<p>Say taking 3, 6, 9, 12 month time off before going to college (not deferred) </p>
<p>Any advice/consternation/satire/solliloquies (sic?)/asides or rants to give on this topic? </p>
<p>Would love some anecdotes (make sure not to reveal personally identifiable information! P.I.I) </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<ul>
<li>From a rejected college-bound student of life. (Peace symbol)</li>
</ul>
<p>I think it depends on what type of experience the college bound student intends to pursue after the gap year. Going to commuter college ? Not a big deal. Planning on living in a dorm? I think it might make the initial college experience harder…because all the other freshman are going to be younger than you and although one year doesn’t seem like a lot - from experience, it is. You may feel as though you don’t have much in common with the other entering freshmen. </p>
<p>Also, make sure that you don’t waste your time in that gap year. Watching tv, staying up all night, partying - all while your life goes no where isn’t in your best interest. Getting a job, making some money to save and getting some work experince - that’s better. Maybe traveling to some interesting places, volunteering, that’s all good too. </p>
<p>The whole idea is to become financially and emotionally independent. Will a gap year serve that purpose or will it just encourage you to be more dependent and lazy? Only you can answer that.</p>
<p>It’s going to depend on the person. Not everybody is ready for college right out of HS. I mean emotionally not by ability. Alot of good students fail because they emotionally aren’t ready. </p>
<p>And it’s going to depend on how you spend a gap year. If it’s just being lazy, skip college and hope you have a trust fund. I know alot of those kids, the sad thing is they are approaching 50 and never ever did anything meaningful with their lives. The worst part of that? they know it. The vast amount of money at 20 doesn’t amount to all that much at 50 as they have spent down their trust so many are at low income status. A live wasted. </p>
<p>Spend that year deciding what you don’t want to be and you’ll find a bit more motivation for school.</p>
<p>Find something to commit to, something that feels grand and exciting. Working in one foreign local, take on a volunteer project, learn some significant skill, immerse yourself in a language. Something that will make you feel good about life and yourself, and make the colleges you apply to in future be interested in you. </p>
<p>A neighboring family had a son go to Norway, to a Folkschool set up partially for that purpose. He had a choice of subjects, chose filmmaking, and was working on the family second language in the process. </p>
<p>My D is going on a Rotary exchange, learning a new language, though that has been months in the making.</p>
<p>I’m a fan of gap years as long as what you do is worthwhile. That could include earning money, volunteering, or spending time in a foreign country. I’d want to see something that resulted in some personal growth. I think being a somewhat more mature freshman is only a plus.</p>