If You're Considering a GAP year between Boarding School and College

<p>Our son took a GAP year between boarding school and college. He and a friend worked for the first six months of the GAP year to save up money. They spent the second half of the year in the southern Patagonia of Chile for three months (Conservacion</a> Patagonica :: Creating the Future Patagonia National Park in Chile) and Buenos Aires for the last three months.</p>

<p>It was a remarkable experience that brought them both back to the U.S. energized, happy, more mature, almost completely fluent, and ready to plunge into college. If anyone is thinking about a GAP year for their kids, I'd be happy to share our experience.</p>

<p>I love the idea of a gap year. Did your son defer admission to a college before he went?</p>

<p>zp</p>

<p>I am also interested in the college app process/ gap year. We would like him to take a year in between - our big college counseling weekend in the second week Feb so I imagine the CC office will enlighten us - but I would be curious what your personal experience was last year.</p>

<p>@zuzu: he was admitted to college first and then deferred for a year. We would not have entertained the idea of taking a GAP year unless his college plans had been set.</p>

<p>@liddyb4: when I get home from work tonight, I’ll post some details about the experience, which was much less structured than you might expect but produced some surprisingly great outcomes.</p>

<p>Did he know when applying to college that he would take a gap year?</p>

<p>@emdee: Yes, he knew he wanted to take a gap year at the start of his senior year. He firmed up gap plans by late March. He requested his deferral in mid-April from college.</p>

<p>Very cool! I read Maya Frost’s book, The Global Student a while back and it really got me thinking about this sort of thing! I did a student exchange in high school and it was wonderful, but at just over a month, too short to really have a major impact on my life.</p>

<p>Ohh - that sounds intriguing.</p>

<p>Gap years are now made so much better knowing we can keep our kids on our medical insurance even if they don’t immediately enroll in college.</p>

<p>This is a brief overview of our gap experience in case any parents are considering it for their kids. A lot of work was involved, but the dividends are tremendous. </p>

<p>Key Bullets</p>

<p>• Our son wanted to take a break between boarding school and college, travel to another part of the world, find a paying job, become fluent in Spanish, be independent, return with the experience of a lifetime and be ready to tackle college with a rejuvenated mind and spirit. We supported the idea.</p>

<p>• Gap years can be spent in a million different ways. Our son chose to spend it in South America.</p>

<p>• At one end of the spectrum of gap years, you have structured programs where Mom and Dad fork over bucks (sometimes big) to a third party and the child is supervised, lightly or heavily, while he or she is away. The other end of the spectrum is less structured/ more independent, where the kid is responsible for designing and executing a gap year plan and is largely self-directed during the experience.</p>

<p>• There are advantages and disadvantages to each approach and every family will assess the risks and benefits differently.</p>

<p>• We mostly fell into the latter category – the more independent, self-directed route. </p>

<p>o Son had to present to us a self-funded 12 month plan that was physically safe, would increase Spanish fluency, would be culturally immersive. This included building a real budget and making all the arrangements himself. Our role was to approve, disapprove, or modify the plan or some of its elements, and to provide help if he asked for it. He had to finish this process before he was graduated from boarding school.</p>

<p>o Son had to (with our advice) develop back-up plans in case of emergency (theft of money, injury etc). On the insurance side, I paid for a plan that took care of any emergency medical costs. We also asked him to keep a blog so that we could follow his adventures.</p>

<p>o Son had to pay for 100% of the trip, except airfare. (I used mostly points for this, but there was still an outlay of about $300.) Also, I had to chip in another $300 toward the end of the trip when he fell just short of his budget. </p>

<p>o To fund the trip, he and his friend (who was doing a similar exercise with his parents) had to work the first six months to pay for the second six months. The trip itself was a three-month volunteer effort in Chile followed by three months of sightseeing (and playing) in Argentina. </p>

<p>o Son got a job at a busy, local Irish pub – emptying trash, bussing, keeping the bar stocked, cleaning at the end of the night etc. Nasty job, but he cleared about $500/week in tips and wages. He did this for just about six months – July through December. The trip itself was January – July.</p>

