Help me take a gap year?

I’m not completely sure if this is the right place for this, but here goes nothing.

I am a senior in high school, and really want to take a gap year. I’m applying to colleges now and would commit to a school and defer admission for a year (every school on my list allows it). I’d like to take a gap year so I can spend a year away from essays and finals and hopefully give back to the community or just do something new. I have applied for NSLI-Y and am planning on applying to YES Abroad or CBYX. I’ll also probably apply to AmeriCorps or something. I’m trying to explore gap year options, but here are my two stipulations:

-Money. I don’t have too much money to spend on a gap year. My max would probably be like $6000 (two summers of working plus some during this school year). Although, I may apply to Uncollege because they do have scholarships should I get in.

-Structure. My dad is pretty skeptical about gap years and believes I should enter college right away. I’m going to need a pretty solid plan (for example, the scholarships, AmeriCorps, and Uncollege are all long programs) to convince him to let me do it.

If you could give me any advice at all, it would be very helpful! Also, as far as going abroad, the only other language I speak is Spanish and I do not speak it fluently.

If you don’t get accepted to the programs you applied to, you can also do work in exchange for food/lodging in different countries through programs like WWOOF and helpx. My kids did gap years and didn’t spend more than around $6,000.

yeah, back in the day, people didn’t have formal gap years. They just took time off before school. There were no programs. You can put together all kinds of cool things to do, as @doschicos said. Also look into SCA Student Conservation Association. They have programs for teens and youth and young adults. I think at age 18 you still qualify for the younger set of things to do. SCA provides place to live and food, but you’d provide transportation to the location.

National Parks individually list programs for volunteer. Look at various parks’ websites for info

Volunteer.gov has info too.

workaway.info is a possible option.

Or you can just work at home and save some coin. Anything you do will give you real skills that you will use later in life. If you work in a diner, you will learn very quickly how to literally think on your feet, customer service, time management etc. If you work as a chamber maid in a hotel, you will learn how to be thorough and careful with details. If you work painting houses, you will learn the chemistry of layers of paint and adhesion. Basically these are skills that you will have for life.

Point your dad to Harvard’s open letter advocating gap years. That might help him adjust–

https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/preparing-college/should-i-take-time

@doschicos how long were most of the stints with helpx and WWOOF?

I feel like I’d much rather do a farmstays and things like that, maybe in Germany and Spain because I’ve always wanted to live in Germany and I have a few distant relatives in Spain, but when I tried to bring it up, my dad stormed out of the room… It’s probably a good thing I have several months before I need to do anything.

Anywhere from a week to 3 or more months. It can really vary.

What are your dad’s main concerns really?

In addition to the Harvard link, here’s commentary on the benefits of gap years from Middlebury College:
http://www.middlebury.edu/admissions/apply/gapyear

My parents say that they don’t understand why I would want to delay my education. My dad also says that gap years seem to be for a certain kind of people (college tour guides we’ve spoke to have spoken very highly of gap years) and I’m not that kind of person. I think he also thinks I know what I want to do with my life when that’s really not true at all so I don’t know. My mom also doesn’t see the benefit of taking a gap year and going abroad for something like WWOOF. Perhaps some anecdotal evidence would help if you don’t mind? @doschicos
I think I’ve also read something from MIT that said “No one ever regrets taking a gap year, but plenty regret not taking one.”

I think another year of maturity can’t hurt when you start college. There is so much to learn outside the classroom. My advice is to ask your parents their specific concerns and then put together and make a presentation to them based on what you’ve gathered from the internet - Harvard, Middlebury for starters. You’ll find much more info online on colleges recommending it, studies showing that gap year students are better prepared, contribute more on campus, etc. Make it unemotional and fact based. Talk to your guidance counselor and see if there are previous graduates from your high school that took a gap year. Perhaps you can talk to them and their parents. Perhaps knowing someone who has done it locally will give your parents more comfort. Do you have any college fairs or college reps coming near you? If so, you could discuss it with the college reps with your parents present so they can hear comments from someone else.

@Fangirl1999 I as a parent have an opposite view of your dad. I am encouraging my kid to take a gap year to go for NSLI-Y. I think an opportunity to really learn another language and culture is more important than spending a year in college. I think the maturity and perspective gained through a gap year will outweigh anything else. The way I look at it is you can always go to college but not study another language and culture FOR FREE for an entire year. The experience can only make you a better student after one year. This is based on my life experience of having experienced different cultures.

How about working at a paid job? Then you will earn money instead of spending it during your gap year.

Two things that jump out at me that might be your parents’ concerns are this: 1) the $6K you’ve saved will be used to mostly fund this gap year might be better spent towards defraying college costs, in their eyes. You start this fall, you have $6K to drop towards expenses. You start in the fall 2018, you’re at almost zero.

  1. fear that if you don’t start now, one gap year may extend to two, to three, etc…

I think you need to address both of these, minimally.

I think you also need to talk with your family to find out if your choice to take a gap year will have any impact on them.

Will it be more difficult for them to contribute financially to your college costs if you wait a year? Does it mean that you will be in college at the same time as a brother or sister? (That can be tough financially.) Are they nearing retirement? Are they planning to downsize to a smaller and less expensive home, and your gap year would cause them to delay that?

You won’t know unless you ask.

Many of my friends who took gap years lived at home for six months working a retail-type job and saving money, then went on a long backpacking vacation for the second six months.

Unless high school stressed you out severely, I wouldn’t take a gap year. Studying abroad might be ideal because you can travel, explore, etc. without putting college on hold.

IMO study abroad is an awkward halfway house between college and a vacation, and often ends up being a bad version of both.

There are all kinds of study abroad programs out there - some more rigorous and academic than others. You have to do your research to find the kind of program and experience you want.

True. Direct enrollment in a foreign university, preferably in a foreign language, really adds value to a college degree. Anything less I’m a bit dubious of.

Maybe you can explore schools that have good exchange programs - not a gap but lots of opportunity to explore a college in a different country but still advance towards your degree. Have a close friend who’s daughter is a freshman at the University of Utah who was just accepted as an exchange student at Cambridge University for her sophomore year. Lots of options out there - good luck.

National Outdoor Leadership School is a great option and they actually give college credit;

^But do check to see if the colleges you are considering will accept the college credits towards their diplomas. It can vary from school to school.