included?</p>
<p>And one more thing: When they finally do enroll in college, are they living with a kid who is a year younger than them?</p>
<p>I have a question about these gap years that kids do. Who pays for their living/traveling expenses during that year?</p>
<p>If they are working- they may pay their own expenses- or they have a small budget from elsewhere ( parents?)</p>
<p>* If they are "volunteering" does that mean there are no living expenses included?*</p>
<p>My daughter who did CityYear has a small living stipend</p>
<p>And one more thing: When they finally do enroll in college, are they living with a kid who is a year younger than them?</p>
<p>Depends- my daughter always had a single room even with out asking-
but for example my D2 who is in 10th grade has friends in her grade who turned 16 in Sept to friends who wont turn 16 till July.
Once you get past 11 or so-chronological age isn't that important in who your peers are.</p>