<p>Hello everyone,</p>
<p>My parents have suggested that I take a gap year to travel to China for volunteering (teaching English, etc.). This is really just tentative, but I was wondering about what you all may think of it. Would it help my college chances (my dream is Yale), or hurt them? How should I apply (do I need to apply now as a junior and ask for them to wait for me?)</p>
<p>Sorry, I'm not very experienced with these kinds of things. Please let me know!</p>
<p>I’m not an expert in US college admissions by any means (far from it!) but I would suggest that so long as you can show that you are using your gap year productively, then it won’t be a problem with regards to college admissions. </p>
<p>Be very careful with regards to how you go about your volunteering. Many programmes do more harm than good (with particular reference to orphanages; this is quite a good article [Why</a> you shouldn’t participate in voluntourism | Matador Network](<a href=“http://matadornetwork.com/change/why-you-shouldnt-participate-in-voluntourism/]Why”>Why You Shouldn't Participate in Voluntourism) ) </p>
<p>Make sure that any programme asks for some sort of TEFL certification; anything else should be a warning sign. Ensure that you stay there for a significant period of time. Only being there for a few weeks will cause disruption to the children’s education (remember how little you learned at school when you had a substitute teacher? It will be like that for these kids, but with no regular teacher to return to, if they are taught by a rapid succession of tourists with no teaching experience).</p>
<p>i don’t think the schools care if you go to china or not. they look at your grades. Yale might have an entrance essay, you could write on your china experience and that would help. I think spending a year in china and going to Chinese language immersion (1 year of studying Chinese language) would do you better than just volunteering. it depends on the program you want to get into. anything other than med school, volunteering is for you benefit rather than the schools. does that make sense? no other programs require that you volunteer, other than med school. I hope that didn’t sound rude, I believe in volunteering, and i think its a great way to see the world.</p>