My senior D is researching a gap year. We’ve reviewed some great threads here but are looking for more up to date stories and advice. Thanks!
@EmuReag Try to find posts by @owensfolks (class of 2022). She has shared a lot of her D’s gap year journey. Sorry, I’m still figuring my way around the site so I don’t know how to link anything…best of luck to your D!
Hello! Was just visiting this forum for old time’s sake, LOL. My “gap year” daughter just started her BFA MT program–class of 2022. A few thoughts:
For her, a gap year was nothing but good. For merit scholarship purposes (which she needed to attend any program except a local live-at-home one), it allowed her to develop her list of possible schools KNOWING her final HS GPA and SAT scores. There would have been no point in auditioning for spots that she would have had to turn town because of lack of funds. (We are not doing loans, and can contribute under $20K out of pocket; but don’t qualify for federal need-based aid.) Don’t mean to harp about the $$, but for us knowing pretty much what merit aid she would qualify for was essential for developing a list of schools.
She worked a couple of part time jobs during the year, which allowed her to save enough money for probably 3 years of incidental expenses. Our deal is we pay college room/board, tuition left after scholarships, and books–and stocked her up well with stuff she would need when we moved her in–she pays other incidentals from her savings and summer earnings.
She was able to audition for 13 schools without having to worry about messing up her HS GPA or stressing over assignments due. And don’t minimize the sheer amount of time it takes to send in all those applications; I had no idea (did any of us? LOL).
She has been involved in community theatre, but didn’t participate Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 so she could travel to auditions. She WAS in a musical over the summer, which was a great “warm up” for this year.
And she got in a program that she is happy with (as of the first 2 weeks, anyway!) so I guess it worked.
Down side of gap year? I guess there could be maybe a “freaked out” feeling if you are not going off to school along with all yours peers. Mom and Dad might also feel that way! My daughter didn’t have that kind of attachment to her high school, and in fact wasn’t there at all her senior year; all her classes were dual enrollment at a local community college.
Another down side was having to “do it yourself” when it came to preparing for auditions. She had a few private voice lessons/coaching sessions to prepare her audition pieces, but I am afraid I was her “monologue coach,” mostly in the car on the way to schools. She didn’t apply anywhere that required a prescreen because the though of having to figure out how to do that was very daunting to her–she is definitely a non-tech-y person. It seems that most people had help from drama or chorus teachers picking material, coaching, filming prescreens, etc. She felt that she was not as prepared as others at the auditions.
Finally, there are some schools that don’t award freshman merit scholarships to those who aren’t coming right from high school. So watch out for that. Don’t really remember any more, but I believe UAB was one of them. Also, think first before taking college classes during your year off; that might make you ineligible for some good scholarships if you are considered a transfer student instead of a new freshman. (Dual enrollment credits don’t count.)
Didn’t mean to write book! Hope it helps someone out there who may be considering a gap year.