<p>Please indicate if your progression through secondary school was or will be delayed or interrupted in any way. Check all that apply.</p>
<p>AFTER secondary school I took a year off (Moved back to my homecountry to do the SATs there since I couldn´t do them in the country I then resided, worked, traveled around europe etc) </p>
<p>But that means my sec school has NOT been delayed/interrupted because I did the gap year after graduating??? </p>
<p>PLEASE HELP</p>
<p>The question is not worded well (as is true for many parts of this year’s new common app), but the answer is clear in your case. You have a gap between high school and college. You must tick the box indicating that you “did or will take a gap year.”</p>
<p>I’m a gap year applicant as well and had the same question; a counselor at a NACAC college fair told me to check yes. She also explained that the gap year is the most important and relevant part of your application, so it’s vital that you write your essay outlining the reasons for your gap, what you did, and how it makes you a good candidate (aka how has it changed you).</p>
<p>Oh ok thanks. I´ve even asked common app and they had replied :
“It is up to your discretion as to how you decide to complete your application. The best resource for information may be your guidance counselor, who would be more familiar with your personal situation. You may also consider contacting your school(s) of interest directly.”
So I am drafting my gap year essay right now. Would you maybe like to read it? It´s not too long, merely just an explanation of what I did and why I did it etc…
@ xariel I don´t understand why it would be the “most important and relevant part of your application” ??</p>
<p>Yeah, I could read it if you want, shoot me a PM. This is what I understood from her comment: </p>
<p>The reason is because they want to make sure you weren’t bumming around all year. In terms of academics, yeah, your HS records are still important because that’s a reflection of your past performance. The HS records are used because past performance can be used as a predictor for future performance, yet you have a year out of school that is even more recent than your HS records. Your experiences from your gap year are going to influence your performance in college just as much as your HS past. Being the most recent “you”, and the most recent past “performance”, it’s thus more relevant to the application process.</p>