<p>My D is a very young HS senior. We're looking at colleges and at the same time, looking for gap year ideas, so she'll have time to grow some more before she goes to college. Any suggestions will be very much appreciated. She is mostly interested in: International relations, journalism, or law - along those paths. </p>
<p>She has done NSLI-Y summer program and will apply for their year program. But it's very competitive and there is a good chance she won't get in. </p>
<p>Hi! I’m on a gap year right now actually. I suggest that she apply to and choose a college that she likes this year and then defer enrollment to the following fall. That’s what I did and I have a guaranteed spot at William & Mary for the fall of 2015. </p>
<p>I am interning at my dance studio, taking language, acting, and art classes, and volunteering at nonprofits. I would like to do some traveling once I’ve saved up enough money. I went to Switzerland this past June to visit family friends and it was an amazing experience. Next summer I will be going to Norway with my dad to visit relatives. I’m definitely going to swing by and see my friends at college, and hopefully some other trips, we’ll see.</p>
<p>I’m not doing an organized program. I don’t know much about the companies and wouldn’t feel comfortable trusting them. We know someone who had a very bad experience with one.</p>
<p>Feel free to ask me any questions you might have!</p>
<p>How young is “very young”? My son easily started at a top flagship while still 16. Your D has had the same HS experience a the other seniors/entering freshmen in college. By now she is used to being younger (and it helps that the legal drinking age is currently 21) and is with her peer group. I would assume she is gifted an there are few opportunities for underage students that older HS grads can pursue. Does SHE want to delay college? Is she really less mature than most HS seniors? Be sure to get her input. I doubt she has gotten this far by being less mature than her classmates.</p>
<p>If you can afford it and she’s interested in IS I would recommend a language program. There are plenty designed for recent high school graduates, many with homestays. The IR program my son recently graduated from (Tufts) requires 8 semesters of a language or fluency, if you arrive already comfortable with a language you are way ahead of the game.</p>
<p>Thank you all. Very helpful. @wis75 my D will be 16 if she goes to college next year so she’ll be like your S. She is NOT crazy about the idea of a gap year. She feels she is ready for college. I’m sure she’ll be okay. but wait another year would be better. Of course if she insists I’m not going to push. But she may decide it’s not bad to do a gap year. You’re right, she would have got this far and done this well if she was immature. </p>
<p>@1sparkle2 good luck! Hope you enjoy your gap year. Yes she is applying for college and NSLIY gap year program at the same time. </p>
<p>@mathmom thank you for commenting. I may message you about IR at Tufts. she is very interested and we visited Tufts. she loves it. </p>
<p>No- waiting a year would NOT be better! Why waste a year with junky activities instead of enjoying the mental stimulation of an academic program geared to her intellectual abilities and preparation?</p>
<p>My son never got all A’s- getting good grades for the sake of them never interested him. He did well in college because he was intellectually engaged in his courses. He also was not the youngest in his Honors Physics course- there were two local HS students in it, including a 14 year old girl (Youth Options in Wisconsin allows gifted HS students to take college courses if the equivalent material is not available- the physics course was calculus based and much more than an AP course). Professors and other teaching staff don’t care what age the students are- and won’t notice. Likewise other college students won’t either.</p>
<p>Parents of 18 year old seniors also wonder if their child will be ready for college in the fall. The vast majority are. Teens in this age range go through a lot of maturing senior year and even the summer before college starts. The only downside is if your D is tired of being younger than others. Perhaps not as big a deal for girls as most would socialize with older, not younger, boys. Gifted kids do not fit- part of being gifted is being out of synch with one’s age group.</p>
<p>I was listening to NPR today and heard a story about a program called Global Citizen Year. It is year-long program especially for young people who have just graduated from high school. The program sends kids overseas (not sure of the specific countries) to be involved in global service projects. It sounded like a great program–there was a long training period and a de-briefing when kids return to the states. The kid who was being interviewed ( from my local NPR area–Cape Cod and islands) was going to Tufts. Also–scholarships available for kids to participate in the program. Google Global Citizen Year and you can find info on it. It sounded like a great program to me.</p>
<p>@wis75 I take offense to the description of a gap year as a year of “junky activities.”</p>
<p>My daughter is currently doing a gap year with Global Citizen Year. Feel free PM me if you have any questions.</p>
<p>Important question- does this program accept minors? Many options require adult status. For the gifted (as this 16 year old HS senior appears to be) many gap year programs are junky- they do not offer enough mental stimulation to substitute for college. I do not see a college readiness issue here but rather a parent worried about her D’s age. </p>
<p>@wis75 Gap years are not supposed to substitute for college. They are supposed to be years that are used for exploration and personal growth outside of the classroom, which is just as important as academic growth. Someone can be ready for college academically but not emotionally. I can’t speak for organized programs as I am not participating in one, but as a gifted student myself I will say that I am receiving plenty of “mental stimulation” this year, albeit in a different way. The one thing I will say is that the gap year should be the daughter’s choice because otherwise she will not be in the right mindset to take advantage of the opportunities it offers.</p>
