<p>It's fairly common in the UK....</p>
<p>1) How do I ask for it?
2) When do I ask for it?
3) and What are my chances to get one?</p>
<p>Reasons: One year of work, study and travel combined.</p>
<p>Please answer... :)</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>im going to keep watching this post because i want to take a gap year! but my family sees it as taboo almost...</p>
<p>lol they think i just want to sleep for a whole year!!! but i want to travel and do some volunteer work, possibly in South America or Africa through National Geographic :D
...i guess sleeping a little more wouldn't be so bad ;)</p>
<p>this one has AMAZING programs. and I do mean AMAZING. There was this wicked 4-week Israel archeology volunteer program that I wanted to do, but I can't now. Stupid war. </p>
<p>For many US colleges, the answers are:</p>
<p>1) You ask for it by letter.
2) You ask for it after you have been admitted. At least two of the colleges that accepted my daughter had three check-boxes on the postcard to be returned to the college after acceptance: (a) will attend; (b) will not attend; (c) will attend but request to defer for one year. If you check the third box, they ask that you send a letter describing your plans. For many (e.g., Pomona, the one with which I have first-hand experience, but which I understand is fairly typical), they will ordinarily approve a gap year as long as you are doing something reasonably substantive AND on the condition that you do NOT use the year to attend another college or to apply to other colleges.
3) See answer to 2).</p>
<p>Not all US colleges are as amenable to gap years as Pomona, but I know that Middlebury, Vassar and William and Mary, to name three more, are all fine with it.</p>
<p>i have just finished applying to college and I am very interested in asking for a deffered entrance.</p>
<p>after some research i realized that not all schools accept this option (USC a school im applyin to doesnt).
so to add on to what johnshade said, you can only ask once you've been accepted and its usually by letter. so my advice would be to have your letter ready so that by the time you receive your acceptance letter (lets be optimistic here, no reason not to be) you send out your request to deffer your entrance.</p>
<p>your chances of your school accepting your requests depends entirely on the administration. as mentioned before USC doesnt offer this option so im sure other schools dont either.</p>
<p>my question to johnshade is (since you seem knowledgeable in the subject) if i list spending time/aiding my aging grandparents as a reason, and not travelling or volunteering, do you believe i would still have a chance?</p>
<p>rthowe, right there with u man, my parents dont really want me to take a gap year either...</p>
<p>idk what people have such a negative schema towards these! young-adults wanting to go out into the world to help, study, and travel before committing themselves to four years of study seems like an amazing thing!</p>
<p>iskander -</p>
<p>That's a good question. Would you be spending full time with them in a caretaking capacity? If not, I would think about some work or (not-for-credit) study to take up the rest of your time.</p>
<p>iskander, I think that would probably be a perfectly fine reason. I doubt that there would be any reservations on the school's part. If you are concerned, your best bet would be to e-mail or call admissions and find out exactly what their policies are. I've heard of some people who took gap years just to work and raise money for school, whereas others take them for other personal reasons. personally, I think that caring for the elderly is probably a great maturing experience for you and a college would probably appreciate that.</p>
<p>Do you think that this serves as a good enough reason:</p>
<p>1) Staying in my homeland long enough to prolong my merit scholarship for another year, and with that raising money for collehge (a couple of months)
2) Intensive language study - a month in Rome, a month in Paris, a month in Berlin
3) Conservation work in China/Costa Rica/Australia (working w/ animals)
4) Travel and specialization in my field of interest (Classics courses)</p>
<p>...as that's what I'll be doing.</p>
<p>BTW thanks everyone...</p>
<p>your reasons are valid.. i think</p>