<p>last paragraph: It makes you grow up, she said. It makes you completely responsible, especially financially. Its life-changing. It makes you want college even more.</p>
<p>Just so long as no one confuses this:</p>
<p>"who estimated the cost for his daughter’s year at $30,000 for a semester in India, a month in Italy and a semester in New York, taking art classes and serving as an intern at a museum"</p>
<p>with a "real world" experience...</p>
<p>(Hey, why didn't my hypertext quote thingees work?)</p>
<p>I believe internships should be paid, and gap years should include earning money! I think it is criminal the way some companies and organizations take advantage of students. (and I'm not talking about the nonprofits - I am speaking about the big companies that expect students to pay out of their own pockets to work for them. )</p>
<p>My son took a gap year last year and I'd echo the concluding comment above. He is into his first year of college now--relaxed, renewed, focussed and extraordinarily happy to be there. We both know he is ready for this adventure and he grew in many ways last year that help me feel wholly confident about how he will manage college. Not only do I know he can do money, laundry, and travel details, he knows he can make new relationships and figure out new situations.</p>
<p>I would like to see kids do something for a year (or two) before heading off to college. Step one would be calling it something other than "Gap Year." Perhaps it should be called, and become, a year of national service. I think the military is missing a tremendous opportunity by not offering one year non-combatant volunteer opportunities.</p>
<p>$30,000!! Woah. I did a gap year a couple of years ago and the whole thing cost £700, and that included flights to China and a trip along the Trans-Siberian railway! Although I was working while I was out in China, which I suppose is the difference. </p>
<p>It's really common to do gap years in Britain - at my university I'd guess about a quarter of all incoming first year students do them. It's so easy to tell who has done gap years and who hasn't - the ones who didn't are the kids who don't know how to do their own laundry and have to call home to be given step-by-step instructions on how to make bolognese sauce...</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the people who did do gap years are the ones sitting in the corner trading war stories about the time they had their passport stolen in Thailand, or the time the train broke down halfway across the Gobi desert, or the time they were walking down the street and got cast as an extra in a Bollywood film. :D</p>
<p>dont most gap years including sitting around and playing video games....or am I just being cynical?</p>
<p>I wish the article had included options such as Americorps, which provides a stipend of about $200 a week plus free training for participants.</p>
<p>My S is doing a gap year with Americorps in our hometown, and I've been very impressed by how the experience is allowing him to run with his talents, and also is helping him become more organized and responsible. He is doing work that he loves, and also is learning a great deal about his interests -- insights that will help him realistically pick a major and career. The training included things like instruction on budgeting, planning events, organizing things -- info that he'll use forever.</p>
<p>People also can choose to do Americorps far from their hometowns. </p>
<p>For info:<a href="http://www.americorps.org/%5B/url%5D">http://www.americorps.org/</a></p>
<p>Here's info about one of the top Americorps programs: <a href="http://www.cityyear.org/%5B/url%5D">http://www.cityyear.org/</a></p>
<p>Another option that could be used for a paid gap year are internships/jobs in National Parks service locations through the Student Conservation Corps: <a href="http://www.thesca.org/conservation_careers/%5B/url%5D">http://www.thesca.org/conservation_careers/</a></p>
<p>My daughter did CityYear in our hometown of Seattle
we were interested in a gap year because she has always been young for her age and since she was 1st gen college, it was a big step for all of us.
She did apply to and was accepted at colleges during her senior year, but a planned break gave her perspective and experience, that allowed her to apply to a reach school ( and graduate from) that she wouldn't have been ready for otherwise.</p>
<p>An extra on a Bollywood film! Love that story.</p>
<p>Travelling Gap Years are amazing experiences but they are expensive. Like private education, travel has always been expensive. </p>
<p>Having taken a nine month Gap Year in front of his freshman year, my son found the re-entry difficult, even though two of the three experiences were educational courses. </p>
<p>He says the Gap Year made him grow up, but I think the working internships this past summer had a far bigger impact on his maturity.</p>
<p>I did my own version of a gap year some some 30 years(eek!) ago, although no one called it that back then, and it wasn't exactly my idea. It was more along the lines of my dad saying, "You don't think we're going to pay for you to party for four years with no career idea in mind, do you?" He was a rather practical sort of guy, and I was easy-going enough to see his point since I had only a vague notion what I wanted to do. So I went off and got 2 jobs in the area I thought I was interested in and loved it so much that I took a volunteer position as well. My top choice college the following year absolutely loved the fact that I knew exactly what I wanted and was willing to work so hard to get it. Dumb luck, really.</p>