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[quote=Anonymous]Our DS graduated in 2022 and now attends a NE LAC.  My husband had a harder HS to college transition -- I went directly to college. I was very concerned about losing momentum.  As a family, we had differing views.  Even before COVID and as our DS was entering HS, my husband thought a gap year would be good.  DS is a "highs stats kid" (whatever that means anymore), a few solid ECs that he went deep on vs getting involved in everything to build a resume, takes his academics very seriously, is also on the younger side for his class.  DS applied to 2 colleges while in HS, with a plan to apply to more during his gap year.  Got into the school he wanted and deferred...the school has a process, and requested a short essay at the mid-point. For the gap year, we asked our son to create a plan:  do something larger than yourself (he worked with Catholic Charities at the border) travel (within a defined budget), work part time, apply for scholarships (since he didn't need to apply for colleges).  He ended up working through his plan with mixed success, but also learned he loved exploring on his own museums and the Library of Congress. Bottom line --the summer before he moved to school, he said he was ready to go and appreciated the academic break.  He has a level of maturity, independence and confidence that I did not expect -- As/A minus his first semester, so he did not lose his "academic chops" which was my fear.  As a side benefit during his year at home, he learned what it takes to run the house.  The things that magically happened while he was at school.  He periodically did the grocery shopping, planned/cooked meals cars serviced, waited for service people to come to the house, etc...He was transparent on college applications about taking a gap year and what he hoped to achieve. This transparency was a surprising point of controversy with college counselors (ie, why give a college a reason to reject you). Bottom line -- I'm a convert to gap year, have a plan -- it does not need to be through a very expensive program.  [/quote]

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