I’ve been pro-Gap for years, but it solidified after I read “College Unbound,” “Paying for the Party,” “In the Basement of the Ivory Tower,” and “Debt-free U.” We have too few gappers to have good stats, but consider the dismal 4- and 6-year-graduation rates. I think taking a year to simply work – yes, even at a minimum wage job – will lead to less major-switching. Freshman women are at higher risk for assault. Women who are a year older may have more street smarts. I think going straight to a 4-yr college should be the exception rather than the rule. Opinions?
My concern and I think the concern of a lot of people is that the gap year turns into more than one year or the student never goes back to school. I say this from the perspective of someone who grew up in a much more working class area as opposed to an upper to upper middle class area. I think that biases my feelings toward gap years. For kids in my current area, it might make a lot more sense than for some of the kids I grew up with.
You know…some students just do better when attending college later…not right out of high school. This very much depends on the student.
Back when the dinosaurs roamed, when I went to college, everyone didn’t go to college. Some folks went to trade schools. Others enlisted in the military. Some got jobs and worked. Some ended up in college and others did not…ever.
And this was an upper middle class suburb.
Also, a large number of students went to college part time.
There are many ways to get a college degree…and going four years straight out of high school is only one of them.
True. In my experience those who did not go to college (late 80s) are the most adamant that their kids must go. Maybe the economy or life has not been as kind to them as to their friends who went to college and they rightly or wrongly have concluded that a college degree is more of a necessity than it once was.
I did an immersion language program for a gap year a million years ago. Great experience and being fluent in the language I’d studied in high school made a number of college experiences possible that would not have been otherwise. It also, to my surprise, it also made learning German much easier.
I wish i did one 
I did a gap year that turned into a gap decade and, um, then a gap life 
That said, one of mine has had medical leaves that turned into gap semesters, and another one left college, worked for a couple of years, and now has a multifaceted life that involves p/t school, so I guess my experiences have at least imparted some flexible attitudes about these things to my kids. They seem to have benefited from their time away from school, the second one so much that she never went back to residential college but does her p/tprogram off campus.
The idea of a “gap year” after high school usually means kids with resources do something interesting or charitable, often involving travel. WOOF gets mentioned a lot, as do orphanages in Costa Rica. To me, if you are going to go to college, you can be more productive and useful once you finish, so taking a break isn’t always helpful. But for some, it provides a needed rest from burnout, expansion of their world, and more direction. And sometimes it provides funds for the years at school: more often, it costs money though.
As opinions are solicited here, I can only share my D’s experience. She has been the youngest almost everywhere as she started kindergarten before she turned 5 y o. She indicated many times that she would not know what she would be doing during her gap year. She was involved in many um-related activities all during HS, college and even had several ECs during her medical school. She said that she did not need to “catch up” on anything, she was where she wanted to be without any gap years. She had 2 minors at college and had a great time at college. She also never had a single summer class. Having great relaxing summers was enough of a “gap” for her. And again, while good number of med. students are taking a gap year, she did not feel like she needed one. She become an MD at 25 and as a first year resident who experiences the most challenges in her life yet, much higher level than any academic challenges in her previous 8 years, she is very satisfied with her job.
It is important to know what relaxes you personally and make sure to be involve in this activity on a regular basis. It takes certain maturity and kids who were busy and involve in many unrelated ECs during kindergarten thru HS years are at definite advantage here as they learn how to relax at very early age.
Every kid I know personally who has done a gap year has done one because they had a plan for the gap year, not because of uncertainty about college. I think having a plan for a specific thing you want to do makes for a more successful gap year (and one that leads the kid to actually go to college).
Gap years can be helpful. When you don’t have a lot of money and aren’t sure what you want to study, a gap year or two spent holding down a full-time job can provide some clarity.
Taking a gap year doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t finish your degree. My siblings and I all took gap years, and all but one of us has at least one degree. Most of my nieces and nephews also took gap years and all of them went back to school. One is in trade school, 5 have their bachelor’s, and the other 2 are working on them full-time. Four of the 5 who earned their bachelor’s have either completed a master’s or are currently working on one. The 5th recently got recruited to a well paying job directly from his private school, so I’m not sure if or when he’ll pursue a master’s degree.
I think the reason we’ve been able to complete our educations after a break is that we have a safety net: families that let us live at home for free while attending school and (in the case of some of my siblings’ kids) parents who could afford to be full pay at some pretty pricey private schools when they were ready to attend. I do think it’s very easy for life to get in the way so I wouldn’t recommend a gap year for everyone, but it can be very helpful for those whose situations warrant one.
Thank you all for commenting.
CompMom, I too had gap years after college – minimum wage in interesting places.
But that was back in the old days when college was not so expensive. People sometimes argue that it’s better to earn the degree sooner so you can start earning good money, that doesn’t always happen. In “Paying for the Party” several of the women either dropped out or got suckered into a degree that only works if you are already rich, have connections, and live in a big city (Wedding Planning). Those women ended up back in their small hometowns earning $10/hr – but now with student debt. A friend’s daughter was the first of her peer group to move out of the parent’s home – she spent a year back at home after earning her degree, which in retrospect was not a good fit for her. Yes, she loved being at college, yes, she had a blast, yes she made good friends. What I would call an extended (expensive) adolescence.
