Should I take a gap year before freshman year?

College Search & Selection
1

I’m going into my senior year, and while I do not have to officially decide whether to take a gap year until I commit to somewhere and defer, realistically I would need to start planning everything soon to make sure it all worked out. I plan on applying to engineering schools and am leaning towards either computer science or aerospace engineering which is completely unrelated to what I would do on my gap year, so that is why I’m still on the fence. If I took a gap year, I would most likely spend the first half somewhere in South America near the Andes, working/volunteering, learning more Spanish and trekking in my time off. The second half of the year I would most likely go to Nepal and do the same thing, except with Nepali instead of Spanish and the Himalayas instead of the Andes.

Would taking a gap year make going into engineering more difficult? I’m afraid if I take a year long break from school and possibly forget/get out of practice in math and physics and such it would make it hard for me to catch up when I actually do go to college. I really want to take a gap year because I love climbing/trekking and traveling and believe that I could learn a lot from just settling myself down somewhere so foreign to me for a while, but I just don’t know how it will affect me afterwards. Later in my life I’m going to have responsibilities to a family or job that would prevent me from just leaving and living anywhere I want for a year, so now seems like the perfect opportunity.

If it helps at all I’m planning on applying to Berkeley, USC, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, CMU, University of Pittsburgh, University of Maryland, Virginia Tech, University of Michigan, and Northeastern.

2

As a parent and as someone who took a gap year (before we even called it that), I heartily recommend it. You will grow and mature so much during that year and arrive on campus refreshed and ready to dive into your studies. It was like hitting the reset button for me. I didn’t even do anything exotic- just commuted to an office job 5 days a week and saved money. You will see a big difference between your paradigm and that of your non-gap year freshmen peers when you do start school. I found I was much more mature and able to hit the ground running. I was able manage my time and my academic work much more easily. It was not hard for me to readjust to being a student at all. I loved school again after having felt really, really burnt out after high school. I was laser focused in college and graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

3

I wanted to add that I’m strongly encouraging my own two kids to take a year off before University.

4

You should make sure you are aware of the deferral policies of the colleges where you apply. For example, the UC system (including Berkeley) does not allow deferrals for a gap year. You would need to apply during your gap year.