<p>PLEASE Help! I posted this in another forum, and someone suggested I repost it here. My daughter is graduating a year early from High School. She is not a genius or anything, she is about a B average student and has a few C's on her transcript. She attends a good school that is a Charter School that is focused on College Prep. She has taken Extra classes to graduate early because we are moving back to Michigan this summer, but she wanted her diploma from California where we live now. </p>
<p>Anyway, she is still very naive and has a pretty dependent personality. She says she wants to go to college for acting/theater but most of them require auditions and she doesn't have much experience. I was kind of thinking that if she took a year off to take some acting classes and maybe try out for some local plays, work part time, and take drivers training (she hasn't yet) that it might help prepare her better for life on her own in college. </p>
<p>Can anyone tell me if taking a year off would hurt her when she decides to go to college? Will they not want to accept her because she was out of school so long? Also we do not have a lot of money to pay for school so most of it will have to be financial aid and scholarships when she does decide to go. Any knowledge or information on this matter would help me a lot!! Thank you</p>
<p>P.S Also anyone who can offer info on schools she might want to apply to? I thought about having her take a few acting classes at a Community College to gain experience but someone mentioned that sometimes that could hurt her getting into the school she wants because that will add more requirements. Any thoughts on that?</p>
<p>She can get some great experience doing community theater during that year off. I’m still unclear on how much that helps in getting into acting programs, but I’m sure it can’t hurt.</p>
<p>Regarding community theatre, it depends on where you live. The roles suitable for young women tend to go to recent college graduates, around here (DC area) and it is very competitive.</p>
<p>Lots of students take a gap year, whether for financial reasons or maturity. It’s always a good idea to take a couple of community college classes with credits that are likely to be able to be transferred to another school, or that improve skills that will help the student when he/she goes to school full-time.</p>
<p>Be sure to do your research about community college classes. At many (most?) 4-year schools, if you apply with community college credit–NOT dual enrollment but post-high-school credit–you are automatically considered a transfer student, not a typical freshman applicant. This may or may not work to your child’s advantage. But I’ve seen many stories about kids who took a gap year, used it to prepare for auditions, and ended up happily ensconced in BFA (or BA theater/acting) programs. If what she wants is an auditioned program, you might want to look into working with a really good coach. Taking a gap year in and of itself shouldn’t be a problem at all, and it sounds like you’re already starting to investigate the best way to spend it. Good luck!</p>
<p>My son will be my third child to take a gap year. My two daughters started college right before turning 20. It was great for them. In fact, my daughter who is now in Northwestern was just telling me how glad she was she had taken the gap year and how well prepared she felt for all the challenges, and that other students told her that <em>they</em> wished they’d taken a gap year.</p>
<p>My kids have mostly not applied early and deferred. They just take the gap year.</p>
<p>What they do: My kids mostly just work and do any internships they can find. Also obviously they audition and take acting classes. My daughter was in several shows during her gap year, for instance she had a bit part in a semi-professional Shakespeare production. For their jobs, it’s just ‘regular’ jobs such as hostess at a diner. They earn quite a bit of pocket money, and actually my older daughter used some of that money to also travel in England by herself for three weeks and go on an archaeological dig–she paid for the entire trip herself (I’m not well off). She ended up at Williams.</p>
<p>Both daughters wrote about their experiences during gap year for their college essays, and several colleges expressed that they were impressed that they worked (in a real job, warts and all). </p>
<p>My younger daughter also took German at the community college to enhance her transcript. Besides that, they took no college courses.</p>
<p>Anyway, for my family, it has worked very well. If you don’t have local community theatre or classes nearby, I’d suggest sending her to an acting program. If you can’t afford it, or can afford only part, she can work part of the year to help pay for it herself. There are many fairly affordable ones.<br>
Good luck!</p>
<p>To answer the basic question, there is NO problem with taking a year off after high school before going to college. “Gap” years are becoming more and more common. You can even take MANY years off after high school, like I did. Colleges do NOT discriminate against people because of their age, if you meet the admissions requirements, you can be admitted no matter how old you are.</p>
<p>But I think your situation is a little more complicated. Why is your daughter interested in majoring in theatre/acting? Is she interested in a career as an actress? If so, has she researched the biographies of the actors she admires to see how they became actors (she might find that some of them never even went to college!)?</p>
<p>I am a believer that young people should be encouraged to follow their dreams. That might mean that if your daughter really has her heart set on starting to audition for programs, I think she should go ahead and try. What has she got to lose? Since you say she doesn’t know much about the audition process, this will help her learn what it is all about. So if she doesn’t get in, she will have a much clearer understanding of what she needs to focus on during the “gap” year, after which she will go back with a much better audition.</p>
<p>Most young people when they go off to college have never lived on their own, and all of them have to learn how to function. That’s a completely normal part of being a college freshman. And I don’t think driving is such a big deal, many college students make do with bicycles instead of cars, largely because on many college campuses there is nowhere to park!! Also, if she becomes an actress she will end up living in a large city like New York or L.A., where again a car can be more trouble than it is worth.</p>
<p>Most people in LA feel that they need cars, I’m afraid. And students on certain types of suburban campuses feel stuck without them. Still, I think it’s perfectly all right to go off to college not knowing how to drive.</p>
<p>There are other threads here and in the Musical Theatre forum that discuss gap years. It is a great idea for many students. Do a search and you can find the other threads.</p>