How 2 gap years lower someone’s chances? what’s better to do in? Is it good to have a mentor that write a letter of recommendation and explain why you took gap years?
your help would be appreciated.
Lots of people do other things with their lives, and start college later on. It isn’t necessary to label the time between finishing secondary school and starting college as “gap years”, and often no explanation is asked for.
Do something productive: Be it working, caring for a family member, recovering from health issues, volunteering, etc.
Talk to your guidance counselor about this and ask how recommondations etc. would work.
I’m from Iran, where people even aren’t aware of applying undergrad. so I don’t have a guidance counselor and the internet is the only guide for me.
@happymomof1 Are you sure? I’m talking about top universities.
Can you take just one gap year instead? Don’t forget, to get into the top schools you’re up against extremely driven and motivated young adults. For the few at that level who take a gap year, it is a chance to seize a very special opportunity, a unique job or internship, or do some travel and discovery. Two years off is a loss of momentum, an intellectual slide if you will… not as appealing to the top colleges. Just my opinion, though. These things aren’t necessarily codified in policy. If you aren’t going for the top schools, there are plenty of places that will take you after a two year gap.
“Top” universities here will want to know what you have done since you finished high school. You just have to give them an honest answer. Recovering from a medical condition. Fulfilling military obligations. Married and raising a family. Helping to manage a family business. Running the household for your parents while they both work. Working to save money to pay for your education. Studying a traditional dance form. Any of those could be perfectly fine.
What “top” universities don’t want to learn is that you have just sat in your house and done nothing whatsoever for two years.
Now given the political situation in your country, perhaps you have been forced to sit in your house and to a lot of nothing for two years. If that is your case, then how did you fill your time? Did you read? Did you write poetry? Did you participate in anything at all?
My son took two and a half gap years and is doing great. He found his passion and is living in the Middle East, while attending college. It’s not how I would have done things, but it worked for him!
Check on https://educationusa.state.gov/ for an advising center for your country to get info on applying to US colleges.
It’s one thing to be admitted, then take a gap before starting. It’s another to delay even applying. If your case is the latter, you want the time to be productive. Can you volunteer with an organization or for a cause? What are your work opportunities? When you do apply, you want to show you used the time in productive ways. This is what adcoms will see.
@Groundwork2022
I’m talking about one friend of mine who has been graduated from high school last year. till now, It’s been one year. Is it still too much? When he got informed about applying undergrad he was graduated from high school and wasn’t ready for taking the English proficiency tests. But he has used this year productively.
Serve in the military ? Tutor elementary & middle school students. Get work experience. Travel through different countries & continents. Write & get published. Try to start & run your own business.
If he was taking that time to become proficient in English, then he was using his time productively. Waiting until he is proficient in the language of instruction at the school he wants to attend is a sensible reason for waiting. Hopefully he can show he was successful by doing well on the TOEFL
If he does well on his TOEFL (100+), then, yes, colleges will consider him as having used his time productively.
Why are you taking two gap years? Hard to answer your question without knowing this info.
@marvin100 because students apply in the middle of 12th grade so he has lost 2 years of apply opportunity.
So he’s just a late applicant? I’m not sure where the line is drawn, but after two years he’s starting to sound more like a “non-traditional student” than a gap year student. More importantly, though, he should be asking his own questions on here instead of playing telephone through a third party. Best of luck to your friend, at any rate.