<p>I think it will hurt your chances at least a little to say that you want to take a gap year. You can be a great fit for the school, but you’ve basically told them that if you’re admitted the chances are you’ll defer them until next year and won’t plan to go. I doubt that universities want to admit students who right off the bat begin talking about deferment - especially since you flat out told your interviewer that you don’t feel mature enough to go to university and want to spend a year writing and “gain experience”.</p>
<p>I understand that sentiment in college graduates who postpone graduate school, but what kind of “experience” do you think you’ll get as a high school graduate with no further formal training? And even if you do specify that you want to take a gap year, the only correct way to do that is outright state that you have a plan. If you wanted to gap it and do Americorps or volunteer abroad or even work and save money for school at X place doing Y, those might be admirable goals and reasons for gapping. But simply saying you want to write more (especially if you didn’t specify what you want to write, and why writing is important and will contribute to your success as a Princeton student, and especially if you didn’t indicate an interest in taking writing workshops or otherwise formally improving your writing) doesn’t bode well for a productive gap year. I know if I were interviewing you I would look somewhat askance even if you had memorized the entire written history of Princeton.</p>
<p>It’s not the fact that you want to take a gap year; it’s the lack of specificity and focus in what you said you wanted to do for a gap year. Of course, perhaps you elaborated more there than here.</p>
<p>Also, that gap year program hmom5 referenced above? It’s already in place - it’s called the Bridge Year Program:</p>
<p>[Princeton</a> University | Bridge Year Program](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/admission/whatsdistinctive/bridgeyear/]Princeton”>http://www.princeton.edu/admission/whatsdistinctive/bridgeyear/)</p>
<p>So yes, Princeton values gap years, but they value gap years in which you do something meaningful and at least semi-formal.</p>