I’ve been mulling over the idea of taking a gap year for a while now, and I wanted to ask for advice from adults who are veterans of the process on whether this is the right path.
I’m currently 18 and a high school senior. I’m applying to colleges this year, and I would be deferring admission to do a gap year. I would ideally like to go to Germany or another country where German is the primary language. I originally wanted to start taking German in college, but am now realizing that I thrive in a culturally immersive environment as opposed to a classroom. I’m considering a gap year so that I can dive into advanced/literature classes once I get to college, and, frankly, a year of learning and studying outside of the grind of the school system sounds like an attractive option.
Finances, of course, will be a limiting factor, so I’m looking at full and partial scholarships. These are the options I’ve found:
CBYX: I'm just on the cusp of the age limit for the high school program. Would I apply to the high school program (age 15-18.5 yrs) or the CBYX for Young Professionals (18+)?
Rotary Exchange: I saw on the Gap Year thread that one or two people got a scholarship for an international exchange through the Rotary Club. I couldn't find any info on this exchange on my local Rotary Club's website. How does this work? How can you apply for a scholarship? Do you have to have already been involved with the Rotary Club?
Does anyone else have any other gap year programs they recommend? Like I said, I’m not 100% sure if this is my path yet, but it’s something I want at least to consider, lest I regret not doing so in the future.
I don’t think you can choose a country with Rotary but you should absolutely ask. I don’t believe you have to be a member. They provide the scholarships as a service to the community.
Have you considered WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms)? here’s the link to German offerings: http://www.wwoof.de/ They have opportunities in Austria as well.
I have a friend whose child was an au pair - you are given time to take courses as well as part of au pair programs. Not cheap, but I can recommend Goethe Institute courses. Disadvantage - they are pricey and you are with other foreigners. (But generally relatively few Americans or other native English speakers.) They’ve got good connections for having local language partners if you take advantage of their offerings. I took a three month course after 1.5 years of pretty rusty college German and was able to work in a German architecture firm when I was done.
If you’re willing to do your senior year again in German, I might pick that if you have the energy for it. It would put you in contact with people basically your age and is guaranteed to be immersive. And there would basically be no academic pressure as you will have your degree. If that sounds unappealing, one of the other work options above could be good, but you will have to make sure it provides enough structure around your language learning.
Rotary (at least the huge eastern region) has been accepting applications since Sept 15. In this region, students can list their top 5 choices for countries, but that doesn’t mean students are guaranteed one of those five.
If interested in Rotary exchange, contact all the local Rorary clubs to see if they are sponsoring any out-bounds for next year and still have openings. You should be able to find contact info for local clubs on the general Rotary website.
If you are open to other languages, consider NSLI-Y (“critical” languages; summer and year programs) and YES (countries w significant Muslim populations; year only), both very competitive fully-funded programs through the federal government. NSLI-Y’s application deadline is soon in late October.
I would say the high school program would be more appropriate, unless you feel you have the experience to meet this criterion of the professional program: “exhibit clear career goals and some relevant experience in their career field (experience can be work, internship, or volunteer)”
I agree with the poster above who said the benefit of a program like this is that it would put you in contact with people your age and is guaranteed to be immersive.
Given that work as an au pair involves 40 hours a week of being alone with a young child, I don’t think it is necessarily the best choice for learning the language. I know a German woman who spent time working as a nanny in order to improve her English, and did not make as much progress as she had hoped.
I also agree that investigating a WOOF placement is a good idea. Keep in mind that if you live in an Bavarian, Austrian or Swiss village, you are more likely to learn dialect than High German.
I am providing advice from the perspective of someone who did not begin learning German until college but achieved a high level of fluency after two years of college instruction (in classes where I did not do especially well) and a junior year abroad.
I too required immersion in order to really learn the language, but the immersion experience is much easier if you already have a basic grasp of German grammar.
I agree 100%. Had the same experience with French as well as German. So true about German dialects. Most people do speak Hochdeutch, but our landlord in Munich did not. German TV used to put subtitles for some of the lugers because their dialect was so hard for normal Germans to understand.
I think the au pair experience can vary a lot. When my kids were young I’d take them to the local park and there were always lot nannies socializing with each other, but possibly within their ethnic groups. I’ve known people who had good experiences and felt they became more comfortable with the target language, but a lot will depend on the age of the children.
If you’re already 18, I don’t think you can do CBYX. The program starts in July or August, and that’s more than 6 months away–so you’ll be more than 18 years and 6 months at that point. I’m not familiar with the young professionals program (I did CBYX at 16), but maybe look into it?
Rotary is great, but as others mentioned, you can’t choose your country… it’s also highly competitive in some chapters. If you have $$$ other exchange organizations you might consider: AFS, YFU.
@PrimeMeridian - Thanks for the link! Workaway seems like a goldmine. I have to sift through all of the entries to see which ones are the best fit for me.
@mathmom - My cousin was a WWOOFer (in New Zealand, iirc) and he loved the experience. However, I am physically disabled, so the manual labor that WWOOFing (and even au pair-ing) entails is beyond my physical capabilities.
@proudterrier - I think you’re right, I’d be a couple months too old to do CBYX. I’ll contact them this week to double check on the cutoff date. I’ll also look into the Young Professionals program. I have a good bit of experience (mostly unpaid), but probably not as much as they’d like, so it would be a long shot. Still, no harm in applying, as I think it’d be a good match for my interests. They seem to want “represent the diversity of the U.S. in factors including, but not limited to…ethnicity, race…religion…disabilities, etc.” As a Jewish disabled Latina, that could be a selling point for me.
I’ll also contact the Rotaries in my area and ask about the Youth Exchange.
Also, in terms of language learning, I would take at least introductory German before going abroad. My local public university teaches 3 quarters worth of German over the summer, and I’d take/audit that class before I’d go on a gap year. (Even if I don’t do a gap year, I might well take the course anyway.)
@ChasingMerit Yeah definitely check with whomever manages your region for CBYX. The website currently says 18 years, 6 months and I wonder if that’s a recent change? It used to be you couldn’t be turning 19 before leaving for the program. If you’re chosen, there’s a language camp where you get a crash course in German, but of course any you can learn before hand is useful. The big thing is ADJECTIVE ENDINGS OMG. They are both a nightmare and absolutely delightful and drilling them before you go will make your life eight million times better. Basically every noun in German has a gender/article that goes with it (der, die, das and die–there’s a singular die and a plural die! And they conjugate differently!) and you have to conjugate them based on the usage in your sentence. It’s hilarious and awful
I was okay with genders after French, it was word order that bothered me in German. Well that and the fact that the form of the articles changes depending on what part of speech it is (like Latin). However even though German has more rules than French, I felt it had fewer exceptions. I liked it better.
