<p>S1 went to college for two years and is now taking a gap year and has really enjoyed it. He is working, volunteering in this and other countries, and is happy he did it. A gap year does not have to be prior to college, but during college as well.</p>
<p>Maybe college isn't essential for everyone. I understand we have a shortage of people in the US going into the trades. Those are productive well-paying jobs that don't require a college education.</p>
<p>My son was ready for college right out of HS. He also turned 19 during his first semester which I think made everything easier for him. I would have no problem if he decided to take a gap at any point to extend study abroad, do an internship or do anything productive. Life shouldn't feel like a treadmill you can't get off of.</p>
<p>College admission and college attendance is a bit like fighting the last war. The information is out of date or inapplicable. That said, here goes the saga of our family. </p>
<p>My husband and I both had checkered college careers. My husband simply hated school, for some very good reasons, and attended the liberal arts college from which he graduated in six years sporadically. During the off periods he worked at a local newspaper and, through happenstance, had a mentor. I flunked out of a prestigious school because, among other things, I was too proud to ask for help soon enough. I had a gap year and it was not structured as such years are today, but it was well-spent and I matured. Obviously I met my husband at the school he was attending. We both graduated. </p>
<p>One of the unexpected downsides to my own gap year was that it sent a message to some of my younger siblings that failure might result in having fun and having a lot of freedom. I had masked the loneliness and terror from them-- these factors, of course, having helped me to mature. </p>
<p>In the case of our own children, they had the opportunity to attend a very good boarding school, and ended up being super prepared to go to college. Maturity was not an issue here since they had already overcome a lot by being half-way across the country. They went straight to college and straight through school. In fact, a friend told me that my children were the only ones she knew who had completed college in four years. </p>
<p>I share the concern of the original poster that gap year talk should not be romanticized. Some very good students get off the college-attending track and never seem to fulfill the potential evidenced in high school.</p>
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<p>ITA! There seems to be the belief on this board that a gap year involves parents spalshing out hundred of dollars to send their kids of exotic trips for a year. As noted above, gaps years are really common in the UK and most people don't do this. The vast majority spend 6 months or so doing minimum wage jobs, and then spend the money they have saved travelling or while volunteering. Employers in Europe really like work experience of any kind. If you graduate from college with no work experience whatsoever, you will struggle to get a graduate job. It is also common for people like me, who didn't go on a pre-college gap year, to take one after graduating. Before a masters or a first job. I went to Australia where I worked and travelled for a year.</p>
<p>There are also lots of free working gap year programmes in the UK, such as "Year in Industry" which I have linked below.
Welcome</a> to The Year in Industry</p>
<p>It is worth noting that the UK drop out rate is much much lower that the US (though fewer people go to colleges and course last only 3 years). Possibly because students are not so burnt out? </p>
<p>Statistics from this article is about how a 22% drop out rate is a cause of national worry in the UK. It says only 54% of US college students graduate (it doesn't say in how many years)
BBC</a> NEWS | Education | £800m 'not cutting drop-out rate'</p>
<p>I wonder how many US students graduate from college with no idea what to do with their degrees. I "gapped" myself during my UG years because I felt so directionless. Working and wandering for a couple of years really helped put things into focus for me.</p>
<p>Has anyone heard of a college accepting an applicant on condition that s/he first takes a gap year? The story I've heard concerns someone waitlisted at Harvard who was accepted on condition s/he did a gap year first. The applicant was not immature either in age or experience and came from an elite private school. I don't really understand the rationale behind this (assuming the story is true!). I know Harvard has always encouraged 'time off' - I took a semester off during my third year. But the idea of taking somone off the waitlist contingent on agreeing to take the year off makes no sense. Here in the UK it's generally thought that a candidate who applies for deferred admission (ie. taking up the university place after a gap y ear) does so only with the confidence s/he's got a very strong application, knowing that it will be compared not only against the current year's applications but potential applications in the following year as well. Anyway, sorry if I've veered off in a somewhat different dirrection from the general discussion - but if this story is true (I am still nonplussed by it), then certainly it shows colleges value the gap year experience. The student in question however has spent the year so far in expensive travel and exotic work placements put together by a hired consultant.....</p>
