<p>Hi parents, I would like to know if any of you have sons/daughters who have elected to take a "Gap Year" in between high school and college, and if they have to describe if it was a positive or negative experience. Originally I didn't give the gap year much thought as an option, but now that I've been accepted to my top choices and that's out of the way, I've begun to seriously consider taking a year off to make some money to pay for tuition and "recharge" a bit after high school so that I enter college fresh (I'm planning a pre-health track, which I hear is often quite strenuous). Does anyone have personal experience with this kind of choice? If so, was it a good idea in retrospect? I know that some people don't like the gap year because they fear "falling off of the college train"- frankly I don't think this applies to me, because I know that I need to go to college to accomplish what I want in life. The question is, will I be better off waiting a year to do so? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this...</p>
<p>College is such a great time in your life. If you take a year off I will bet you won't save the money and you will feel awkward beginning later! Don't be afraid, just DO IT! :)</p>
<p>My high-achieving son took a gap year between high school and college and he has no regrets whatsoever. He plans to go straight through Ph.D. at this point, and wanted the year off to recharge his batteries, so to speak. I really don't see a downside, other than the fact that you will most probably lose your health insurance if you are covered under your parent's policy and aren't a full-time student. In our case this was a big issue due to a chronic illness, so my son paid almost $400/month for COBRA coverage.</p>
<p>I took a year off many many moons ago and it was one of the best decisions my parents made for me. It did give me a chance to recharge. I discovered a new interest (architecture), I lived with a French family and learned to speak French fluently, which had the added benefit of making other languages much easier to learn (even non-Romance languages to my surprise.) My parents theory was that if I took off a year before starting college I wouldn't be tempted to take off in the middle of college. They felt that being part of a class cohort all four years was an important part of the college experience. I liked my gap year so much I took another gap year before grad school. </p>
<p>The only downside IMO was that my high school and college reunions for many years were scheduled on exactly the same June weekend.</p>
<p>my older daughter took a very satisfying year off- before beginning college.
Although she had been admitted to all her choices, and assumed she would be attending the school she had, had in mind for 10 years, she actually looked at a couple more schools with my encouragement, and attended a new college to her list.</p>
<p>Her sister is designing her own year off, she is planning on returning ( she spent a few weeks there last month) to Ghana, to do some traveling and some volunteer work. She really loved it there, and is looking forward to spending several months. She then is hoping to do a program through Americorps, which is the umbrella program that her older sister volunteered through.</p>
<p>I think taking a year off- is a great idea- after all you aren't really taking it " off" but taking charge of how you are going to be spending your days, instead of in class or doing assignments.</p>