<p>o The first three months of 2009 were spent in the southern Patagonia in Chile on the program I noted at the top of this thread (see link). This was physically demanding volunteer work, a couple days at a base camp each week and then five days at a remote location (in groups of 5 – 10) where you would work a long day, cook your own meals, and camp in a shack or a tent at night. Thacher had taught him and his friend how to camp in the wilderness so that was not an issue. </p>

<p>o The cultural experience in the Patagonia was amazing – son was exposed to the people and living conditions as they really are, to the lifestyle and language, the foods. He came away with a lot of affection for the Chileans who barely scrape out a life, but who are also invariably warm and friendly. The pics he posted on the blog were breathtaking. Son and friend had hundreds of memorable moments, nearly all positive. </p>

<p>o They made no money in the Patagonia, but their expenses were paid as volunteers. So, with the exception of the occasional trip to “town,” their budget was untouched. They finished the three months in better financial shape than they had expected.</p>

<p>o The next three months in Buenos Aires turned out to be more vacation than anything else. They had tried to line up jobs while still in the States (no dice) and they sought jobs for the first few weeks they were in BA. But, there were none to be had for young Americans for such a short time period, except in call centers, which they didn’t want to do.</p>

<p>o Before they left on the trip, they found and rented (on their own) an apartment in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. They took care of all these arrangements themselves, which were conducted in Spanish. </p>

<p>o While in BA, they saw all the sights, made their own meals, did quite a bit of partying at night, entertained friends from the States, spoke tons of Spanish. Befriended dozens of locals, young and old. Had the time of their lives. </p>

<p>o Some of the funniest (teachable) moments occurred during this period. For instance, my son would always carry his wallet in his back pocket. I tried to get him to carry a small money/credit card clip in his front pocket to minimize the chance of pick pocketing, but he resisted. About two months into the trip, on the way back from a bar at night, a group of “women” approached them. The blog entry is below – still makes me laugh.</p>

<p>BLOG ENTRY START</p>

<p>Deuces </p>

<p>Since our last blog entry, we’ve seen a lot more of the city and gotten a better feel for our own neighborhood. Many of our explorations have been nightlife-based. We’ve been to probably every top recommended night-club in the city, danced to the best of our abilities, and had plenty of fun. We somehow made our way into a V.I.P. section of club “Crobar” where we perhaps had too much fun and were politely escorted away from the premises. That’s not to say we’ve been doing nothing but partying… we’ve also been to the Museum of Modern Art, the Zoo (which is right around the corner), the Women’s Bridge, explored Puerto Madero, and even went to a Hooters (ok, maybe not in the same cultural category). </p>

<p>Unfortunately we had a rough encounter with three pick-pocketing prostitutes on Thursday night. We thought they were run of the mill hookers, but we were very wrong. They aggressively groped us and it quickly became apparent that not only was something wrong, but they were not women by any stretch of the imagination. </p>

<p>It started to get a little physical as they continued to look for our wallets. Two of them pursued Griffin and one came at Harry. Griff quickly noted that his pocket was a little light and caught a glimpse of his wallet in one of their hands. He snatched it back. Harry aggressively pushed and yelled at his assailant causing her/it to flee, but not before she/it grabbed his wallet. Griff told Harry to check his pockets and Harry immediately sprinted after the three who by then had reached a cab that was in cahoots with them. He ran with the cab for a block, but it had the green light and got away. Luckily, there was no money in his wallet and he got all his cards canceled in time. </p>

<p>All in all, it’s a lesson learned. It sucks to get robbed, but it happens. Other than that, everything is great and we’re still living the life. A few tranny/prostitute/pickpocketers can’t keep us down. </p>

<p>BLOG ENTRY COMPLETE.</p>

<p>o Anyway, after 6+ months, they headed back to the States, our son to D.C., his friend to California. They were happy, energized, with new friends in two different countries. They had enjoyed total cultural immersion in both rural Patagonia and glitzy Buenos Aires. Because they had created and paid for the whole trip, managed their own affairs in almost every way, the experience gave them a sense of personal satisfaction and self-confidence that was exciting.</p>

