<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>I agree, and suspect that most CC posters would agree.
There are only some circumstances in which gap years are appropriate and helpful.</p>
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I suppose if Rose and Joe Kennedy had sent me abroad after Choate, I'd have a different view.
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<p>You insist on making this a class issue, where a gap year is something that rich kids have the luxury to do. The (admittedly few) people I have known who did gap years were middle-class. And they went to college and got degrees afterwards.</p>
<p>I don't think everyone should do a gap year either, but you came to this thread with certain preconceived notions about what it means to do it (a productive one is a luxury for rich kids, most kids who take a year off are looking for excuses to prolong that indefinitely, etc), and even with people telling you that these don't necessarily hold, you keep citing them.</p>
<p>"I suppose if Rose and Joe Kennedy had sent me abroad after Choate, I'd have a different view."</p>
<p>? S did a gap year while living at home working fulltime as an Americorps Volunteer. </p>
<p>I know a woman who did a gap year traveling with money she'd earned working throughout high school.</p>
<p>I agree with jessiehl that gap years aren't the class issue that you're making it.</p>
<p>Of course I have preconceived notions, that should not surprise anyone (some people call it "experience" "knowledge" etc... if someone has an income-based survey, I'd love to see it). </p>
<p>It remains to me bit of a class issue, which is not to say there aren't exceptions (and "middle class" means different things to different people: I know people making over $150,000/year who insist they are middle class; they are not). A year in France, Italy, or China sounds wonderful, but isn't in the cards for many/most of us (and I question its wisdom without some planning and strong financial support).</p>
<p>With regard to Americorps and a planned gap year, I say "great," and mean it, but I believe a fair reading of my posts indicates I have different issues than the planned, thought-out, Americorps-style gap year.</p>
<p>I think this horse must be beaten adequately by now, and I do appreciate the thoughts of the posters here.</p>
<p>Jessie wrote: "I don't think everyone should do a gap year either, but you came to this thread with certain preconceived notions about what it means to do it (a productive one is a luxury for rich kids, most kids who take a year off are looking for excuses to prolong that indefinitely, etc), and even with people telling you that these don't necessarily hold, you keep citing them"</p>
<p>Jessie, you grossly misread my post if you think I believe that my friends intended that their "gap year" be "prolonged indefinitely"; it is a tragedy, made so by the fact that they always thought that they'd be back on the fulltime track "soon," and it never happened. Had nothing to do with excuses, has to do with life overtaking them, and college getting back-burnered, to their detriment.</p>
<p>I, on the other hand, don't see why you're not swayed by my comments.</p>
<p>MSUDad, I think I now get where you are coming from. I do think posts, including mine, might read like "let them eat cake!" I think class does play a role (having been on both sides of the fence with this one). </p>
<p>Although I regretted not doing a GAP year (specifically backpacking through Europe), I'm not sure how I would have done it financially anyway (my parents being low income). </p>
<p>With my experience I now know of some ways and examples of how kids did incredible GAP years without parental financial support (though I'm in the land of universal healthcare so the issue of insurance isn't one). For many students, however, it would not be realistic at all. </p>
<p>Not realistic for three reasons. One is money. Two is being in an environment where college isn't the only optoin (so its more likely one will not go back). Three being access to information. Just as many kids in some SES groups are much less likely to go to college at all, or know about early decisions, or how to plan for college from 9th grade onward, GAP years are also still likely a concept mostly for upper income kids. </p>
<p>Has anyone written a good book on doing great GAP years? You know, something to help kids (of all income levels and constraints!) plan such a year (e.g. that does not require parental funds?). Would be a great one.</p>
<p>I haven't run the numbers yet, but I wonder which costs more: paying for health insurance for the kid for a year (since the kid is no longer a student and therefore not covered), or paying for community college while retaining the health benefits provided by the parent's employer?</p>
<p>" paying for health insurance for the kid for a year (since the kid is no longer a student and therefore not covered),"</p>
<p>Check your health insurance. Ours continued to cover S during his gap year.</p>
<p>Loren Pope has a good bit in one of his books on the planned gap year (in favor of the option of the planned year).</p>
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Check your health insurance. Ours continued to cover S during his gap year.
