As a parent of a D’21 the idea that many student in the year ahead will be taking gap years and spots in the fall she hopes to enter is stressful. Will colleges just take away a large percentage of the spots for these students? She’s an athletic recruit so I’m hopeful she can apply ED and it won’t be an issue but I’m sure ED will be harder than ever and they may further limit the number of recruits allowed if the size of the class needs to accommodate so many gap year students.
That being said, my rising senior in college is talking about taking a semester or year off should classes be online. She was studying abroad this spring and was forced home early and had to take her classes online in another time zone. So she’s done with that kind of BS. I told her she’s free to decide what she wants and I get why she’s thinking she’ll pass on a senior year in college that is online. Her friends are all thinking the same thing.
I’ve been approved for a gap year at UMich, do any of you know if UMich has any programs or opportunities for their students who are currently deferring? I haven’t found much yet.
I think your perspective with regard to COVID, gap years, etc. is widely skewed by where you live. The “none of our friends’ kids” are doing that mentality really indicates little. We live in the South…everyone is planning to send their kids to school, but few schools allow for Gap years. D attending college in the NE–many parents don’t want to send their kids to college for fear of infection because what they have experienced with COVID tells a diff story.
D is taking a gap year from her Ivy. Required a detailed plan of how she planned to spend the year and was approved within about 24 hours. It simply bumps her to the class of 2025. No need to reapply and her outside scholarship had also already approved her gap year. She has many, many class of 2020 friends also taking gap years…mostly from private schools where gap years for incoming freshman are not unusual–Harvard, Princeton, Stanford are the ones we know. She chose to do a gap year not because she’s “not adaptable”–she just proved that this past Spring by finishing high school with no fanfare, no graduation, no honors, no salutatorian speech, etc. But with a hybrid model most likely, no in-person dining, no extracurriculars, etc. she chose to look for some opportunities in the coming year. We are being told by many gap year travel companies that Spring 2021 travel will likely happen at least in certain parts of the world; they have made deposit policies flexible.
Lots to consider for parents and kids.
Thought I’d report back since S19 took a semester off. For those of you who thought that was a bad idea and makes him less adaptable (or those who even thought it would make him less employable!), we believe he made the best choice.
He stayed with Bowdoin friends in Maine. Some took class and some worked. S19 had a full time, in-person internship funded by NASA and made $12,000. He worked for a start up company in his field of choice. Four people total in the company and they all took him under their wings and he learned so much. He also learned to live on his own and understand what it’s like to work 50 hours/week and make your own meals while still training 60/miles per week. I can’t imagine that this semester could have been better for him personally or professionally.
His college friends who went to class did fine. Class was fine. They moved another semester towards graduation.
I was just rereading this thread, though, and there were a lot of comments about how kids should accept their Covid fate and parents should be ok with paying $30k for a semester of online classes or risk the student looking worse for the wear in the future. I think kids who gap and work hard to find something rewarding to do are, in their own way, making the best of this time. There are options out there for those of you who are taking a gap now.
Bowdoin is allowing sophomores back on campus this spring and S will go. He has one class in person, one that looks hybrid and two online. He will get to practice with his team every day. He’s looking forward to getting back to campus even with the limitations. Last semester, sophomores weren’t allowed on campus and all of their classes were remote. After weighing his options, he decided it was time to go back to school since the option to live on campus, get some in-person classes, have the opportunity to see professors at office hours and see friends he hasn’t seen in a year is worth it.
I understand each student has to make their own decisions but I think taking a gap was frowned upon in this thread. I just want students to know that there are options out there to be productive if they want to take a break from school.
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One more thing -
Upthread, back in April, folks were thinking that “top schools” won’t allow gap year and that ended up not being the case. The schools that allowed the most gap years were the highest ranked schools. They understood why students would want to take a gap year and welcomed them to do so.