<p>Did your kid do one? Was it a growing, learning, maturing experience .... or a waste of time? Which programs have your heard positive things about? I am currently doing research on this for my son and the amount of information is overwhelming. I would love to hear some real world stories about your experiences with the Gap Year. Thanks!</p>
<p>A gap year in another country is often a great idea and student will come back fluent. Only advisable for mature students.
Daughter spent a year after high school living abroad and attending a foreign high school. She had studied the language all through high school, but it was still a big adjustment. She had skipped a grade and was therefore still high school age. The program she was on is not available anymore, but I recommend Rotary. Be aware that there are age limits for lots of countries -- American students are often too old after high school to be eligible for Rotary in many countries.</p>
<p>Youth For Understanding lets h.s. kids spend the year after h.s. at a foreign high school. They call it 13th year abroad; it is a Gap Year program. There have been a lot of threads about Gap Years.</p>
<p>I'd like to echo anneroku's response. A gap year abroad is a priceless experience that opens students' minds and gives them more of a true "education" than can be learned in any classroom. It is an experience that they will carry with them the rest of their lives.</p>
<p>And doing this between high school and college is particularly useful because it will help them enter college as a more mature, worldly student, and can lead to greater academic success as a result.</p>
<p>Im going to go with the majority here. I entered college in the late 90s and looking back on my experience, I really wasn't ready. Decisions from daily life to picking classes and majors, were just a bit much to handle at 17. I just wasn't mature enough and I'm only now able to admit that.</p>
<p>I've heard great things about the gap year. The experience, whether it be overseas or spent working at a job stateside, is priceless if not only for the fact that your S or D will gain valuable opportunities to grow and mature a little.</p>
<p>Hurrah, I typed a long reply that got lost in cyberspace... PM me if you want more details, but I'm just going to summarize what I said just now.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>I did a gap year: priceless.</p></li>
<li><p>I didn't go on a gap year program: I taught English and film for a term, then I left to make short films (I applied to all my schools as a prospective film major).</p></li>
<li><p>structure: What do you do when you have 24 hours a day, have five things to do, and no one to tell you how and when? When a kid is in HS, most of their day is planned out for them. When they do a self-planned gap year (as opposed to a gap year program), they're forced to learn how to set long-term and short-term objectives, and to figure out a day-to-day plan to achieve those objectives. A useful skill for anyone considering a future career with considerable room for self-direction: academia, freelance work, writing, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>work: I have worked a total of six jobs from high school to now, a mix of internships, office and retail, plus teaching. By the fourth (teaching), I had narrowed down why I'd liked some jobs and hated others: I enjoyed jobs where my time was flexible and I had easy access to decision-making people the most; I hated 9-5s and highly structured office hierarchies. Within the career options for every field of study, there are still a myriad of different work environments; a student that knows which environment he/she would work best in and why has greater control over his/her job satisfaction out of college. This could also apply to college lists - does the student prefer a guided curriculum or a free one, does the student thrive or wilt in a competitive or structured environment, etc., how well and how quickly does he/she adapt to a new environment and how does that affect his/her college choices?</p></li>
<li><p>motivation: when you roll out of bed in the morning (or afternoon, or evening) and there's no one to tell you to go to school or even to go to work, what do you do? How do you get yourself to do the things that you planned the night before, especially if you're working alone and in your own time (as I was)? It's easy to start personal projects, but to see them through takes something else. </p></li>
<li><p>cashflow: I stayed at home, didn't pay rent, and got a generous allowance from my parents (they didn't have to do that). I try to pay for my own food though. After I quit teaching, I tutored a kid to gain some financial independence. I used to spend my wallet dry in high school and then ask for advance allowance, but I don't do that anymore, I try to be financially solvent. This is different from getting a summer job or term-time job - usually the extra money goes to luxuries. When the last $20 in the wallet is the difference between a CD and three days' meals, fiscal discipline naturally develops itself. Very useful in college, I would imagine.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Aha, still kinda long... I think I got carried away again :P The above may not apply exactly to your situation, but I think the additional perspective and independence provided by a gap year is pretty much invaluable for anyone gets the chance to take a year off. A student who's done a gap year, I think, will have a greater focus going into college, because they'll know what they hope to get out of their education after spending a year off of the typical educational path.</p>
<p>phantompong-</p>
<p>Great post. This is the type of experience I wish I had gone through before I went to school. Learning basic life skills, financial discipline and just general time management (all skills I thought I had but really didn't) would've served me well.</p>
<p>I really do encourage students contemplating a gap year to consider it serious. The time will help you to refocus, mature a little, and really do something interesting after maybe 13 years of school!</p>