Gap year between BA and Grad School?

inthegarden
Sat, 11 Jan 2020 00:56:11 +0000

Hi @katens ,

Since you may be spending two years doing this, you might want to consider doing a tour of Peace Corps service, as there are many supports and benefits of going this way…including the deferment of your loans (I believe the interest is deferred as well.) You would have cross-cultural training upon arrival in-country, social and medical support (and in the case of a true medical emergency you’d be medevaced back to the US at no cost to you), all travel costs covered, a readjustment allowance of a few thousand dollars upon your arrival back home, competitive status for government jobs once back home, and a huge network of returned volunteer friends for life. Almost everywhere I go I bump into someone who was in the Peace Corps and there’s an instant sense of camaraderie (and I’m now 62 years old).

Peace Corps can be helpful and impressive (in terms of graduate school admissions) and volunteers can take their GRE exams overseas (i.e. at Embassies and/or international schools). Currently, Peace Corps has programs in China and nine other Asian countries (though not Japan). In the past, aspiring volunteers had to go wherever Peace Corps placed them, but more recently, applicants can apply directly to the country programs that they like. The website has a lot of exciting information and volunteer stories if you’d like to peruse it.

I don’t think it’s too early to start thinking about this (or your original plans to teach in Japan)…I was around nine years old when I decided to do it and read everything I could find written by Peace Corps Volunteers. I ended up doing two extended tours of service on two continents and worked a couple of years in the D.C. placement office. If you do decide to apply to Peace Corps, do your research by junior year of college and apply by early in your senior year as the application/vetting process can be very, very long. And, BTW, any meaty volunteer/leadership positions in the meantime would greatly help your application!