Can someone please explain what exactly is going on with a Gap Year option?
(1) If you take the Gap year option are you automatically guaranteed (assuming you don’t screw up) admission/acceptance to the following year’s class?
(2) Are you allowed to enroll at a safety school and then transfer after a year without issues/penalties, etc. or does UChicago expect the prospective student to sit on ice for an entire year, or volunteer at a leper colony or do something profound? 
thanks in advance.
Don’t they set conditions? What did the U of C tell you?
Seems after you apply, if approved for the gap year then you are good to go. I haven’t gotten any more info than that.
thanks.
So they have not given you that option?
Are you sure you understand the requirements?
https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/contact/faq#gap
You have to be admitted to get a gap year.
You MAY NOT take classes anywhere else during that year. It’s a gap in your education. That will make you a transfer and you’d have to reapply. You don’t sit on ice. You work, travel, do community projects…
You can probably take language classes in a foreign country as an immersion program. That’s what I did with my gap year.
But yes you have to be accepted at U of Chicago before you can ask for a gap year. Unless you have something like a letter saying they will take you off the waitlist IF you take a gap year.
If U Chicago accepts you, they want you to come. Rather than deny their offer of admission, maybe you would like to take a Gap year and then go there a year later. It’s a marketing tool to get you to accept their offer! Also, what fun that would be to know you are all set for college and can travel or work for a year before starting.
ok, thanks. that answers my questions.