<p>I don't know which forum to put this under. but here it is!
I'm a freshman in highschool and would like to take a year off between high school and college to travel. I live in the United States so what could be my approach to this? Also, my high school offers a dual-enrollment course where I can obtain an Associates degree before graduating highschool from my community college. Would it be ok to take a year off if I already have my first 2 years done. Or would a better approach be to just finish highschool early? I plan on taking a pre-med course in university/college and then going on to medical school to become a pediatrician or a dentist. How would universities react to this? Would I be able to transfer credits? and what classes should I wait for university to take (like I know Organic-chem and labs might be better to take there. </p>
<p>Also should I apply to colleges before taking the year off or after?</p>
<p>or would studying-abroad be a better approach?</p>
<p>If you take a gap year, colleges generally want to see that you’ve done something with that time, that you haven’t spent it in bed. If you take the gap year after being accepted to college, you’ll have to explain to the school which you want to attend what you want to do the next year and get their permission to move your acceptance to the following August (usually). So have a plan ready of how you’re going to study abroad, work at a mission, volunteer at a hospice, do some research in your field of interest, and/or work and save up some money during that year or so. A lot of schools like their incoming students to have had an extra year to, essentially, grow up. Such students often come to freshman year hungry to get back to school because it’s often a whole lot easier than the 9 to 5. My D has grown up so much in this her gap year, and she’s done something with her time: she’s learned to tell a Botticelli from a Fra Angelico by the brushstroke, she’s had to deal with major academic disappointment and disillusionment for the first time, she’s had to be away from the bf and gfs who went off to college, she’s had to live in another country by herself for 2 months with family a transatlantic flight away, she had to figure out the appropriate response when a gray wolf interrupts your nature call, she’s learned to work retail in an upscale toy store visited by children who’ve never been corrected and grandmothers who were once such children, she’s had to learn to deal with loneliness, and she’s learned how to give aggressive Italian men the stink eye. She’s more ready to get away from her parents than she was last year and get back to the classroom.</p>
<p>As far as community college questions, I cannot help you.</p>
<p>Wow that’s really awesome! Kudos to her and all of her achievements/experiences! I do plan on going abroad and helping with missions, learning more about the world, do some volunteering at hospitals, and maybe even preparing a little more for college! So all I will have to do is ask for admission for following year? Is this what your daughter did? And if you don’t mind me asking which college? I plan on being pre-med so will it still be a good idea with the 11 years ahead of me of school? Thanks 
</p>
<p>Did she study abroad or just travel?</p>
<p>She went to Florence and found an apartment in the west end and lived on her own, something she worked to pay for. She volunteered with Student Conservation Association in Yellowstone. She works in Toyland and at National Institutes of Health. She delayed enrollment at UColorado, which asked very few questions. I don’t think every school is so cavalier, but you will find lots of gap year students at the best colleges and at the rest of them. With all the helicoptering parents out there, I think it’s good for kids to be on their own in a strange city and have to fend for themselves. Of course, my family and friends all thought I was out of my mind, and I must admit that the first few days my wife and I would look at each other and worry, “What have we done?” But there’s Skype and intl cell service, and anytime we wanted we could have lengthy skypes, which made it a lot easier for me. And she’s the kind of kid who could take the responsibility and handle it fairly well. The very little trouble we did have was with loneliness at the beginning and getting her to come home at the end.</p>
<p>My D, too, is currently on a gap year. Very different experience than jkeil’s D–my D is touring with Disney on Ice so the experience is structured–but still totally incredible. She has loved earning her own money (essentially for the first time) and managing it, learning to cook/feed and clothe herself on a budget, handling the various petty jealousies/politics of a touring performing company, making new friends and dealing with roommates, learning how to navigate being 18 and under age when most of the cast is over 21 and feeling somewhat left out, living out of suitcases and traveling every week, losing her passport and then figuring out where she left it (the hotel at the previous city) and retrieving it on her own, learning what it takes to be a professional performer with 8 shows a week, managing the highs and lows, etc…</p>
<p>D applied to and was accepted to college last year and she deferred in July when she got the offer for the show (she had done a video audition earlier in the spring but none of us really thought it would come to fruition). She is very glad that she doesn’t have to apply now while she is on the road. We have found that most colleges will defer admission (but deferring any scholarship/merit aid may be trickier). She recently confirmed with her college that she will in fact enroll next fall and while she has mixed emotions about leaving the company, she is looking forward to college.</p>
<p>In terms of taking courses on a gap year after graduating from HS be careful. Many schools will not allow freshman admittance to anyone who has taken college courses for credit after HS (this doesn’t typically apply to dual enrollment or AP credits taken during HS).</p>
<p>I was originally ambivalent about the gap year (especially when the University originally wasn’t going to defer her scholarship) but am now so thrilled that she did it - once in a lifetime experience and she has gained so much.</p>
<p>Wow congrats to her! Was the process hard? Which college was it?</p>
<p>Process wasn’t hard - essentially a few calls to admissions to explain the opportunity.</p>
<p>momofzag, that’s the kind of experience a good gap year can be. I’m sure each AO has an idea of the ideal gap year experience, but in my estimation what’s important is for the child to have to live independently and make adult decisions that have real consequences in his or her life and the lives of people around them. It’s not necessarily academic or all academic; it has to be human in the sense that the child comes to better understand her or his position in the world and responsibility toward others.</p>