The Gap Year: Breaking up the “Cradle to College to Cubicle to Cemetery” Cycle
“‘How many of you would love to take a gap year right now?’ Holly Bull, an independent student gap year adviser asked a room full of college counselors early on Saturday morning. A groggy audience sprang to life, all hands shooting up at a lecture entitled ‘Gap Year: American Style’ at the National Association of College Counselors conference in New Orleans. The idea of taking time off between high school and college — a self-exploratory sabbatical in the free spirit of 1970s — has increasingly become a structured concept in the United States, with counselors like Ms. Bull linking students and parents up with formal programs. As the number of students who opt to take a gap year has grown, so, too, has awareness of gap year benefits to the student, said Robert Clagett, former dean of admissions at Middlebury College (and formerly an admissions officer at Harvard).”
On Campus: Is It a Good Idea to Take a Gap Year?
Many students transition directly from high school to college. But, an increasing number of graduates are taking a gap year. HuffPost Live goes on and off campus to learn more about the benefits of taking this year off in between.
Mind The Gap
“The gap year is frequently one of those terms you hear in college fairs and pretend to consider for a few weeks, daydreaming about foreign countries, exploring the world and finding yourself and independence away from the influences of parents, friends and school. While the gap year has always been popular in the United Kingdom and other countries in Europe — 50 percent of students in Norway take a year off before returning to school, according to the Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education — it is only now gaining popularity in the United States.”
A Primer on Gap Years
“It’s the season when high school seniors are frantically filling out college applications and trying to figure out where they will be and what they will be doing next fall. There is some evidence that a growing number of U.S. high school graduates are taking a year off before going to college. But there are questions about how gap years work, and who they benefit and what colleges think about them. To get some answers, I talked with Laura R. Hosid, an expert on gap years at the Vinik Educational Placement Services, Inc. in Bethesda, and you can read the Q & below. Hosid can be reached at laura@vinikeps.com.”
