Gap Year

<p>How do colleges look at students who take a year off from high school and pursue volunteer work and community service, while also perhaps taking a few parttime AP classes and then apply as an incoming freshman?</p>

<p>I'll let you know in a few months :)</p>

<p>Harvard, </p>

<p>if you are tempted to do this, and you have something you are eager to do, the general impression in CC is it can be a great thing AND pay of for college. </p>

<p>There was a student on CC this past season who had applied to colleges the prior year, and was deferred by a favorite Ivy school; took a gap year, reapplied, & got in.</p>

<p>Gap years are popular & even typical in other countries.</p>

<p>I hope you keep us all posted on your adventure.</p>

<p>Thanks a lot for your info. Personally, I am in the same predicament of getting rejected from my top schools. I am applying to DUKE ED this fall.</p>

<p>As for my current plans, I just graduated from high school. I went to a pretty good boarding high school, but I only took the basic sciences for the first three years. At my school, we were only limited to taking 5 classes a year, but I did not take any AP Science courses. I am actually going to India for this gap year. I have not been there in over 10 years and I think that this will be a rejuvenating experience for me to truly develop in my global outlook and personal growth. </p>

<p>My main activites will be:
-About 4-5 hours each day as a part-time student at a Biomedical science college taking 3 classes- Bio, physics, and chemistry all equivalent to AP level
-Do parttime research with a professor ( I will send a reserach paper)
-Hospital Volunteering India: Everyday for 2 hours; shadowing doctors
-Start a Fitness and Health Camp for students: Big Fitness person/ Helped others eat right and workout - on weekends
-Also become an English tutor- several days a week</p>

<p>-Since I plan on submitting a dance tape, I perhpas will learn some traditional Indian dancing on weekends.
-I will also submit 2 Indian professor reccs mentioning my academic performance and the AP-syllabi equivalence of the courses and extensive science classes...but I won't submit transcripts because I will not have them ready in time.
-I will make a community service portfolio.</p>

<p>Overall, this year off will help me serve to connect both academically in learning a solid science background and also personally as these expereriences of community service will be things that I have not experienced before. Primarily, the science foundation will be key to me.</p>

<p>My anxiety is that I hope that this science racking up in one year does not look like a bad thing or the fact that I did not take the opportuniy to do AP science in high school. My plan is actually to apply to Duke ED this fall and I hope to put my best foot forward in the admissions process.</p>

<p>Other notes to clarify (I had contacted all my schools):
-I will still be considered a domestic high school student (thus not international)
-I will still be consdered as applying as an incoming freshman. (thus not a transfer)</p>

<p>What are your views of this? I am not sure if it is the 'quality' gap year that most competitive colleges would like to see? Any other advice or opinons, I would really appreciate it.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>I will just give you MHO but I do not have any real knowledge of how adcoms analyze gap years.</p>

<p>On the face of it, your gap year seems to be an attempt to squeeze in too much, and is a little scattershot. Like, a little academics, some work, some dance, some volunteering... Sequentially, this might work better (like 3 months of this, 3 months of that) , but to do one thing for one hour a day, one thing for two hours... well... how will you present a unique experience by November when you are trying to juggle so many balls simultaneously?</p>

<p>It looks, to me, like you are designing a gap year for an application, rather than for the applicant-- does this make sense?</p>

<p>I could be wrong. But I think a gap year is best when it feels like a natural development of curiousity-- a different path from what has been taken before. Yours looks maybe a bit too close to a 'well rounded high school schedule.' </p>

<p>Perhaps if you drop a few of the ideas above and delve into the ones closest to your heart. Do the first and most important stint first so you can present it as a fully developed thing in your applications. Otherwise it will look like you are having only a cursory involvement with 6-7 things instead of an immersion experience in one passion.</p>

<p>Again, JMHO. Get some more feedback from others too.</p>

<p>Remember, make this experience exciting and fun for you. Don't be afraid to commit to a path that is simple and matches you.</p>

<p>Well I think that the science classes that I will be attending, the hospital volunteering, and tutoring are the three main things that I will be doing. Would that be a good schedule? I really do not intend this for an application but rather because I wanted to extend my community service experiences in my home country. I really think that it would be nice to give back in different ways. But I understand your point about limiting myself. In my opinion, I was only aiming to give my talents back to the community, but you have made me realize that perhaps two or three talents is the way to go as far as developing certain passions.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>Other thoughts?</p>

<p>Why the classes? That p[art seems not to fit with the "give back to community" theme. Are the classes a requirement of the hospital volunteering or research components?</p>

<p>I suspect that, freed of the classes, you could make a more significant contribution in a volunteer capacity. I like the health camp thing because it sounds like something simple that you would personally get off the ground.</p>

<p>I just picked up a book called "The Gap-Year Advantage" by Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson at Borders yesterday as we've been thinking a Gap year might be good for our young rising junior before she applies to colleges. I haven't finished it yet, but so far am impressed by the resources it mentions for finding interesting opportunities, the quotes from college admins and others, and most impressivley, the comments from students who feel so much more direction in their lives after taking a year to slow down and focus on what interests them. It recommends really going with what interests the student - look at is as a chance to "find yourself" after the hectic years of polishing a high school record looking toward college apps. </p>

