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I'm curious as to what people think about a "gap year", i.e., taking a year after senior year in HS to travel, work, perform some kind of service, etc. Do kids who do this ever bail out on the college idea entirely? Is it really possible to develop a good hook? Any success stories?

By Emeraldkity4 (Emeraldkity4) on Saturday, April 19, 2003 - 10:10 pm: Edit

My daughter did a GAP year.
She actually had skipped kindergarten and since she was physically and socially young even at 17, I thought taking a year off was a great idea.( when she skipped K she was in a 3 level class of K-2 and she fit in)

An gap program on the East coast is called interim programs. A sister program ( run by the son) on the west coast is called LeapNow.
Both excellent programs- your child can have experiences ranging from working on a Sheep Station in Australia to getting their divemasters on the Great Barrier Reef, to getting their Mountain search and rescue certification in the applachians ( I ve known kids who have done all those)
You really need to have something structured.
While some kids do take time off just to work and save money, frankly I don't think that is as appealing to colleges, and some students tend to want to just keep making money not realizing that eventually they will top out without a degree.
My daughter planned to take a year off, she had been accepted to all her colleges, but wasn't really excited to go to any of them. She did a program through Americorps/ CityYear where she lived at home, but worked 40+ hrs a week, at local schools/ Other kids go farther away from home, they do recieve a living stipend but it is meager.
They also earn an education voucher at the end of their service.
Unfortunately their budget has been cut way back, even though Bush advocated community service as way for young people to be involved and pledged to expand it to the "Freedom Corps" monies have been cut back so much that some areas will not recieve their vouchers.
So I can't recommend that program, but travel especially through programs like LeapNOw I think are great.
My daughter enjoyed her year, even though it wasn't really a year off, and is now a bio major and a sophomore at a school that was a reach for her stat wise.