+ Author's Note
We are living in days of great uncertainty. As much as I have roamed around my living room in between meetings with students and other work, I consider what insights and information I can share that will be relevant to students and families regardless of what’s to come. Because right now, we don’t know.
While whatever awaits us in the coming six months to the next few years is still unknown. But it’s safe to say that some people’s plans—to take certain tests, to visit colleges, to attend summer programs— are being reconsidered, postponed, already, or soon-to-be canceled. How will this impact graduating seniors? Students applying to college this fall?
We face complicated questions with answers that will continue to evolve. What’s most important in this time is to realize that this, like everything else, will pass. It’s most important to stay healthy, physically and mentally, do the work that’s in front of you and do it well, and devise alternative plans based on existing facts and well-reasoned projections.
For these reasons, I am writing a series of articles addressing different issues related to US Admissions in the Time of Coronavirus. First for seniors, who feel this change most imminently. Graduating students and families receiving college acceptances deserve congratulations for your hard work. Yet, it is utterly bittersweet to enjoy college acceptances and planning for your future but to do so alone, without being able to celebrate successes with your classmates and teachers, coaches and teammates who were integral to your last four years. Graduation ceremonies via Zoom, who would have thought?
Moving toward university for international students this fall-- how will I-20s and visas get processed as consulates are shuttered for indefinite periods of time. Will colleges and universities re-open in time for fall? Will they try to offer a curriculum online for international students who can’t arrive on time? Would that be worthwhile? Every level of every education institution is scrambling in the same way Chinese schools were two months ago to figure out how to solve the issues of online education in the short-term, but thoughts about fall, and reassuring you, aren’t far behind.
Since we work on behalf of students and families only, we think about what’s in the best interests of you, in the short and long-term. Suitable solutions and plans for some would be terrible for others, so it’s critical to honestly reflect your situation and needs, not your classmates’, not your social media circles’, not that of the #1 student in the grade.
Families and students have started to ask us more about the concept of a gap year—is it good? Is it dangerous? Is it wise during this period of time? In fact, I took a gap year myself and deferred college for one year. The ways in which my gap year shaped my outlook and career are profound. Given ongoing unknowns, it’s good to consider all options, and a gap year might be one.
What is a Gap Year?
A gap year is typically “a break” of an academic year. In this case, I’m referring to a year taken between graduating high school and starting college. During a gap year, you usually do something that is not official, formal ‘school,’ but can still be very educational. The term ‘gap year’ itself is actually a bit misleading; students who are on a gap year are not ‘resting’ or taking a life hiatus. In fact, a gap can be intense, engaging, and highly impactful. A “bridge year” may be a more appropriate term, but because ‘gap year’ is the most commonly used one, we’ll stick to that.
A gap year is an especially popular topic of conversation right now but have been around for a long time. They are most common in the U.K. and are generally more common in countries that require military service. In recent years, they have also gained popularity in the US. President Obama’s daughter, Malia Obama, deferred Harvard for one year to take a gap year. The Associated Press reported a 22% increase in gap years in 2015 over the previous year, and data suggests roughly US 30,000-40,000 students take a gap year every year. More and more colleges, such as Harvard, Princeton, and Tufts explicitly encourage students to take a gap year before coming to campus as a freshman. Princeton, Duke, and Tufts even have programs to allow students to do a year-long program through the university.
Survey Responses on Why Students Chose To Take A Gap Year
Who Might Benefit from a Gap Year?
YOU! If…
You feel burnt out from high school—with some combination of overworked, overwhelmed and struggling to imagine how to sustain it for another four years
You are still unsure who you are, what you want, your purpose and direction
You want to get more “real-world” experience to help guide, validate, or confirm what you want to study in college
You are somewhat of a late bloomer trailing your peers in personal, emotional, or academic development
You don’t feel like your high school grades, standardized test scores, or other parts of your application are ‘ready’ to show your full potential by college deadlines
You weren’t pleased with your college acceptances, or really got overconfident and applied only to a few reach schools, whoops
The Gap Year: An Antidote to Burnout
Today’s Gen Z faces a variety of challenges—some research shows Gen Z 1 in 7 young adults has mental health conditions. One interesting perspective is in Dr. Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist and Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University's Stern School of Business and the co-author of the book The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure. He writes, “Kids learn most from acting on the world and receiving feedback from the world," he says. "They don’t learn nearly as much by adults telling them how the world works."
