Why are gap years trendy?

[Anonymous]

Most of the kids I know taking gap years have done the bulk of the planning themselves. But then again, they are mostly Group 2 kids, who have already proven themselves to be very self-directed.

[Anonymous]

I did that in Peace Corps after college. Those paid for gap year programs in developing countries are paid for tourism by rich kids. They do not have the experience/training to add value nor are there long enough to make an impact. They should wait tables for a year and just send the money. It would be more helpful to the beneficiaries.

I totally agree with respect to the one week, or even one month, programs, but do you really think that an 18-year old working in a third world country for an entire year couldn't contribute something meaningful?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I did that in Peace Corps after college. Those paid for gap year programs in developing countries are paid for tourism by rich kids. They do not have the experience/training to add value nor are there long enough to make an impact. They should wait tables for a year and just send the money. It would be more helpful to the beneficiaries.

I totally agree with respect to the one week, or even one month, programs, but do you really think that an 18-year old working in a third world country for an entire year couldn't contribute something meaningful?

That is why I am saying they should stay home and wait tables then donate money. No. It's poverty tourism.

[Anonymous]

I just don't get it. DS spent a year in Africa doing things like clearing fields, planting and harvesting crops, fixing desks so they stopped wobbling, painting, building a fence, etc. How would four years of studying English literature have made him more effective?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're thinking of making our child take a gap year. We're told this isn't a good idea, but he is dozing his way through school and is immature and interested in nothing. We've been helping him (dragging him is more like it) get through his senior year, but I'm not sure it's such a good idea to let him go right to college. He's smart, so was accepted, then let his grades fall into the toilet. He's not used to responsibility and has no concept of how difficult the world is without parents there to pick up the pieces (yes, guilty as charged). I think it would be great for him to get a job stocking shelves at Wal-Mart for minumum wage. He could see how real people live, how hard it is to make a living and make ends meet on such poor wages.

He wants to go to college. I imagine he'll socialize and do a little studying. Wouldn't a gap year be a good idea, or would it be just a waste of time for him?

We required our son to take a gap year. He worked for a year, then went to good regional school. His attitude was totally changed by the time he went and he graduated with top honors. He's now with the State Dept.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're thinking of making our child take a gap year. We're told this isn't a good idea, but he is dozing his way through school and is immature and interested in nothing. We've been helping him (dragging him is more like it) get through his senior year, but I'm not sure it's such a good idea to let him go right to college. He's smart, so was accepted, then let his grades fall into the toilet. He's not used to responsibility and has no concept of how difficult the world is without parents there to pick up the pieces (yes, guilty as charged). I think it would be great for him to get a job stocking shelves at Wal-Mart for minumum wage. He could see how real people live, how hard it is to make a living and make ends meet on such poor wages.

He wants to go to college. I imagine he'll socialize and do a little studying. Wouldn't a gap year be a good idea, or would it be just a waste of time for him?

We required our son to take a gap year. He worked for a year, then went to good regional school. His attitude was totally changed by the time he went and he graduated with top honors. He's now with the State Dept.

What sort of job did he have during the gap?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think people are getting confused because there are two very different types of kids who are pursuing gap years these days.

Group 1 are the kids who are kind of middling students, not particularly motivated or interested in school, whose parents think they need a year to mature so that sending them off to college won't be a complete waste of money as they party through their days and flunk out. This is the group that most parental-aged people think of when they hear the words "gap year".

Group 2 are the kids who have spent the past four years working their butts off in a Big 3-TJ-type intense academic environment, who are highly motivated and have been accepted to top 20 colleges, and who may be considering careers that require graduate school as well. As they look ahead, they think "is this really all there is to life?" They are kind of burned out from the intensity of their high school experience and want a little break before they plunge back in for the next 4-8 years. They are the ones who start exploring volunteer trips or internships in other countries, travel, etc, because they want to experience something different and meet people who are not just like them. In this group, the kid is the one doing the research and planning the year, not the parent. This is the newer group, at least in the US (apparently this has been more common in other places like Europe). These kids are already fairly mature, and there is no question that they will be going to college, and probably excelling there, when the year is up. For this group, a year of sitting on the couch in the basement is the last thing they would do with this gift of time.

Mom of two "group one" kids here. Sneer all you want. Both have now far outperformed many of their peers who went the traditional route. Very few h.s. grads, no matter their resumes, are prepared for the wild partying on college campuses.

[Anonymous]

My story is a little different because I took a gap year (if that's what you can even call it) between college and grad school. I had deferred admission. I went to a program in England where I worked in Manchester Prison's volunteer center both inside and outside the prison for 4 days, worked at a nursing home for the deaf for 1 day, and also volunteered time to tutor kids in reading who had hearing-impaired parents.

The only thing I paid for was my airfare; the program provided group housing and a very small weekly stipend. My flatmates were another American who'd graduated college too and was choosing between med school and grad school, 3 English kids who had just finished their A levels and were deciding what to do next (two went to university the year after and the third worked for several more years before going to nursing school), and a woman from Slovakia, who previously was an au pair in England.

None of it was funded by my parents. If my children wanted to do something similar, I would be happy.

