<p>just curious about college education over there:</p>
<p>Do high school seniors take a year off before they start college?
I read somewhere that students in a particular country (I think it was New Zealand) take a year off 'finding what they're interested in' before starting college. They can spend that year doing internships, work, travel, etc. I'm fascinated by this fact, but can someone clarify if it is indeed NZ?</p>
<p>I wish I was in New Zealand!</p>
<p>This is called a ‘gap year’ and is very common in Britain and Australia too.</p>
<p>I’m English and currently on a gap year… I’ve been working part-time and about to go travelling to South America for around 3 months!</p>
<p>Then off to uni… hopefully.</p>
<p>Lol. I’m from New Zealand and I can say that this “Gap Year” thing isn’t actually that popular. The majority of people just go straight to uni. </p>
<p>And um… I thought you can do this in America as well by deferring your acceptance.</p>
<p>Right but Americans don’t generally do it. In particular, they are afraid of going abroad (most tend to go on college-run ‘study abroad’ trips instead)</p>