Who considers a Gap Year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not just attend community college and then apply to college as a transfer? Is cc a bad word in this group. I attended a top 5 SLAC and they admitted a handful of kids from cc each year.

Yes, attending a CC is right up there with voting for Trump & driving a domestic car among things that will get you disinvited from the cool-kids parties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is seriously considering taking a gap. She is currently going through the college application process and has been accepted to her school of choice (which includes Honor's College and the highest merit). However, she just wants to take a year to work a bit before getting into the college grind. She currently has a job (i.e. retail job), but she is also planning on taking some drawing classes at NOVA or going through animation mentor. While she has a pretty strong portfolio, she wants to keep improving on her skills. If she takes a gap year, she will most likely defer acceptance - but she needs to figure out if her honor's college admission and merit scholarships can also get deferred. Also, I think some schools have restrictions on taking college classes during the gap year - so need to make sure that she is allowed (before signing up for art classes at NOVA). There is a gap fair on Tuesday evening (I think at Marshall High School).

Schools often restrict the number of college credits you can earn during the gap year. They don't/can't tell you not to do something. They just won't give you credit.

Is the gap fair open to everyone or just Marshall HS students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are considering a gap year for DS who will be 18 next month. He has EF issues and we hope the gap year will give him time to mature. He does have admission into a few schools and we'd defer admission at one of more of those schools for a year. I don't think it's a good idea to apply for college while on your gap year.

It won’t. It will just hurt his mental health and make him feel awkward being the older student and getting thrown out of his class cohort. Don’t do it.

Have you heard of this happening? Or do you think that's what could happen?

I know of someone's DC who said would take a gap year, and a few years later, still not in college

There are gap years, and then there's not starting college and calling it a gap year. There should be a pretty clear and finite plan to avoid the latter. I know lots of kids who took gap years and started college successfully on time.

A gap year, is a gap year is a gap year. What you do (or not) during that time does not change that definition, but agree that what you do during that time is critical for post-gap year success.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are considering a gap year for DS who will be 18 next month. He has EF issues and we hope the gap year will give him time to mature. He does have admission into a few schools and we'd defer admission at one of more of those schools for a year. I don't think it's a good idea to apply for college while on your gap year.

It won’t. It will just hurt his mental health and make him feel awkward being the older student and getting thrown out of his class cohort. Don’t do it.

Have you heard of this happening? Or do you think that's what could happen?

I know of someone's DC who said would take a gap year, and a few years later, still not in college

Yes. A few in our orbit did this with their sons. It did NOT help the boys. Slacker or "EF" function deficient boys don't magically become overachievers because you punished them with a year out of school. Boys like that already have fragile self-esteem, low self-confidence and are crummy students -- how does forcing them to be a year behind all of their friends and develop rust/atrophy help in any way? It doesn't! Don't make this mistake!

[Anonymous]

10:11 poster here -- we also gave our DS guidance that he needed to be "off budget" by the time he was 25. After the gap year, if he attended school for a year and found out it wasn't for him (the school he selected or college in general), he needed to figure it out and have a career path with benefits, etc.... We weren't going to delay our retirement and can only carry him so long on health insurance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is seriously considering taking a gap. She is currently going through the college application process and has been accepted to her school of choice (which includes Honor's College and the highest merit). However, she just wants to take a year to work a bit before getting into the college grind. She currently has a job (i.e. retail job), but she is also planning on taking some drawing classes at NOVA or going through animation mentor. While she has a pretty strong portfolio, she wants to keep improving on her skills. If she takes a gap year, she will most likely defer acceptance - but she needs to figure out if her honor's college admission and merit scholarships can also get deferred. Also, I think some schools have restrictions on taking college classes during the gap year - so need to make sure that she is allowed (before signing up for art classes at NOVA). There is a gap fair on Tuesday evening (I think at Marshall High School).

Schools often restrict the number of college credits you can earn during the gap year. They don't/can't tell you not to do something. They just won't give you credit.

Is the gap fair open to everyone or just Marshall HS students?

I believe that it is open to everyone. My daughter, who is at McLean High School, received information from her school. I think that you are supposed to register in advance, but I don't think they will turn anyone away who shows up.

[Anonymous]

Gap year = crap year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gap year = crap year

Only if you make it into a crap year. Your choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD got rejected by all Ivies in '23, that was expected, got accepted to UNC, so she decided to take a gap year because she wasn't sure about UNC. She spends her gap year in Marco Island and plays Pickleball with retirees in the condo community. One of the players is a retired Dean of Admission at an Ivy and they quickly become friend and PB partner. The retired Dean encouraged DD to apply again but with ED and made a few phone calls on DD's behalf. DD got accepted at one of the Ivies and will begin in Fall '24.

She was accepted at the Ivy where her PB partner worked or a different one?

Same Ivy where her PB partner once worked. Who you know is very important.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DD got rejected by all Ivies in '23, that was expected, got accepted to UNC, so she decided to take a gap year because she wasn't sure about UNC. She spends her gap year in Marco Island and plays Pickleball with retirees in the condo community. One of the players is a retired Dean of Admission at an Ivy and they quickly become friend and PB partner. The retired Dean encouraged DD to apply again but with ED and made a few phone calls on DD's behalf. DD got accepted at one of the Ivies and will begin in Fall '24.

Most schools require a commitment to come—not to apply to other schools during the gap year—before granting a deferral. And most schools—certainly all Ivies—will pull an offer from a kid they learn has brown such a commitment. So this PP is, in all likelihood, either a troll or a fool.

[Anonymous]

It’s becoming a lot more common. I do think a gap year can be beneficial for some kids who need to mature and do something different for a year before throwing themselves into 4 years of college.

There are some specific gap year programs that exist now, but not sure about cost and if they are worthwhile. Saw a recent info session but we are still a year away from this process. I guess a gap year can be very structured, or not, just depends on how it’s approached.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s becoming a lot more common. I do think a gap year can be beneficial for some kids who need to mature and do something different for a year before throwing themselves into 4 years of college.

There are some specific gap year programs that exist now, but not sure about cost and if they are worthwhile. Saw a recent info session but we are still a year away from this process. I guess a gap year can be very structured, or not, just depends on how it’s approached.

So many specific gap year experiences these days! Most are pretty expensive -- if not quite the equivalent of an additional semester/year of college, sometimes close. But other programs, like City Year, actually give a stipend -- those seem like the best of both worlds, bc they offer social connection, new experiences, but without the costs.

A note about another PP's comment about gap year = crap year. According to college counselor, this can be true for many kids if the year isn't well planned. For many kids, there can apparently be a surprising amount of loneliness and isolation. Active planning can help avoid some of this.