<p>If I can answer any specific questions about this experience, please PM me. I wish I had taken a gap year “back in the day.”</p>

<p>Brava! Ten char</p>

<p>@ThacherParent:
I envy your son. The gap year should be a lifetime experience for him.
By the way, does Thacher teach kids how to camp in the wilderness?
My child should have applied for Thacher…
Applying for Thacher was your idea or your son’s?
Considering your location, the option was not quite easily accessible, I guess…</p>

<p>Platini, applying to Thacher was my son’s idea. It’s an amazing place, different from other boarding schools in meaningful ways. One of those differences is the horse and outdoor program ([The</a> Thacher School ~ Horse & Outdoor Life](<a href=“Maintenance Page”>Outdoor Adventures & Challenges)). All students become excellent, highly resourceful campers. I hiked the 100 Mile Wilderness (in Maine) with my son between sophomore and junior years and saw the skills in action. Way more advanced than mine, that’s for sure.</p>

<p>ThacherParent: I am a senior in high school and I am considering spending November 2013 to April 2014 in a long term volunteer internship with Concervacion Patagonica. Everything about it looks perfect, but I still am having some doubts about the type of people I will be around. My main question for your son would be if he and his friend met many people his own age in during his time with CP. It sounds like he got to do more of that in Buenos Aires, but I am wondering if he was able to be around people who 18-25 years old in Patagonia. You can PM me.</p>

<p>Thank you</p>

<p>Are all colleges happy for you to defer your place for a year?</p>

<p>Hess, I suspect all the former participants in this thread are long gone. If you’ll look at the dates, you’ll see that nobody had posted to this thread in the last 2 years. So, welcome to College Confidential, but please don’t revive old threads to ask a question. Instead, please start a new thread, even if your question would have been appropriate to the conversation that was going on way back when.</p>

<p>UKgirl, it wouldn’t be accurate to say that all American colleges and universities are happy–or even willing–to let students defer their enrollment for a year, but I think it’s safe to say that an overwhelming majority are.</p>

<p>Gap years are great, for the right person. I don’t mean to be a debbie downer but can have a hard time getting him/her back to school after a taste of real independence coupled with, may I say, capitalism. A niece, did a gap year, made money, amicably moved out and got her own apartment and a boy friend. If it wasn’t for the boyfriend, she never would have gone on to college. Obviously that’s her MO and did not surprise any of us with her capabilities. After some serious adult conversations, again coupled with her boyfriend, she is now in college with an even better job waiting for her when she graduates. Now her brother wants a year off but what’s good for the goose is not always great for the gander.</p>

<p>On a different note, I’m under the impression that some colleges look fondly on the experience as it does bring a level of maturity that can be lacking from freshmen away from home for the first time.</p>

<p>Hess - so sorry to be a laggard in responding. I flat out missed this thread. I’d be happy to PM you. A GAP year is not for every kid, but it sure was a great idea for my son. He loved it, came back fired up, more mature, more conscious of the world around him, more appreciative of not just the gift of his college education, but every little benefit of living in our comparatively luxurious society. I’m glad you resurrected this thread. Many more kids would benefit from the experience than will ever get the chance. [Conservacion</a> Patagonica :: Creating the Future Patagonia National Park in Chile](<a href=“http://www.conservacionpatagonica.org/]Conservacion”>http://www.conservacionpatagonica.org/) is amazing.</p>

<p>My child did a gap year as well. Colleges look very favorably on it. Can’t think of one that doesn’t. Like ThatcherParent’s son, my child’s gap year was more self structured as many of the more structured programs are on the expensive side and my child did not want to trapse around with a lot of other Americans. It was a wonderfully positive experience and I would highly recommend it to any student who is so inclined. As parents, we were worried at times as parts involved solo travel yet are amazed at the growth and maturity over that year.</p>