Any parents on here with kids taking a gap year? I would love to hear some opinions, thoughts about it.
My daughter is determined, she has been accepted to a year in Germany through CBYX, still waiting to hear about Korea, but I think she is leaning more towards Germany as it seems to be much more of an immersion program.
Many colleges are expressing their love for a gap year now. My daughter spoke to an admission officer at Yale about it. Yale is all for a gap year. She was told that she will come back a much more mature person, able to tackle many difficulties that freshman are having while adjusting to college life.
Your thoughts?
I think it is a great idea. My kids couldn’t be persuaded, however.
Part of leaving the nest is just the leaving part: going out into the world on your own. I think the education part can be overshadowed by the getting out part, so why not do them one at a time?
And there are certainly some great programs and experiences that can be had before college, especially living in another language and culture.
Both my kids have done a gap year. I’m all for it. My two haven’t done the expensive gap year program route but have pieced together various programs and experiences to keep the cost down. Congrats on CBYX for your daughter! Is Korea NSLI-Y?
Yes, NSLI-Y, but she is already thinking that it is not a full immersion, like Germany …
Would your daughter apply to colleges, then defer for a year? My son did that - deferred admission after he was accepted, so it was very low stress. He spent the year doing some programming projects that he never had time for in HS, then spent several months in Rome studying Latin and the classics. It was great for him - he was very ready for freshman year (he would have been on the younger side if not for the gap year), and it helped him think about his goals going forward.
Yes- she is a senior already accepted to college.
I took a gap year with a full immersion program in France. It was a great experience for all the reasons Yale says, but also because I was able to take advanced French literature courses, use my French for my senior thesis research adn was paid to translate a short book about indigenous housing in Senegal for one of my professors. I was already accepted at Harvard and went there much more relaxed and with a better sense of who I was. My kids unfortunately took Latin so language immersion wasn’t really in the cards. One niece went to Paris and had a good experience.
tell her to go for it!
She only has one chance for a gap year!
I did a gap year, as an exchange student. I would absolutely do that again; it was life-changing, in a good way.
I’m jealous. Yes, sounds like an awesome opportunity!