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<p>Ours definitely won't. At which point the decision must include financial considerations. A kid can work for a year and perhaps make the cost of the insurance, but wouldn't have a whole lot left if he/she was earning minimum wage. (I'm not considering the "goes to China" type of kid here, but rather the kid who isn't mature enough to go away anywhere 'on time').</p>
<p>Does anyone have any recommendations for gap year programs? The only really interesting ones I can find (I'm interested in volunteering abroad) seem to be run by companies in the UK, which wouldn't be a problem really, but it would be a lot more convenient to arrange things with a program here in the US.</p>
<p>LEAPYear!!!! Through an organization called LEAPNow. Google it. You can even get college credit for some of their programs. </p>
<p>After having a really difficult senior year personally, and feeling burnt-out and disappointed with my small-town public high school, I just applied to a few near-by state schools. After surprisingly not getting accepted to the one state university I thought I could stand (it almost seems like a mistake now) I was totally lost and didn't know what to do with myself.</p>
<p>Ta-da! I magically stumble across this LEAPYear program on the internet, and spend my first year of college traveling, studying, and volunteering in Central and South America. Honestly the most inspiring and educational year of my life. The program is really about exploring and learning about the world around you, and yourself, creating a lot of maturity in a person. The accredited year-long program definitely isn't for everyone, as it requires a lot of challenging soul-searching and introspection and other ideals some might consider weird, especially during the short retreats in California at the sort of home base. I spent the first semester traveling in Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Honduras with a small group and two leaders, then traveled alone to Bolivia in the second semester to volunteer at an animal refuge/rehabilitation center in the jungle.</p>
<p>Besides getting college credit and it just being the most amazing thing ever, the best part about it is that because it is through an actual college, they provide financial aid. These kind of amazing experiences do NOT have to be just for the rich (both my parents are self-employed artists... haha), although you do have to search to find something that works for you.</p>
<p>Anyway, there's my story. Not for everyone, but vital for me. The only problem was that because I was working 24/7 in the jungle with a puma, I still didn't have enough time or resources to fully research colleges for the following year and went with the safest/easiest option at the time, which has proven to just not be for me... thus I am having to transfer again. Oh well.</p>
<p>The NY Times weighs in today on a Gap Year. However, this article is from the Style pages so it is descriptive...with quotes from some admissions officers...but isn't particularly "pro" or "con". Also, the article doesn't indicate any of the students they profile didn't get into their first choice schools....just that they needed a break from the rigors of high school!</p>
<p>oh yea, I forgot another program, Where There Be Dragons... and Carpe Diem International Education... and yea. I feel like if you search, you should definitely find a few good ones, even just in the U.S.</p>
<p>p3t... just wanted to add, that not only do Israeli kids spend 2-3 years in the army right after high school (which admittedly, is a more focused environment), many of them take a gap year between the army and uni!!</p>
<p>I know a whole bunch of israelis who went to india for a year.....</p>
<p>does anyone know any more programs like mentioned?</p>
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Loren Pope has a good bit in one of his books on the planned gap year (in favor of the option of the planned year).
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<p>It was in Looking Beyond the Ivy League</p>
<p>Here's the link to an earlier Gap Year discussion, with a "cheap gap year in Ghana" idea (among other suggestions)</p>
<p>It has a link to InterExchange
InterExchange</a> - International Cultural Exchange & Work Exchange Programs</p>
<p>A question about gap years:</p>
<p>I know you can defer enrollment to a college for a year (Does every college allow that?) -- but would merit scholarships (esp. school-based) be deferred and kept for you, too?</p>
<p>Bamboozler, no easy answer there. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.</p>