<p>I think many colleges encourage gap years today, probably hoping for more mature students with better perspective on life (and a year working at GAP might give that perspective too...)</p>
<p>But usually these are students that get accepted to the college, and defer matriculating for a year. So for them it is not a default in case they didn't get into #1.</p>
<p>I would have benefited from a gap year. I was burned out on school and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I was certain four more years of the same thing wouldn't help me figure it out, but I had been admitted to an elite school and my family insisted I go, so I went. I dropped out after one semester, my parents wouldn't let me return home because my "failure" embarrassed them (they are not Asian), and for several years I held a variety of low-paying jobs. </p>
<p>I'm MSUDad's example of a kid who, "earned good grades at a good high school, but who fell off the regular track and never got back on," except I eventually got back on, it just took a couple of decades for me to discover a need that more formal education could meet. Until I could see value in the process, formal education was wasted on me. </p>
<p>Also, for most people, "scraping through a DeVry or Phoenix program" isn't any less prestigious than a degree from Southwest Missouri State.</p>
<p>"Has anyone heard of a college accepting an applicant on condition that s/he first takes a gap year? The story I've heard concerns someone waitlisted at Harvard who was accepted on condition s/he did a gap year first. The applicant was not immature either in age or experience and came from an elite private school. "</p>
<p>A Harvard classmate told me that his son was admitted to Harvard under the above condition. I don't know the rationale for it. S took a gap year then went to Harvard.</p>
<p>we're not there yet, but i suspect that my daughter (currently a junior) might benefit from a gap year before college. she is young for her grade and not as mature as her classmates. her test scores and ECs are great but her grades are lackluster - she is just not as engaged in school, or the college search process for that matter, as her peers.</p>
<p>even though i think it is possible/likely that she will take a gap year, we will still encourage her to go through the college search/application process next year, while she is in school and surrounded by her friends going through the same process, and teachers and a GC who support her. then in the spring of her senior year we can decide whether a gap year is appropriate, not based on what colleges she does or does not get into (honestly, that never crossed my mind), but based on her maturity and readiness for college.</p>
<p>I know that the trend is different in the UK and Australia (where I'm from), where high-achieving students often take gap years and defer their entry to college for a year. I did this, with high school grades putting me in the top 1% of all students in my state and a full scholarship offer waiting when I returned. I lived and worked as a teacher in China for 12 months, and have returned to full-time study much more passionate about what I want to do with my life, and with much more maturity than many of the people I now go to university with.</p>
<p>Certainly, the Aussies who get the most out of a gap year have a plan to use the time productively, and while of course there will be exceptions (there are to every case when it comes to life outcomes), this gives people a distinct advantage. I am now conversationally fluent in Chinese, have lived in a foreign country for a year, have real work experience on my resume, and that experience is probably as valuable as the degree I will have in a few years time.</p>
<p>Yes, I think it really is different if a gap year is usual in your culture. You're not out of step with your classmates, you don't have to explain to anyone what you did with the year and why you took it, etc. </p>
<p>Now, your gap year needs no explanation. I know a kid who took a "gap year" because he was offered a role in a touring show that required his unique talent (he's not looking for a career in this field). He decided that if he didn't do it while he was young, he'll never do it. He did and had a blast. No one who sees it on his resume wonders why he did it. And he went back to school. </p>
<p>Now a gap year of "working at the Gap" may raise questions and need to be explained for years to come.</p>
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Yes, I think it really is different if a gap year is usual in your culture.
