I will be graduating high school a month before my 16th birthday. Because of that and other reasons, I am very interested in taking a gap year. I’m hoping to travel but would be open to staying local if there was a good opportunity. However, nearly every program I’ve looked at requires you to be 18 or older and/or costs way too much (trying to keep it free or very low cost). The few I’ve found that meet that criteria are extremely selective, so I don’t want those to be my only option. Any advice welcome!
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Check out AFS, a highly reputable exchange organization, if you would be willing to attend a high school for a semester or year and live with a host family. Eligibility seems based on age (under-18), so you’d have to check out whether r not you could participate as a high school graduate. Summer programs are also offered. There are need-based and merit-based scholarships, but they are competitive. Not sure the status of their programs at the moment wrt Covid. Good luck!
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Depending on your interests, there are internship opportunities with multiple agencies. For example NASA has high school internships, NSA (cyber security, etc.). I think they do take high school graduates (right after school). So you can apply while you still in school. See if this is something you interested in. My D22 will graduate at 16, so this is something we were entertaining for a little bit. But she decided to go straight to college after school.
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