<p>Hello,
Our son skipped a grade in elementary school, currently he is a HS junior and is maintaining a 4.0 with multiple AP classes. He is considering taking a year "off" between high school and college. </p>
<p>Should he apply to college as normal and then ask for deferred enrollment or should he apply during the hiatus? How would this affect his chances of getting in at an Ivy or financial aid for that matter?</p>
<p>It shouldn't affect financial aid at all. Ivy League colleges </p>
<p>Ivy</a> League - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia </p>
<p>only give financial aid on the basis of demonstrated financial need. So unless you are expecting your family income or assets to change radically in just one year, one year shouldn't make a big difference in financial aid eligibility at such colleges (which include a lot of "Ivy plus" colleges </p>
<p>Ivy</a> plus site:.edu - Google Search </p>
<p>as well.) </p>
<p>I've thought about this a lot, as I was grade-skipped in elementary school, and I've thought long and hard about grade-skipping my oldest son and some of his younger siblings. All of the most selective colleges in the land admit sixteen-year-olds (that is, students who applied as fifteen-year-olds) every year. That is routine, although not particularly commonplace. All of the best colleges in the land also tell parents or students who ask at regional information sessions that it's generally routine to allow a student who has received an offer of admission to defer enrollment for a year. All the student has to do is ask, and the Harvard admission letter for all students even includes the suggestion of considering a "gap year," as the Harvard admission dean thinks a gap year is a good idea for many students. </p>
<p>Harvard</a> College Admissions Office: Prospective Students </p>
<p>The issue of getting in at all makes a difference, because a successful applicant will be living away from home in a residential environment, and it's possible that one applicant or another may have experiences in a last year of secondary education that makes that applicant more admissible to the most competitive colleges. That's the issue you have to decide based on local knowledge: is there something your child can do with his time before college that is more valuable for his growth than going of to college? (That's pretty likely, but he would have to figure out, with your help, what that is.) </p>
<p>Please ask follow-up questions as needed. Good luck deciding what to do. He should have the major role in the decision, after more information-gathering.</p>
<p>What does your son plan to do during a gap year? Is there any reason why a gap year would be helpful to him? Private colleges typically will grant gap years after admission if a student promises to go to their school after the gap year, and if the student has a specific and productive plan for a gap year such as doing Americorps, studying abroad, working a full-time job, doing extensive volunteer work, etc. This particularly is true of the very top colleges. For instance, Harvard offers all of its incoming freshmen gap years -- if they do something productive like I've described. Harvard has found that students are more focused and successful if they do those kind of gap years.</p>
<p>Colleges may look askance at a student who wants to do a gap year just because they feel they need a relaxing break. Colleges may fear that such students will get so relaxed that they won't be able to handle college.</p>
<p>From what I've seen, public universities aren't likely to offer gap years.</p>
<p>One thing to consider: Depending on what your S does during his gap year, he may learn things about himself and the world that cause him to want to go to a different kind of college than he committed to attending. For that reason, it can be advantageous to apply to college during one's gap year. </p>
<p>My S took a gap year -- Americorps volunteer, lived at home -- after high school. As a high school senior, he had known he wanted to go to college, but had such broad interests, he didn't know what kind of college he wanted to attend. The gap year taught him a lot about himself, and he applied to -- and was accepted with merit aid -- to a LAC where he has flourished. The maturity and wisdom that he got from his gap year also helped him dive into college and take more advantage of what college offers than do many students, including highly motivated ones.</p>
<p>Being out in the world helped S recognize that college is a rare time in one's life where there are so many new, interesting things to try -- academically as well as in terms of his extracurriculars.</p>