<p>D1 did Dynamy Internship Year in Worcester. </p>
<p>How was Dynamy? What made you decide on it?</p>
<p>If I had a college degree I would apply to the Peace Corps.
But this looks interesting too.
<a href=“About Volunteering | Appalachian Trail Conservancy”>http://www.appalachiantrail.org/get-involved/volunteer</a></p>
<p>We have a cabin in the middle of nowhere, and the AT is only a couple of miles away from it. We got terribly lost on it one time when our kids were tiny. We missed a turn and the trail got smaller and smaller, while the grass got taller and taller. It was actually kind of scary! I guess I should try it again now that my boys are taller than I am.</p>
<p>Elliemom, I was thinking the same thing myself…“I want to go!”. ; )
My daughter’s are taking a gap year with Americorps and other volunteer activities. They were advised to get recs needed for grad school applications, etc early and to apply in Fall of their gap year unless they wanted to defer it longer. </p>
<p>So many people hike the trail, it’s hard to believe you could get lost! OTOH someone got lost and died just this week on the Long Trail and I would have said pretty much the same thing about it.</p>
<p>Honestly, I think it’s hard to beat working full time at an entry-level service job. Flip burgers, take tickets, fold jeans, plant trees…you’ll get so much more out of college after that year. Building houses in Patagonia is all very well, and I’d certainly like to go. But nothing will prompt more growing up and more sense of responsibility than that plain old bottom-of-the-totem-pole job.</p>
<p>My d is planning a gap year between UG and grad school. She is planning on doing service work through our church where room and board and a small stipend will be paid. She hopes to be placed at a hospice house along the Mexican border where she can use her Spanish major, Public Health minor, and interest in attending med school.</p>
<p>mathmom, I don’t think many people hike the part of the trail close to our cabin. Probably just the through-hikers. It really is in the middle of nowhere, off of a logging road. It’s not marked at all. We had a hard time even finding where it crossed the logging road.</p>
<p>Well, I have to admit the part of the AT I’m most familiar with (from my Girl Scout days) is the Virginia/Maryland section. </p>
<p>Our son did not want to join an organized program and knew he needed surgery at some point during the gap year. He campaigned for Obama in NH during (2008), coauthored a coming of age fantasy novel, helped with research on the neurology of reading, helped coach Moot Court at his high school, and apply to college. @cluelessly, he applied during his year, not after it. He probably did other stuff too, including study for and take SAT and ACT tests. </p>
<p>We had been advised that not applying to college and not taking standardized tests until the gap year would hurt him when applying to college. However, I think the experience and his allocation of time helped him rather than hurt him in applying to college and made him more mature when he started college. </p>
<p>Both my kids applied to college while they were still in high school. Much easier to get recommendations for counselors and supervisors while you are on site rather than involved with your gap year.</p>
<p>D1 also did the application process in HS and then deferred a year. Much easier if you can swing it that way. Allowed her to concentrate on the gap year rather than admissions process. </p>
<p>@cluelessly, Dynamy was really valuable, especially for D1 who was young for her age and a little behind in life skills. They worked in 3 different unpaid internships, lived in apartments, did their own cooking and cleaning and budgeting and getting around with camaraderie and mentoring. </p>
<p>I have a friend who spent a semester after graduating working with sled dogs in the arctic. Seriously. I probably wouldn’t recommend this to anyone though :)</p>
<p>Why not?
It sounds amazing!
My youngest is going to be doing wolverine research after graduation.
She is pumped!</p>
<p>I know of a couple that did a high school exchange program with Rotary Club as a gap year. This takes planning ahead to apply and depending on the Rotary Club and country you want to go to, there can be certain age restrictions. It’s a very affordable program and life changing for my D.</p>
<p>I did a gap half decade jumping out of planes and vacationing in nasty places. </p>