A Gap Year: Students Say The Road Less Traveled Can Make All the Difference

The idea of taking a “gap year,” or time off between high school and college, is gaining momentum in the United States. Research has shown that students who invest a year in a project or experience that lets them refresh, recharge, and learn a little more about the world and their place in it, arrive to college with more focus, direction, maturity and engagement.

With Malia Obama, the daughter of the President, announcing this week that she's taking a gap year (as Harvard, her planned college of attendance, encourages), the idea has hit the mainstream.

See these other recent articles about gap years:
Time Magazine: How a Gap Year Can Pay Off After College

Slate/ Inside Higher Ed: Don't Go to College Next Year

New York Times: In Fervent Support of a Gap Year

How My Gap Year Changed My Life

Here at CA, we’re also seeing more and more students and families decide that a gap year is a good decision — last year alone, several students took time out before starting their first year of college.

 

In most cases, students apply to college on the normal timeline, decide where they want to attend, pay their enrollment deposit, and then request a one-year deferral. At most colleges, the admission office is happy to grant the year delay. They have one space already filled for the next year, and one student may get to come off the waitlist this year.

 

This month, we asked CA alumni to tell us about their adventures before beginning college, including one who took a year off in the middle of college, and one who took a “late start” option to begin college in the spring semester— a nice compromise, and an opportunity that an increasing number of colleges are offering in order to enroll more first-year students.

 

You may read more CA alumni stories below. Visit the CA College Office home page for more links to help you think about gap year planning.

Alec Hopping, CA '15
Katie Gelber, CA '15
Sarah Sibley, CA '14
Andrew Myers, CA '12