<p>I know Smith allows admitted high school seniors to defer admission for a year, but are students allowed to take "gap years" during their four years at Smith? I'm currently a HS senior and I really wanted to spend a year in South America with a missions organization, but was not able to because of financial reasons. Would it be possible for me to take a break in between sophomore and junior year?</p>
<p>Most schools will allow this, although I can’t say that Smith will. If this will influence your decision, you should call Smith and ask. I’m not sure anyone here can answer your question with any confidence.</p>
<p>You can take a year of leave, but if you go away for a full year you can’t take classes at Smith your first semester back - you have to do the equivalent of transferring to another institution for a semester and then coming back to Smith.</p>
<p>This is based entirely on one anecdotal story, however, so do call and check it out.</p>
<p>If you go to the Dean’s page on the Smith website, there is probably information about taking a leave of absence (you might also try just typing in “leave of absence” to the search box on the Smith homepage). </p>
<p>I know that they do allow periods of leave (my friend took a semester off to backpack in Patagonia with an outdoor program after she did a semester at the Smithsonian), I don’t know for how long though when it’s not a leave for medical reasons.</p>