Fundamentally, most kids have been brought up in a regimented, scheduled, and prescriptive universe. Real, transformational growth happens organically, through direct experience, nuanced observation and interaction. Especially in times like these when the world order feels totally upside down and sideways, it is rare for a high school student to find time in their busy schedule to pause for self-reflection—what’s my why? In other words: what is my purpose?
Many reports point to evidence that Z’ers are more likely than any other generation to report mental health issues —the stress of the modern era takes a formidable toll, and it doesn’t get better by ‘staying the course’ and brushing off high school stress and directly entering college. Time to re-center, reflect, and recall what all this education is for would not be time poorly spent.
“‘He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.’”
Your gap year can be a time to find your why, and get grittier for whatever life presents.
What Are The Benefits of a Gap Year?
There is solid evidence that students who do gap years end up more satisfied with their college experiences and even their careers because of the maturity they develop, the real-world skills, and the focus they gain that carries with them far beyond their gap year experience. Many of the soft skills that employers tote as differentiators in the workforce are just those that gappers develop through their year—confidence, communication skills, maturity, global competence skills, etc.
Middlebury College, well-known for its “Febs” entry program has tracked the data of students who took time ‘out’ before starting at Middlebury. The statistical data is clear, it shows that those students who gained real-life experience through a type of ‘gap year experience’ performed better all four years of college, as measured by their GPA.
What Can You Do During a Gap Year?
The world is your oyster, and the options are limitless! Granted, one of the reasons you are likely considering a gap year especially THIS year is because options to maintain ‘normalcy’ are undoubtedly more limited. This doesn’t mean a gap year isn’t a good idea, it just means that you may need to get more creative. Under normal circumstances, the possibilities for what you can do during a year may quickly become overwhelming. For that reason, it’s helpful and important to refer to trusted sources and experts who have helped other students. Middlebury College offers a list of resources and the American Gap Association also accredits programs and provides bountiful resources for students and families to search for more structured programs or to find gap year consultants who can help students consider how to organize a year that will personally meet your own goals, wishes, and needs.
Some of the most common activities to do during a gap year include:
Learn/deepen a language through travel, immersion
Volunteer with an organization or cause you care about or want to learn more about
Gain work experience by shadowing, interning, volunteering with companies or sectors of interest
Learn a skill, get a certification or take a class—like EMT, scuba diving, photography, cooking, etc.
The most meaningful and impactful gap years are those that push you out of a ‘normal routine’, out of your comfort zone, and get you into a new environment, meeting new people, and trying new things. Not all students need to venture far away during the year, some can opt to prepare for success in college. Whatever it is you do, we recommend that it’s at least something that you wouldn’t have tried in your last year of high school or in your first year of college (in your present self). Gap years don’t have to be fancy or expensive, and there are certainly ways to do them on a budget.
Seriously Considering A Gap Year? What To Do Next
For Seniors Graduating 2020: Admissions officers and college administrators are already discussing what to do if the coronavirus upends the smooth start of the next academic year. Just as they are going to make accommodations for those applying this fall (many are going test-optional!), we can well predict that they are going to be just as or even more flexible on deferments. If you were already on the fence or feel a gap year might make sense for you, you should take action to come up with a Plan B.
There are many colleges that support and even encourage, admitted students to defer admission for one year. If you are a senior and have already been admitted to colleges you should research the gap year policies online or reach out to the admissions officer who was responsible for reviewing your file. Even if you are considering re-applying to other colleges in the fall, we highly recommend that you pay a deposit to one college before the May 1st deadline and then submit your intention to take a gap year in May or by early June. Typically, colleges will want to get some sense of what you will plan to do but may have different requirements for the level of detail they request.
Juniors: If you are a junior, and you are worried about how the coronavirus is going to impact your chances of success (Pass/Fail 11th-grade spring transcripts, SAT/ACT cancellations, no recent extra-curricular development, etc.) take solace in the fact that your eggs don’t have to be all in one 2020-2021 application cycle basket. You’ve always got the gap year option. We still recommend that you go ahead with plans to apply this fall as a senior doing the best that you can under the circumstances and focus on the elements that you can control. At the same time, keep it in the back of your mind that whatever happens, there are always options and there are always people to help you accomplish your goals.
Sources and A Few Resources
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/opinion/malia-obamas-secret-trip-to-bolivia-and-peru.html
https://www.gapyearassociation.org/assets/2015%20NAS%20Report.pdf