TAKING A GAP YEAR More and more high school seniors are considering the option of a gap year before they attend college. They have gone through the college process, gained acceptance, and then requested a year of deferral from that college. Colleges are often quite amenable to requests of deferral, assuming a student has an organized plan in place for the gap year. The gap year has gained greater acceptance among students, their families, and colleges. Why? A year off from academic demands between high school and college gives students the chance to a) re-energize after an intense academic high school experience; b) experiment with a taste of independence, making the transition to college easier; and/or c) make some money to put towards quickly rising college tuitions. Colleges grant gap years with the expectation that students will honor their commitment to matriculate at the college after the gap year. We expect the same; it is a matter of behaving ethically . There will be some instances where a gap year proves so transformative that the college from which the student deferred no longer seems like a good fit and, as a result, the student chooses to apply to other colleges. As a rule, colleges are understanding about these natural, unforeseen awakenings. However, a student should not go into a gap year with the intention of applying to other colleges. That sort of strategic thinking violates the spirit of the gap year agreement. There are thousands of gap year opportunities. Language immersion programs, volunteer work, apprenticeships and internships, and experiential learning are just some of the limitless possibilities. (The American Gap Association [AGA] has a very comprehensive, helpful website – americangap.org.) Some students will work for the first half of the year, and then put the money they have earned towards travel or a program of their choosing. We know that some parents are skeptical about their child taking a year off, but, in our experience, the time can be incredibly worthwhile if a good plan is developed. And for those parents who worry that their child may never go back to school after a year off, we can assure you that 100% of Milton students return to college. (Several colleges – most notably Harvard and Princeton – have written strong and helpful statements about the value of the gap year.) Some years we encounter students who take a year off because they have determined that they are not ready or circumstances are not right for the college process. Perhaps because of personal, medical, financial, or academic reasons, these students simply focus on their senior year and then step away from school for a while in order to feel ready to make the decisions and commitments that the college process requires. The College Office understands that delaying the process is right for some students, and we are prepared to work with these students even after graduation.
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