Oh, what they meant at Penn was that yes, he can take classes for credit as a non-matriculating student, which he has always been. Sorry, I should have been clearer.
But good advice, for sure.
It was very reassuring to have them say, “We’re saving his spot.”
Mine will be a HS student in Germany, so I believe it will be fine?
My son graduated from high school last June. He applied to 13 colleges and was accepted to all of them but was reluctant to take a loan without having a firm plan for a major, so he decided to take a gap year. I took a gap year as did several of my siblings, so it didn’t surprise or concern me when he decided to wait to go to college. Now that I think of it, only 2 of his 10 cousins went to college right after high school. The rest all took a gap year too, and every one went on to college (some to state schools and some to well known privates). Nobody had special gap year programs though. They worked, volunteered, did a lot of reading, and pursued their hobbies.
My son hasn’t been doing anything structured either. He’s been learning to cook, doing lots of reading and drawing, teaching himself coding, and spending time hanging out with his friends. He has a couple strong leads on a job so he should be working soon too. In late fall he decided he wants to study computer science, so he applied to several state schools and will be attending his first choice this fall. I think taking a gap year was the right choice for him and he’s very happy he did it.
@sbjdorlo: Yes, he had his acceptance and took a deferral.
Both of my last boys took gap years. One graduated in 2012 and one in 2014. I can say without hesitation that it was the absolute best decision ever… and both boys have also said that. My youngest is just finishing his gap year and will be going to Kenyon College very soon. He did a lot of volunteering abroad in Romania and Africa… mainly Nairobi. He then came home and got a great job almost immediately teaching on one of the Tall Ships. He also has taught himself guitar and got to do some teaching assisting for his high schools drama program. Such a great year for him and he also has real world job experience which is huge in my book… Especially when he is going to have to compete for top internships.
His older brother did a lot of adventure stuff… Hiking the Pacific Coast Trail, summiting a bunch of the highest peaks, etc. He took a class to get his EMT license and got a job right away working. It also helped him acquire a job as EMT on his college campus as a freshman. He is now director next year.
I just think a year to pursue your passions, work, volunteer, relax… Whatever is SO great!! I don’t know why everyone doesn’t do it?? You only live once and you have the rest of your life to work on your career etc. These kids are going to have VERY long lives… What is the rush IMHO
I took a gap year before it was called a gap year. I never liked school, and couldn’t see myself facing another four years of it. In those days the local community college was a technical school with nothing that interested me, so that wasn’t an option. It didn’t take many weeks of cleaning off tables at a restaurant to decide that college wasn’t a bad idea. I still didn’t particularly like it, but I didn’t find it very difficult and graduated. After that, I didn’t want to go to grad school. I decided I wanted to work in a library, though, and you really need an MLS to get anywhere. I didn’t mind grad school as much, since I had a goal in mind. What if I could have made a living right out of high school? I might have been one of those people who had to hear people say, “you’re so smart; why didn’t you go to college?” I’m not that smart, by the way. I’m very good at skimming and summarizing, which makes me a pretty good librarian. Where do I work? You guessed it, in a school.
My DD is doing a gap semester. Her thought about this goes up and down. Lately she is so looking forward to college that she feels she doesn’t want to take the gap year, when everything about the gap semester program is settled in Beijing, China. We are also hoping one of the big scholarships (outside college) she got can be deferred. Anybody have scholarship trouble because of gap year?
Nope. All S’s scholarship money was preserved, but he chose a private LAC. State schools might be different.
DD’s school scholarships are fine. but outside school scholarship is not sure.
I am looking for ideas for D2’s gap year. She is a boarding school student and would have basically no social network if she stays home, which is not ideal for a kid with social anxiety. She’s twice exceptional–gifted with ADD, mild AS, anxiety. I’m interested in finding programs that have the right level of support that would allow her to grow during the year. Any suggestions welcome!
What is the drop dead deadline for choosing a gap year? My son has been mulling the idea for almost a year. I know of at least one program he could still join. Are there others? His college would let him do it for another two weeks.
ShawSon completed his gap year a number of years ago. He is an incredibly bright kid who is severely dyslexic and has a speech delay, so this post may be of particular interest to @2eMomof2, although I’m not sure anything about it is directly applicable. ShawSon is not the kid who would want advanced baby-sitting, which we saw in gap year programs that our friends sent us. He wanted to do a few things that really interested him. However, he suffered in HS from sleep apnea – he’d grown from 5’3" to 6’4" (he says 6’3") and he was always tired. To help him manage his HS workload, I advised him to postpone college apps and standardized tests until the gap year.
So, post HS, ShawSon campaigned in NH for Obama (the first election); completed a co-authored coming of age fantasy novel (alas, his adult co-author would never finalize for psychological reasons so it has never gotten published); spent three weeks studying for and taking the SATs one week and the ACT two or three weeks later, applied to 16 colleges. He was getting help from a grad student for a Tufts professor with his dyslexia. That year, he helped the professor with research to help teenage and adult dyslexics. And critically, had extensive and painful surgery for sleep apnea. This was really important. I think he also took his driving test.
Post college, he had a "gap year’ as well – he was running a startup. He’s now in grad school.
Thanks for the tips all, D started to take the idea of a gap year seriously AFTER accepting a position at college she is excited about. So we are gathering ideas as quick as possible and contacting the school, and here I thought she was done with agonizing decisions! It’s all good, though!
Anybody that can address the situation of losing leverage of other admitted schools financial aid awards a year later when the student only has the deferred school to reissue an “updated” award ? Hope this is worded correctly…?? This year son was accepted and got award letters from numerous quality schools which we were able to “use” to have other schools sweeten the pot… Certain Ivies will “match” other certain Ivies…
I actually worry about this. I have heard of gap year students getting a much worse f. aid package when they enter. I really, really hope that doesn’t happen to us.
We did not find that to be the case.
I just found out that my son got the maximum amount on his yearly corporate national merit scholarship, so I think we’ll probably end up being just fine financially! Thanks for the encouragement, emeraldkity4.
Daughter has been matched with a host family in Germany. Both her college and scholarships are OK with her deferred admission. Yay 
I’ve mentioned that my middle child took a gap year. I hadn’t thought about it for our youngest, who is a rising senior. After seeing this thread, I mentioned the idea to her, and she got the biggest smile! She has been feeling terribly stressed about school, to the point that her therapist recommended she start meds. So I’m trying to figure out ways to get her to relax, and I think a gap year might just be the ticket. She has already studied a semester in Spain, and is going on a short volunteer trip to Peru this summer, so I’m sure we could find a good program for her. CC comes through again!
My DD’s college and scholarships also are all okay with her taking a gap year in China. We got everything confirmed. Host family is so nice that they wanted to start hosting her from summer. (but she can’t.)