<p>What gap year activities have been done by people you know?</p>
<p>All of the ones that I know about from people I know are ordinary ones:</p>
<ul>
<li>Work.</li>
<li>Enlisted military service. Obviously, this is multiple gap years to complete the enlistment contract.</li>
</ul>
<p>But these do not seem to be the kind of gap year activities that people have in mind when suggesting that students who got shut out of college admissions take gap years.</p>
<p>Work is what I think of for a gap year. And that’s what the kids I know who’ve taken one have done. I suppose some kids can bum around Europe, but they’d need to have an awful lot of money to do that.</p>
<p>Work is a broad category. Obviously there’s an enormous difference between staying at home, flipping burgers and giving tours at a National Park where R&B is paid for (I will be doing something similar this summer and fall semester). Some people in my major also took a year off to roughneck in oil fields, participate in WOOOF (look it up), or do other activities. All were working, but not doing the things most think of when a job for 18 year olds is brought up. </p>
<p>Young woman I know spent half the year being an au-pair in Paris, half a year working in a school in rural Tanzania. (Paid for by the first half of the year.)</p>
<p>I also know a kid who did City Year. (Americorps)</p>
<p>Around here lots of kids do City Year for their gap years. When my D was thinking of taking a year off, she found some program that places student on organic farms abroad (sorry I don’t know the name of the program.)</p>
<p>^WWOOF <a href=“http://www.wwoof.net/”>http://www.wwoof.net/</a></p>
<p>I know some students who spent a year in Israel, either working on a kibbutz or other kind of service (working in a daycare center, for example) or attending a yeshiva of various denominations, or doing a dual language immersion in Arabic and Hebrew.</p>
<p>My S hiked the entire Pacific Coast Trail from Mexico to Canada. Then he spent a month getting his basic and wilderness EMT and then worked the rest of the year as an EMT in a National park. He says it was the best decision he ever made. My S who is graduating next month from high school also decided to take a gap year. He is volunteering in Kenya and Romania with two different organization and then doing the typical bumming around in Europe. </p>
<p>Hi 5boys! 
I was going to chime in on your boys, but you beat me to it. I do think it important to add that they had happy acceptances in hand and are deferring for a year not taking a gap year to retrench for a new round of applications. </p>
<p>Forgot to mention I did a language immersion program before I started college. It’s a great time to gain fluency, so that you can actually use what you learned in college. I ended up doing work on my senior thesis thanks to being able to conduct research in France.</p>
<p>Both my kids took a gap year, CityYear and work for 6 months to pay for a six month volunteer vacation in India/England.
Both were accepted to all their schools so didnt need a new list.
For students that do need a completely new list, your gap time should take into consideration the time that will take to research & visit.</p>
<p>A close friend of my son joined the National Guard. He returned and applied to the same pool of schools and got the same results - will be living with his parents and attending our local State Univ in the fall with some veteran perks. He’s very happy with his decision. </p>
<p>My son participated in a Christian program called YWAM (Youth with a Mission). He went for several months of training outside of Orlando, then spent seven weeks in Jordan - part of the time volunteering in a Syrian refugee camp.</p>
<p>I cannot emphasize strongly enough how much this experience changed him. He was surly, uncooperative, sluggish, etc., etc. in August. I actually told him I couldn’t wait for him to leave our house! At that time, he said he was never returning to Maine and CERTAINLY would never live at home again.</p>
<p>Around November, he called home to apologize for his behavior last summer. He flew home on March 1, and I thought an alien must have invaded his body. He was polite, helpful, kind, and energetic. He lost over 50 pounds. He stands taller. He’s living at home, but until he gets a job and can pay us rent, he works around the house at least a couple of hours every day. He’s figuring out what to do next, but I know he will be fine. We told him we will cover room and board if he goes to school - otherwise he owes us rent or manual labor.</p>
<p>I am SO glad he was wise enough to know he wasn’t ready for college this year. I’m very proud of him!</p>
<p>^ I love this story, @MaineLonghorn. So happy for you and your son! My D did a 21-day Outward Bound program last summer which had a similar effect, I can only imagine what an incredible impact on your son’s life this must have been!</p>
<p>Any one who reapplied to schools after finishing a GAP year?</p>
<p>My daughter applied to schools in the fall of her gap year. If she had waited until the conclusion, she would have taken more than one year off.</p>
<p>Yes of course. How was that experience? Thinking of doing the same for my D</p>
<p>All I can say after reading about some of these gap year activities is…forget about my kids, I want to take a gap year myself! </p>
<p>Ellie I am with you. I want to do one thats work on the Appalachian trial. </p>
<p>Or lay around my pool. One or the other.</p>
<p>Interned for a year in Washington, D.C., after deferring enrollment after admission to college.</p>