<p>Many of the top colleges even recommend a gap year and it has been proven that gap year students are more motivated, driven, and focused once they return to the classroom than their peers.</p>
<p>OP, you are a mom, and you have been given instincts about your child. You know your child best. Trust your instincts. It believe that planning for both college and gap year is a good thing. It gives your child options.</p>
<p>Sending a 16 year old to college may or may not be a good idea. Colleges are full of 18-24 year olds. And a legal drinking age of 21 does not mean that there are not parties on every campus. Read posts here on CC about freshmen struggling to adjust to college life, making new friends, learning to share a room with a stranger, etc. Is your child socially adept at handling this kind of transition? Does she have self-confidence, can she make friends easily, how does she function under pressure?</p>
<p>For the same reasons you might be hesitant to send your young daughter off to college, I would caution you to avoid sending your young child off to a foreign country. There is plenty of time later for a student to experience the world.</p>
<p>What are your child’s interests and passions? I would explore networking to find a job/internship/volunteer activity that would let your child experience the work setting for a possible future career. Or study under an artist/dance teacher in depth without academic credit, just for the pure experience of it.</p>
<p>Childhood is precious, and life is not a race. Together, you and your child can look at lots of options and possibilities.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I would not be surprised if many students’ gap years were doing something like ordinary paid work (or several years in enlisted military service). Motivation to attend college and do well may come from realizing that paid work with only a high school diploma is not what they want for a career.</p>
<p>Does anyone know nice programs/volunteering/class opportunities in the U.S.? She went off to other countries two summers. I kind of hope she’ll stay in the country (but not in our hometown) for gap year. We’re just exploring opportunities. she may end up going to college anyway, even though I don’t hope so. </p>
<p>Another option is to apply to get into college and then defer for a year…have you considered an exchange program like Youth For Understanding?</p>
<p>Check out City Year–a domestic service program. I’m most familiar with City Year Boston and have met one of the founders of the program. It takes students from 17 to 24–the focus is on supporting/mentoring inner city youth so they can stay in school. Daughter of a good friend was in the program last year and found it very rewarding. You get a small stipend for living expenses, and an award that you can use to fund your education or pay off student loans–they take HS grads, college students and college grads. The website is: <a href=“http://www.cityyear.org”>www.cityyear.org</a></p>
<p>If she wants college- let her go. Do not hold her back. The time to have done so if you think she needs to be instep with her agemates would have been years ago when you chose to let her forge ahead at her pace. She is more ready for college than you think. She presumably did any grad skipping years ago and has been in synch with her HS classmates the past 4 years. She has had the exposure to this peer group for many years and has the same life experiences of the rest of the students attending college immediately following HS graduation. Remember that college is not like HS- gone are the social cliques et al. She will find like minded peers who value the academics she does. Her college experience will not be that of the average college student simply because she is likely to be more intense about the academics than the typical college student, regardless of when she goes. Why deny her the chance to delve more deeply into academic material sooner? My friends and I, including one a grade ahead of her age, were at the same intellectual intensity and interests in college. Socially we were not typical and never would have been at any age.</p>
<p>@wis75 I don’t know how you could possibly know more than the OP about how ready she is for college. As you said yourself, college is not like high school. In college you are on your own for the first time and have to be able to live independently and deal with challenging emotional situations without your parents. And let me tell you, there are plenty of college students who excel at academics who still party away on Friday and Saturday. There is also no “holding back” in the real world. Is life a competition? Is anyone truly going to care or be impressed with how young you were when you started college? No. I’m glad you and your friends had no problems with this. I, however, know very bright (“gifted”) people, some who were 18 when they started college, who had to go home early because they couldn’t handle all the social stressors. One of them had a nervous breakdown and had to be hospitalized for a month. So, the difficulty of adjustment is very real and I don’t think it is your place to tell the OP that their daughter is ready for this environment simply because she has been in classrooms with people of that age group. Also, that she has had the same life experiences as the rest of the students entering college immediately following high school is an assumption you can’t make. Everyone has a different set of life experiences and it is up to the OP and the daughter to decide whether her life experiences thus far have adequately prepared her for what lies ahead. If the pressure is too much for her she will not be able to take advantage of higher levels of academic material.</p>
<p>My S took a gap year between HS and college - was accepted, then deferred for a year. Not because he was immature, but to take a break from the structured environment in school to think about his potential field of study. He did a variety of things - studied in Europe, taught himself how to program, spent time with his younger brother. It was a great move for him - it seemed to help him focus and refresh…as a result he had a phenomenal freshman year. </p>
<p>The idea of rushing a 16 year old into college then dealing with the potential problems as they arise seems foolish to me. Can’t agree with much of what wis75 says.</p>