I am planning to take a gap year before coming to Cornell due to a variety of reasons.
My question is that since I am an international on full financial aid, consisting of scholarships, will my aid/scholarships be held for me for the next year that I will join?
Also, is Cornell supportive of students taking a gap year like the other Ivy League colleges?
Lastly, how do potential employers see this gap year as?
If you have any experience with this, how beneficial was the gap year for you?
For almost every college, you have to apply for financial aid again but unless circumstances have changed, you should get the same financial aid. But don’t know specifically about Cornell’s policy. You are better off contacting them directly.
Lastly, how do potential employers see this gap year as?
You don’t have to list a gap year on your resume if you don’t want to! I personally don’t. I primarily spent my gap year working to save for college, so I just list the work experience on my resume. Post-college employers aren’t going to care much if you took a gap year or what you did. If you decide to work or volunteer at all, especially in an industry related to your desired career, that should definitely be listed and will work in your favor.
If you have any experience with this, how beneficial was the gap year for you?
I took 2 years off after high school. I didn’t know what I wanted to study and didn’t want to waste my parents’ money. During HS, I worked part time for an architecture firm, and was offered a full-time position after graduation. It ended up being a great way to get some experience (I now know that I don’t want to work in that field) and build up my savings account. Ultimately, I saved about $30k, and used some of that money to take a 2 month trip to France and participate in a language immersion program. The rest is going towards my tuition and personal expenses while in college.
tldr: I absolutely recommend a gap year (or years). I believe it went a long way toward strengthening my college apps, and it also gave me some much-needed time to figure out what I wanted to study. There are also a lot of structured gap year programs out there, if you don’t want to completely self-direct it. www.americangap.org has a huge listing of programs…it’s also a great resource just for getting ideas! Feel free to PM me if you have questions 