<p>When I applied to MBA programs a thousand years ago i was disappointed to be "deferred" by Harvard - they admitted me, but said "go work for two years. I was devastated, as I had a "plan" and working first wasn't in it. It turns out they knew best, and although I stumbled a lot in findign work that interested me (actually, I never did - I learned instead what kind of work I didn't like), it was a very maturing expereince. When I got to B-school, breezed through, with enthusiasm and at the top of my class. </p>

<p>I think it's harder to do a gap year to improve one's chances of admission at a choice school, so I share your concern there. Can you anlayze a bit what might have been slightly weak in your original application? Either boost that, or say the heck with that, I'm going to emphaisize what I love and make yourself even stronger in your main areas of real interest. </p>

<p>Best of luck - Befuddled</p>

<p>I just picked up a book called "The Gap-Year Advantage" by Karl Haigler and Rae Nelson at Borders yesterday as we've been thinking a Gap year might be good for our young rising junior before she applies to colleges. I haven't finished it yet, but so far am impressed by the resources it mentions for finding interesting opportunities, the quotes from college admins and others, and most impressively, the comments from students who feel so much more direction in their lives after taking a year to slow down and focus on what interests them. It recommends really going with what interests the student - look at it is as a chance to "find yourself" after the hectic years of polishing a high school record looking toward college apps. </p>

<p>When I applied to MBA programs a thousand years ago I was disappointed to be "deferred" by Harvard - they admitted me, but said "go work for two years". I was devastated, as I had a "plan", and working first wasn't in it. It turns out they knew best, and although I stumbled a lot in finding work that interested me (actually, I never did - I learned instead what kind of work I didn't like), it was a very maturing experience. When I got to B-school, I breezed through, with enthusiasm and at the top of my class. </p>

<p>I think it's scarier and harder in some respects to do a gap year to improve one's chances of admission at a choice school, so I share your concern there. Can you anlayze a bit what might have been slightly weak in your original application? Either boost that, or say the heck with that, I'm going to emphasize what I love and make myself even stronger in my main areas of real interest. </p>

<p>Best of luck - Befuddled</p>

<p>Well, I have not taken any AP science classes in high school. I actually wnat to pursue the pre-med field. Thus, I really wanted a learning enrichment in the sciences at the biomedical science college. Personally, I do not plan on transferring any of these credits. Once again, it is more of the learning experience as I head into college in the US. Once again, I will only be a part-time student, so I am only taking 3 classes in Physics, Bio, and Chemistry. I mean 90% of me wants to do this becuase I really want to explore in depth into science and really hope to succeed in a 4-year institution. </p>

<p>The other 10% of me, in addition to the learning, wants to get the appeal of the colleges seeing that I am taking these 3 additional classes equivalent to the AP level. I mean I will have two professor reccomendations mentioning the work I do, thus as I apply to colleges, it will only be something additional to add.
-...the research will be in coordination with the classes.</p>

<p>-As far as the hospital volunteering, I only plan on going 3 hours a day because I want to gain some experience working with Indian doctors and a new foreign environment. I have volunteered in American hospitals, and I think that this will give me a new perspective on a new area and a new set of problems that affects the area.</p>

<p>-The fitness camp was actually only a summertime opportunity. I actually was in in India during most of June and July and I just got back. I started a fitness camp for about 4 hours a day/ 2 sessions a day type of experience. I mean I really wanted to do this becuase I understand the type of food, climate, poverty, and lack of physical activity that goes down there. I mean really having the background that I had, this was something I was really interested in and I had a great time doing this this past summer. Perhaps, I will mention this as a summertime activity and will not do this this year.</p>

<p>-The English tutoring is something I want to do perhaps several days a week for local high school students. I want to do this because I believe that with my skill and proficiency in the language, it would really help give back to those whom English is a second language. </p>

<p>In your opinion, what should I limit myself to. I am actually going back to India in September so I want to plan ahead about focusing on several things.</p>

<p>As I mentioned, main interest is community service as I have done a lot throughout high school. I also really wanted to attend classes for my academic science growth.</p>

<p>other thoughts?</p>

<p>You may find this article interesting:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/prospective/applying/time_off/time_out.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/prospective/applying/time_off/time_out.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.whereyouheaded.com/MoreStudentsOpt.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.whereyouheaded.com/MoreStudentsOpt.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>thanks xiggi. Would you guys consider a gap year a hook? P.S> how does my gap year activities and productivity sound?</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>What would your plan be if, after your gap year, you don't get into Harvard?</p>

<p>I would advise against thinking a gap year is going to get you into any SPECIFIC college. It may boost your application in general, it may not. But it is not a good idea to think it is definitely going to get you into a particular school. Therefore, make sure you have a back up plan.</p>

<p>Oh I do not plan on going to Harvard, that is just a name I had made up. I am actually applying to Duke ED this fall. My focus in an abstract would be to pursue the science field through the courses and really expand my volunteering/hospital experience abroad into India through tutoring and hospital work.</p>

<p>These are my main focuses. Once again, I did not do this to boost an application. I actually only applied to two colleges last year with the intention that I was going to take a gap year when I applied. Now I am interested in how I should present myself to admissions officers.</p>

<p>Pick one class and spend the rest of the time on your research and volunteering. I think you'll get A LOT more out of it. Hands on experiene is far better than sitting in a classroom. That's what most college students LOVE their internship and most college offer credit.</p>

<p>other ideas?</p>

<p>other inputs?</p>