<p>I am told that some boarding schools encourage students to take a gap year before enrolling in college. The e-mails are sent out to students from time to time alerting them of the opportunity such as City Year. BTW, these are not sent to parents so parents are clueless until the subject is brought up by the students and surprised.</p>
<p>Is there a Gap year adviser in each school now? Sometimes, they are called International program coordinator. </p>
<p>I am told that it is now in vogue to take a gap year to travel and volunteer. What is your perception? what is happening in your school?</p>
<p>Hmmmm, I wouldn’t think it is all that popular. If you look at the matriculation rates for college, they are at or very close to 100% for the top bs. Some of these might be deferrals, but I doubt that many are.</p>
**
Who are you kidding? Parents know about this before the kid goes to boarding school, while the kid is at boarding school and no surprise element exists for MOST. Secondly, yes at my school it is popular in the sense that you** one can defer the matriculation, defer the application process** either one. I don’t see this as a “popular” trend but rather a long standing tradition. This is more popular in some foreign schools than US, I personally think there is great value to it.</p>
<p>@Hazmat - It is not that the existence of Gap year/delay in matriculation is unknown to parents but the specific programs recommended by the school is unknown unless each student cares to forward the message to the parent. </p>
<p>I am asking a question of how strongly taking time off is encouraged by each boarding school.</p>
<p>I was under the impression that it was perceived as:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>“What is wrong with you?” Some on the college side board mention that as an option if you don’t get into the college of your choice or do not get into any. </p></li>
<li><p>“You must have money to travel or volunteer for a year.”</p></li>
</ol>
**
Your impression is mistaken. Despite your revisionist comments you still continue to mix metaphors here.<br>
Some do this as a delay of matriculation. Some do this as a way to give time to determine what school to attend. Some do this for reasons of developing interests to determine a major. Some do this to break the stress of academic schedules and experience a year of maturity before embarking on undergrad. What difference does it make? </p>
<p>I had NO experience of my BS sending me opportunities or program materials that my parents didn’t also receive. I find your assertions not true for ANY of the boarding schools I am familiar with. Be that as it may, cast your negative karma … what school didn’t admit your kid?</p>
<p>I completely agree with hazmat. I have had two children attend boarding schools- two different ones so far, and my kids were not given opportunities or program materials that I was unaware of. There is teamwork between the college counseling offices and the parents.</p>
<p>Actually, I think it is the colleges that are encouraging the well-spent gap year, not the high schools. The high schools are just apprising the students that gap years are available and encouraged by many college admissions officers.</p>
<p>I’ve written this elsewhere, but the acceptance letter from Yale included a reply card with three equal choices:<br>
___ I accept and will enroll in September 2007;
___ I decline and will attend __________ instead;and
___ I accept and defer and will enroll in September 2008.</p>
<p>When advised of the intent to take a gap year (to live with a Chinese family and study Mandarin in Beijing for one academic year), the Yale admissions office reply was that they “wished more students would take that opportunity”. In fact, I don’t know of any colleges that won’t readily OK a well-programmed gap year. (They all do want a letter explaining the plan; TV monitoring for a year wouldn’t cut it.)</p>
<p>By far the easiest way to do it, however, is to apply to college in 12th grade, with all the resources of the college counseling office and the teachers who will write recommendations right there. With a college choice wrapped up, one can really enjoy the gap year with no anxiety. I don’t think any gap year program, other than a PG year at a very good school, would improve a student’s college choices, so I would never recommend it for that purpose.</p>