Taking a year off

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

<p>Harvard stongly encourages admits and students to take "gap year" or a year off at some point.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/prospective/applying/time_off/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.admissions.college.harvard.edu/prospective/applying/time_off/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Here is the recent story of one guy to took this advice - and how he benefitted from it:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/08/27/kingston_man_takes_on_challenging_year_off/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/08/27/kingston_man_takes_on_challenging_year_off/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

2

<p>That is an amazing story. I was/am planning on joining the Peace Corps for a year after getting my undergrad degree to do work just like this guy is doing -- working with refugees in Africa. Maybe I'll decide not to wait four years and instead take a year off, too.</p>

3

<p>Yeah, Harvard is very happy to have kids who are interested in gap years. They really believe that changing up the routine can refresh kids in terms of their experiences in the academic world, especially kids who take their work too seriously or work excessively hard all the time. This year, when I spoke to various people in the Harvard admissions office about taking a gap year, they referred to it as an amazing opportunity, especially for Harvard students, who can take a year off and pursue their dreams and passions, and then come back and get an even more enjoyable education from a top school like Harvard.</p>