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<p>Most Israeli kids go directly from high school into the army (men 3 years, women 2, I believe), and then on to university if that's their choice. I bet nobody has to show them how to make a bed or organize a schedule!</p>
<p>Like everything, what is good for one person is bad for another. The categorical advice to take a gap year is probably as bad as the categorical advice to not take a gap year. Let me give you a few data points.</p>
<p>I was dying of boredom from the lack of intellectual challenge of high school. I really felt out of place. I worked in summer jobs writing software at at a research laboratory near my house and so had some work experience already. I remember getting to college and feeling, "there are people like me here." A gap year would have been a terrible idea. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I worked incredibly hard in college, played a varsity sport, and had a job writing software or doing research every semester and every summer. In my junior year, I asked a very famous professor who did not teach undergraduates (I later found out why) to hire me as a research assistant and to be my senior thesis adviser. This guy was brilliant, made up his own words as well as concepts (many now in current usage like bits, software, etc.) but did not think in little mortal steps. So, I probably worked harder on my thesis than on all my courses combined that year. He employed me that summer to write up my thesis for the best journal in the field. At summer's end, I was completely burnt out. I had applied to grad school in the fall and chose to attend what I thought was the best department in the field. I remember when I was packing up to go to grad school that I just wasn't motivated. It never occurred to me to ask at that late date to defer. I went and, although I worked very hard, my heart was not in it. I quit after the first year. I took a job in a different area for a year and with a slightly different focus, reapplied to grad schools, went to another one that had been very solicitous the previous time and completed my PhD. I would have been much better off taking my gap year between college and grad school.</p>
<p>A friend's daughter worked very hard at a high-pressure private school and went to Princeton the following year. The summer before her freshman year, she was in tears. It didn't feel like the right school for her, ... . I suggested to her parents that they ask about taking the year off. Princeton said fine, but they suggested she start the first two weeks and see. She went, agreed to stay, but was miserable. She called home several times a day. Nothing was good. No interesting classmates. Everybody just wanted to party. Her teachers weren't as good as those at the private school, ... . I thought she might transfer, but she stayed and now everything is fine. Good classes, friends, etc. She would have been much better off taking a gap year. She's a highly motivated kid and could have found something valuable to do other than schoolwork.</p>
<p>My son is a senior in high school. Quite gifted and quite dyslexic. He's found the intellectual pace of our very competitive public high school far too slow but at the same time found the workload too heavy (much of it was, for him, busy work). He asked to be homeschooled and we ultimately constructed a program in which he takes lab science, art, and social studies classes (like Constitutional Law, Jungian psychology, international relations) at school and does math and English at home. That way, he can progress faster in math and work on reading/writing issues in a more constructive way. He wasn't ready to do the college search / application process this year. He's still working on reading fluency and writing (his writing is actually very good by now, but improving his writing has been a major, physically draining effort for him). And, he's co-authoring a novel and wants to finish it before going off to (and hopefully applying to) college. So, he's going to take a gap year to a) apply to college; b) finish his novel; c) do a language immersion course in Mexico; and d) do something currently undetermined (travel, social service, get a local internship) in the second half of the year. Like the example related by Chedva, I doubt he's going to become a novelist, but he does want to complete his project and get it published. A gap year is absolutely the right choice for him. </p>
<p>I suspect that a gap year would not be great for someone without some drive or motivation, unless they join an organized program like Americorps. The risk for a kid without a clear reason for a gap year or a clear sense of direction or motivation would be the one that the OP raised -- never reentering the college mainstream. </p>
<p>Given the low and decreasing acceptance rates of many colleges, however, I don't see a compelling case that every kid who did not get in to any of the colleges to which he or she applied should a) acknowledge his/her mistake; and b) suck it up and go to wherever he/should could get in at the last minute. The college admissions process typically is pretty tightly scheduled. The kid might wish to get advice as to whether he/she misjudged his or her attractiveness to colleges or whether this was just 10 tails out of 10 coin flips. He/she might use a gap year to solidify an interest and increase his/her attractiveness to colleges. Used that way, a gap year would be a good choice for a number of kids. I'd be a whole lot less enthusiastic about a burnt out year working in retail (nothing against working or retail) and doing drugs. But, you'd have to judge the kid and the situation to see what made the most sense.</p>
<p>Yesterday I broached the subject of a gap year to my youngest, a junior. He knows I am concerned about his maturity and organizational skills, so the first words were barely out of my mouth before he said "no." </p>