[Anonymous]

Because the message of things like the "Race to Nowhere" have finally started to convince people to take some time to pause and reflect on the next steps in their lives rather than just blindly racing on to do what is expected of them.

[Anonymous]

How transformational is a 20-40 hr wk brainless job for a year if you still give them all the creature comforts of an upper middle class lifestyle? Sounds like they'd just have more spending money for concerts and beer when they visit friends who began college.

[Anonymous]

My kids both did gap years with Americorps (no cost to us). They both did much better in college than their peers, even some peers who were top tier, full scholarship. Both were focused on education and recreation but not partying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're thinking of making our child take a gap year. We're told this isn't a good idea, but he is dozing his way through school and is immature and interested in nothing. We've been helping him (dragging him is more like it) get through his senior year, but I'm not sure it's such a good idea to let him go right to college. He's smart, so was accepted, then let his grades fall into the toilet. He's not used to responsibility and has no concept of how difficult the world is without parents there to pick up the pieces (yes, guilty as charged). I think it would be great for him to get a job stocking shelves at Wal-Mart for minumum wage. He could see how real people live, how hard it is to make a living and make ends meet on such poor wages.

He wants to go to college. I imagine he'll socialize and do a little studying. Wouldn't a gap year be a good idea, or would it be just a waste of time for him?

This was our son. He joined the military. It was hard but taught him discipline and showed him that he really wanted an education. Graduated college with top honors and recruited by grad schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are getting confused because there are two very different types of kids who are pursuing gap years these days.

Group 1 are the kids who are kind of middling students, not particularly motivated or interested in school, whose parents think they need a year to mature so that sending them off to college won't be a complete waste of money as they party through their days and flunk out. This is the group that most parental-aged people think of when they hear the words "gap year".

Group 2 are the kids who have spent the past four years working their butts off in a Big 3-TJ-type intense academic environment, who are highly motivated and have been accepted to top 20 colleges, and who may be considering careers that require graduate school as well. As they look ahead, they think "is this really all there is to life?" They are kind of burned out from the intensity of their high school experience and want a little break before they plunge back in for the next 4-8 years. They are the ones who start exploring volunteer trips or internships in other countries, travel, etc, because they want to experience something different and meet people who are not just like them. In this group, the kid is the one doing the research and planning the year, not the parent. This is the newer group, at least in the US (apparently this has been more common in other places like Europe). These kids are already fairly mature, and there is no question that they will be going to college, and probably excelling there, when the year is up. For this group, a year of sitting on the couch in the basement is the last thing they would do with this gift of time.

Mom of two "group one" kids here. Sneer all you want. Both have now far outperformed many of their peers who went the traditional route. Very few h.s. grads, no matter their resumes, are prepared for the wild partying on college campuses.

^^^This^^^

I can't tell you how many kids we know who went straight to top tier colleges and ending up partying, having mental breakdowns, etc. A lot of these kids really need a break and some time to mature while not constantly under the thumb of mom and dad. Many seemed to treat their whole college experience as a "gap time" and didn't get serious until a gap year after college, then grad school.

[Anonymous]

If you have the means for your kid to take a gap year, then bravo for you. Kids who need financial aid to attend college do not have that luxury, so to me, gap year is code for "another way rich kids get to stay rich."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are getting confused because there are two very different types of kids who are pursuing gap years these days.

Group 1 are the kids who are kind of middling students, not particularly motivated or interested in school, whose parents think they need a year to mature so that sending them off to college won't be a complete waste of money as they party through their days and flunk out. This is the group that most parental-aged people think of when they hear the words "gap year".

Group 2 are the kids who have spent the past four years working their butts off in a Big 3-TJ-type intense academic environment, who are highly motivated and have been accepted to top 20 colleges, and who may be considering careers that require graduate school as well. As they look ahead, they think "is this really all there is to life?" They are kind of burned out from the intensity of their high school experience and want a little break before they plunge back in for the next 4-8 years. They are the ones who start exploring volunteer trips or internships in other countries, travel, etc, because they want to experience something different and meet people who are not just like them. In this group, the kid is the one doing the research and planning the year, not the parent. This is the newer group, at least in the US (apparently this has been more common in other places like Europe). These kids are already fairly mature, and there is no question that they will be going to college, and probably excelling there, when the year is up. For this group, a year of sitting on the couch in the basement is the last thing they would do with this gift of time.

Mom of two "group one" kids here. Sneer all you want. Both have now far outperformed many of their peers who went the traditional route. Very few h.s. grads, no matter their resumes, are prepared for the wild partying on college campuses.

^^^This^^^

I can't tell you how many kids we know who went straight to top tier colleges and ending up partying, having mental breakdowns, etc. A lot of these kids really need a break and some time to mature while not constantly under the thumb of mom and dad. Many seemed to treat their whole college experience as a "gap time" and didn't get serious until a gap year after college, then grad school.

But isn't this a function of parents being horrible during high school, not necessarily a clarion call to have a gap year. Let your kids learn to fail in HS then college won't be so crazy.
My kid had some issue last semester, went from 3.91 to 3.89. If this means he doesn't get into Penn then something more is wrong with our system.