<p>My 17-year-old son, a HS senior, wants to take a gap year next year. He has had significant mental health issues which he's still learning to manage (I'm proud of him for battling through things which I can't even imagine). Should he still apply to colleges this fall, or would it be better to wait until next year? Are there disadvantages/advantages either way? This is a subject I know nothing about, so I appreciate any thoughts people might have.</p>
<p>I have no personal experience with this but I think the conventional wisdom on CC is that it couldn’t hurt to go ahead and apply for next year. Most colleges will allow him to defer an offer of admission for a year. If things don’t go well through this year application-wise, he can try again a year from now. (And he might change his mind about the gap year.)</p>
<p>The conventional way to do this is to apply as normal, get multiple acceptances, and make gap year inquiries during that window of time after acceptance and before your need to make your final selection. This gives you some flexibility if a given college is reluctant to grant your request.</p>
<p>My son had to write a short description of what he had planned during his gap year and shortly thereafter received a letter of approval. The college wants to make sure you plan to do more during your time off than lay around the house and play video games.</p>
<p>If you arrange a gap year first, you’ll have a space in college waiting for you next fall. If you take the gap year and then apply, you are more likely to need to show fresh accomplishments during your time off – and by mid-year when your application goes in.</p>
<p>While this does seem logical and easier to apply to college while still in HS, one thing puzzles me. Many kids (perhaps the OP’s) take a gap year because they are not mentally ready or mature enough for college. Great - but isn’t it a possibility that the student will grow and mature and then desire a different college than he or she applied to TWO years earlier?</p>
<p>My daughter participated in an organized gap-year program after high school graduation. Of the eight Americans on her program, six had college plans for the following year (in other words, they had applied as usual during senior year and deferred enrollment), and two did not. I think those two intended to start at community college after returning and then pursue transfer elsewhere. The program encouraged participants to complete their college applications during senior year, because it can be logistically difficult to accomplish things like getting letters of recommendation, completeing interviews, etc., when you aren’t in your home town. If your son is planning to stay near home, the logistics may be less of a concern.</p>
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<p>In January, my son needed to reconfirm his intention to attend in the fall. So in the case that one does have a change of heart, it’s still possible to change one’s mind.</p>
<p>It’s certainly possible that one will change and mature, but the reality is probably not that much. If you are off in an overseas program it’s soooo much easier if everything is in place for the fall. I found that I went to college with a somewhat different attitude and new interests and skills, but I wouldn’t have changed the type of school I attended. While reneging on the original choice isn’t encouraged, I don’t think it’s a problem as long as the colleges get sufficient notice.</p>
<p>We would have lost our deposit if my daughter had decided not to attend after deferring. However, she had to re-confirm enrollment early enough that the school would have had plenty of time to fill the spot out of that year’s wait list. </p>
<p>It seems like there are very different reasons one might do a gap year. The typical, college-bound student who wants to take the opportunity to do something specific for a year before college–a study abroad program, a volunteer program, a travel itinerary–may well be fully-equipped to apply to colleges as if he/she were planning to matriculate on time.</p>
<p>Others who just aren’t ready to apply to college and are taking the year off to get their ducks in a row are clearly another category of gap-year student. Those kids might benefit from waiting until the ducks line up!</p>
<p>If he applied this year, I would worry about his being able to present himself as fully ready to go to college. If he applies next year, wouldn’t he be in a better place to describe his personal journey?</p>
<p>I would think that the advantage of applying “on schedule” is that he would more easily take advantage of the HS application processing structure, and that if he does not get into a school he really likes first time round he can apply again. If he waits, he will not have that cushion.</p>
<p>Hi, MaineLonghorn, my gapper went through the usual admission process and received a deferral from her chosen school. For the various practical reasons others have mentioned, I think there’s a lot of merit in that approach. Another factor that hasn’t been discussed is, how do you think your son will feel that fall when most of his peers are off at college? Even my very confident and independent kid suffered some feelings of loss and feeling adrift–it is a little weird to not be in school when that’s the only life you’ve ever known!–and HS friends are naturally invested in college life, thus aren’t always that interested in the gapper’s non-traditional course. I think her enthusiasm for tackling the application process (especially doing it alone, without the bonding with friends over the grind) might have suffered and that she would have resented the time and emotional interference with her happy pursuit of gap activities. </p>
<p>Not articulating this very well, but hopefully, you get what I’m talking about! Just food for thought…every kid is so different. Wishing you all the best as you support your son through his journey.</p>
<p>If your son doesn’t have any great desire to apply now, then let him do so during his gap year. That really is OK. Considering that he is working on specific mental health issues, he may well want to take a bit more time finding out which colleges/universities will be good options.</p>
<p>There also is a very long time between this September and next. If he decides later on that he is ready to be off to college next fall, and he isn’t outrageously picky about where he goes, there will be colleges and universities that are still admitting applicants clear through the summer.</p>
<p>Both Ds took a gap year. Both are young for their age ( with LD’s) and turned 18 shortly before high school graduation.
Both of their high schools wanted them to go through the process of applying to college, although this resulted in perfunctory search by youngest who had planned to take a year off before senior yr.
Oldest decided to take a year off before acceptances were in ( they both were accepted to all their colleges), her colleges didn’t want to hold acceptances but asked her to reapply.</p>
<p>We investigated some of the more expensive gap year travel/volunteer programs, which sounded great but unaffordable for us.
Oldest chose to live at home and join CityYear, reapplied to the previously chosen colleges, but since she was still at home, she was able to visit another college in same region that wasnt identified earlier.
( disadvantage of being first-gen & before CC!)
Youngest was accepted in the NCCC program, but we were concerned that would be too intense. ( involves traveling as a team for nine months to service sites)
She decided against it and worked for five months to earn money to take a “volunteer vacation” abroad for almost six months.
She had only applied to two schools as a senior and didn’t want to apply to anymore during her gap year. We had looked at other schools, but didn’t have the time/money to visit which I think was a mistake.</p>
<p>I think going through the process while you still have access to counselors etc at the high school helps. Identifying rolling admission schools may take some of the pressure off.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for your thoughts and advice. You have given me a lot to think about. I’m still feeling my way along as to how much to guide him. He’s independent in a lot of ways, but I can tell he’s unsure of himself in this process (understandably!). I think I will sit down with him and go over the information in this thread with him. It’s a fine balance as to guiding him but not making him feel pressured. His doctor has explained that both sides of his family are so accomplished (doctors, professors, engineers, etc.) that he feels the weight of our expectations even though we’ve told him he can do anything he chooses.</p>
<p>He is a BRIGHT kid but doesn’t have great grades/scores. CollegeBoard is giving him an extra 50% test time, so he may be able to improve his SAT scores on the October test.</p>
<p>Definitely have him take the ACT.
My youngest took both & her ACT scores were much better.</p>
<p>As someone who took a gap year between each of my degrees, I can tell you that it can be very worth it, esp if the student is actually saying they need the time off. Better to get yourself mentally and physically ready to jump into a program than push they and start only to struggle. This often leads to poor grades, and doubts that they even like college or can handle it, which can compound the issue. Better to wait and really be ready before taking on the cost and commitment.</p>