<p>I took some time to explain that I was talking about doing something REALLY COOL, like working abroad volunteering doing something neat (I mentioned archaeological digs of Roman ruins and perfecting his French, and other "dream" gap year activities). Basically if he does a gap year, it will be because he has found something that will take him away from home, give him time to grow up some, and be a life-changing experience that will enrich his college experience as well. Also, it should be something that sounds cool, so that when all his friends are talking about going off to their first-choice school, he'll still be very happy with his planned activity.</p>
<p>He definitely warmed to the idea. I suggested he google "gap year" to get some ideas, and left it at that.</p>
<p>If S does a gap year it will be something that he's decided he wants to do, and he may only apply to schools that offer deferred enrollment. My husband and I think it could be very good for him, but it will have to be his decision, and it would DEFINITELY not be because he didn't get into the college he wanted. If he decides he wants to go straight to college, we'll apply to a wide range of reach, fit, and safety schools, and I'm pretty sure (having been through this a couple of times) that he'll have a couple of satisfactory schools to choose from when all is said and done.</p>
<p>I did a gap year a million years ago, and no one ever questioned it. In fact since the year of my high school graduation hasn't been on my resume since college no one needs to even know about it. Now the experience just shows up as "speaks French fluently".</p>
<p>S2 and S3 would have benefited from a gap year. Both have flunked out and are working at lower level jobs, no careers. In hindsight, S2 was not ready to go. He even forgot his ID when he went in Sept. He left 2x's; the last because he did not know what he wanted to do. He was also a 9/11 kid, it happened 3 weeks after he went to school. At 24 he is now talking about going back, but it is much harder. I still believe that UK gap year would have been good for him. We had never heard of it then. S3 was just your typical gadfly. He could have used a gap year to grow up and take responsibility. He is personable, bright and a great employee. Just not self motivating. A gap year might have help if we could have sent him away.</p>
<p>The other 2 were fine where they were. So, not the same for all. BTW - their dad also flunked out the first time, but got drafted and grew up. When he went back he knew what he wanted and did it. If it weren't for the wars....</p>
<p>I can see from your personal experience why you have your view MSU Dad. My parents would have been like that. I think if the GAP is not with a concrete plan and goals post GAP, it could backfire. I think if you weren't already destined for uni, it would be a problem. Then again, if a year off means one never went back, maybe it was never for them and/or one is happier with a different life course. </p>
<p>I never took a GAP year and it's one of the only regrets I have ever had (I went from HS, through to four degrees, to my job). I would love my D to do it. And, growing up in a family of professors, and almost every adult she knows has many degrees, we really aren't worried about her not getting a college education. It might have been different for my parents, because no one in their world went to uni and so uni was a 'big deal' and they'd have perceived a risk of me taking a GAP year. </p>
<p>When else do you get a break of a year, having worked so hard, with your whole life ahead of you and the benefits of youth? When else will you ever backpack through Europe? When would be a better time to see the world or do service work? </p>
<p>Why is it valuable? Why is taking a day off work, or a few weeks vacation from one's job so critical to one's wellbeing and improving one's overall productivity? Why does travel expand your mind and educate you like nothing you will ever get in a classroom? Why does serving in the third world is a life changing event that permanently changes your world view? Why do kids benefit from studying abroad, working with diverse others, reading classic novels for fun, being on a team, volunteering, or having jobs? Why do people mature when faced with challenging life experiences? I want my child to grow in many ways, develop character, become educated, and experience life. Growth, education and development only partly comes from being in a classroom or reading a textbook. </p>
<p>A "year off" is not the point. A year doing something really cool and developmental and experiential with a plan as detailed as the college applications, that is not school and is not work, is so special and so unlikely to happen if not between HS and uni.</p>
<p>Whew, lots of thoughts here.</p>
<p>My perspective is colored by the following facts: I'm middle-class, I don't know anyone who purposefully did a "gap year," and, if they had, it would have just been hanging around at home, those who interrupted their studies never finished, all my residential friends finished, I don't believe HS is more stressful than either college or life and most people don't need time to decompress after it (that's what summer is for), everyone who is a year older than their peer group will seem mature, college is almost a universal good for students who are average or above, a student who will be happy at College X has a good chance of being happy at College Y. </p>
<p>I suppose if Rose and Joe Kennedy had sent me abroad after Choate, I'd have a different view.</p>
<p>I appreciate all the thoughts, but I'll still maintain that an unqualified "you should do a gap year" is generally bad advice to those who are disappointed with their acceptance letters.</p>
<p>For kids who are unhappy with their acceptance letters, I have one question to ask before "gap year": "Do you really want to go through all of this again??" I think the vast majority of kids will find one of their admissions to be palatable, rather than endure this process again (with the possibility of no better results).</p>