If a working Gap Year (not a rich-man’s traveling Gap Year) gets you to focus on a major that leads to gainful employment, that is a good Gap. The exceptions would be kids like MiamiDAP’s – kids who are very focused, who have known from an early age what they wanted to be. Those are kids who self-propel to a 4-year-degree. They are not on the conveyor belt.
I had one take a Rotary Youth Exchange gap year, which helped her fluency in a 3rd language-and was a whole lot of fun. College was picked out in HS, and then she deferred, so there was a solid plan in place. My unexpected realization was that as we are dependent on financial aid, one in college gives you less aid than two at once (twins). Then at tax time, we sudden realized that as she had turned 24 before the first of the year in which she graduated, I didn’t have the educational deduction for that final year. She was very happy to receive the money instead!
This is all few thousand here and there that are all water under the bridge at this point. However both rather hit me upside the head at the time.
This can be really dicey. For some, the year working solidifies their desire to go to school and be mature about it…for many others, the lure of an income, even a low income, can make i hard to go back to school. Everyone is different, so it may work out great. I would agree that having a specific plan is crucial to avoid gaps become permanent chasms.
“Women who are a year older may have more street smarts” What does that even mean? Why does whatever it means apply more to women than men?
It already is. Most high school graduates do something other than going to a 4 year college immediately after graduation. Probably only about a third can even get admitted to a 4 year college as a frosh applicant to begin with. Even many of those students start at a community college, and many of the ones starting at a 4 year college go to the local commuter college, which is a very different type of situation from that at a party-heavy residential college. Many college students spend much of their out-of-class time working to earn money to pay for college.
Not everyone lives in the upper-middle to upper class bubble where almost every high school graduate is pushed toward 4 year college, even if it would not be the best fit for him/her at the time.
My oldest took a gap year that turned into not going to college. He started working and is pursuing his dreams - totally self-supporting at 21 (lived at home for a few years). For him it was the right thing - at least so far.
It was hard at first because I’m such a pro-college person. But I see him doing things his way pretty successfully so far and he’s aware of the downsides.
Gifted kids are the exception- they need to go to college. Plus, the young ones have fewer options than 18 year olds and are bored with HS, they need intellectual stimulation and not time filling work until they are the age of most college students.
For the rest of the normal population (excluding low IQ students here) it should not be exceptional nor the rule. Many probably should go to college right away instead of losing their educational momentum. Having some college but not a degree isn’t a bad thing for some- they got an experience and know what does/doesn’t work for them. Plus there are kids who need to work and take fewer credits- more than 4 years for a degree.
I think it is better for some students to switch majors and have explored areas than to treat college just as job training.
So, no, I disagree with gap years for most ordinary college students (not just for the gifted). In the ideal world there would be much more flexibility for young adults. Another issue is that for some reluctant straight out of HS freshmen it was the best thing for them and good they were nudged into it.
MiamiDAP- as usual, I disagree with many of your comments and interpretations. You relate to your experience of one, not encounters with many parents of gifted kids via friends, family and the parent gifted committee I draw upon along with my own experiences. Summer gifted programs are wonderful social experiences for kids- even when they come home and tell parents how stupid they are (how does kid think he got his intelligence???). It is good your D found her niche- there are many like her as well as others whose paths are different with the same end result. Good luck to her over the years.
Oh- my kid got off the belt by working instead of grad school. His field of software development allows for learning and intellectual satisfaction for the present.
Back in my day, I only had one friend go to college, it was not the norm at all. I went right into factory work out of HS and back then you could earn a decent living doing that. Now, find anything that pays a living wage w/o education of some sort.
A GAP year to me would be working full time at a crappy job earning very little. See no point to that at all. Since the first 2 years of any 4 year program are usually gen eds anyway, a student doesn’t really have to know exactly what they might want to study starting out. Being exposed to opportunities there is far better than some min wage retail job.
I think a kid w/ more affluent parents would be more likely to take a true GAP year.
DD is looking at this possibility right now. She would like to become more fluent in Japanese, so that would be the purpose. But I don’t want it to turn into a five year gap . . .
My D is currently taking a gap year. She will be attending an LAC in the fall. She just returned from an internship through the Student Conservation Association (which cost us very little as it provides travel funds, housing and a stipend) and will probably do another one later in the spring. In addition to her internship she took dance classes which was something I never expected her to do and really enjoyed it, and did a ton of reading for pleasure, both fiction and non-fiction, none of it light. She will be earning her Wilderness First Responder certificate later this month and is taking an ASL class. So at this point, I feel like she is taking advantage of this opportunity. She misses school and she misses playing on a sports team (she will play in college). But I appreciate this time she has to explore things she may not study in college and to see some beautiful parts of the country. I also like that she is getting some maturing and learning experiences (shopping and cooking for herself, doing laundry, being away from home for an extended time) before she goes to college so hopefully that adjustment will go more smoothly.She’s learning about herself and how to manage herself in the world. Ideally, she will be able to focus on the academic side because the other stuff will seem easier.
While I don’t think a gap year is for everyone I do think they can be a great opportunity. I am not a fan of the expensive all inclusive type of program that keeps kids in a bubble while they explore the world. But they may be the right choice for other families.