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Taking a 'Gap Year' Before College Is a British Tradition That's Becoming a Big Trend In The US (qz.com)
An anonymous user cites an article on Quartz: Today, many U.S. universities not only allow admitted students to take a year off before beginning their studies, but encourage it. In 2000, Harvard's admissions officers co-authored an article titled "Time Out or Burn Out for the Next Generation," in which they suggest admitted students combat the mounting pressures of secondary and post-secondary education (and modern life in general) by taking a year off. [...] The term "gap year" caught on in the US about a decade ago, when Prince William and Prince Harry took planned time off before entering university in the UK, according to Holly Bull, president of an independent agency called Interim Programs that helps US pre-college students plan their time off. Bull's father founded the agency in 1980 to promote the concept. "I've basically watched the trend grow from its inception in the U.S.," she says. "And while I wouldn't call it mainstream now, we've seen a lot of growth." This growth has led to a burgeoning "gap year" planning services industry, populated by an increasing number of consulting agencies such as Bull's. The American Gap Association (AGA), founded in 2012, oversees this industry, acting as a kind of accreditation agency. Based on the programs it reviews, the AGA estimates that between 30,000 and 40,000 students annually take a planned "gap year" in the U.S., and that the number of students doing this has grown by between 20% and 30% each year since 2006."The growing popularity of gap years speaks to a larger conversation in the US about what direction education is heading and how we help young people become thoughtful, caring citizens," Joe O'Shea, president of the AGA, says.
Damn kids should be given three years! Of conscripted service in the military! Punks!
Frist post! What's the point? You gonna find yourself?
It's called the post-graduation gap, as in having difficulty finding a job after you graduate, depending on what your area of study was.
As long as it's not treated like a vacation. I would recommend a menial labor job. I know it helped me finish college. I knew what I'd be stuck doing if I didn't stay focused and graduate.
The advice I give to college kids is to take your time. If you try to bust your ass to get done in 4 years*, you could lead to early burnout. I've never had an employer ask me why it took 5 years to graduate as opposed to 4.
Going through it more slowly will give you more time to devote to the subject material, and possibly even work a part-time job. Getting out of school after 5 years with job experience is probably better than getting out in 4 without it.
*barring any scholarship restrictions, etc.
If you post as Anonymous Coward, don't expect a reply.
They're complaining that going from a stressful high school schedule straight to a stressful college schedule is bad, and students should take a break for a year... but now there's this organization who wants those students to have programming (in the generic non-computer sense) in that interstitial year and accredits the programming?
If you come from a wealthy family and travel the world for a year, it's probably a great way to decide what direction you want to take in life. If you come a not very wealthy family, you'll likely beach bum or play video games for a year, losing a lot of what you learned in high school, or get stuck in a rut, low-income job that is convenient to not quit (and make you less likely to actually go to college at all).
Stupid sexy Flanders.
that don't finish college within four years of graduating from high school. It's a good policy. Before we did that, we had (IIRC) sixty-two new hires that didn't work-out in the first year. Of those, fifty-two of them took time off form school to slack-off on co-ops or to travel. 84% chance of being a bad hire just isn't good odds.
I left my high school super-honors program generally hating school, joined the Navy, spent a few years clearing my head, and now I'm working on my electrical engineering PhD. I'm happy with the results. Gap years are a good idea, between all big phases, high school -> undergrad, undergrad -> masters, masters -> PhD, between school and a career, between marriage and children, between any big and relatively discrete phases of life.
The trend towards the traditional "gap year" (spend Daddy's money for a year before going to college) has been on the decline in the UK since 2012 or so. Going to university is a more expensive proposition here than it used to be (though still a long way short of US levels and mostly loan-funded) and spending a year fannying around before getting it over with has lost some of the appeal. Plus, of course, the whole concept came in for some fairly relentless pisstaking.
There are still a fair few who take a year out of studying before going to university, but that's mostly for the purposes of working to earn money to help with fees and living costs. The traditional Gap Yah was mostly a product of the pre-recession years of plenty.
I went right out of high school at the age of 17 into an Ivy League school and pretty much went through a stress/depression meltdown, after which I left school. It took me about a year sitting at home to get motivated enough to try college again, but when I did, I pretty much ran the tables, graduating at the top of my classes in both undergrad and (after a few years off to pay off what hadn't been covered by scholarships and have kids) then grad school. However, the road back wasn't easy - working up to 64 hours a week while taking a 19-credit load and graduating at the undergraduate level with two degrees from a no-name school so I could demonstrate my freshman year was a fluke. It would have been a lot less expensive, stressful and risky to just have taken a year off before jumping into college, and my career would likely have been different with a few more connections from my original school.
With all the noise about kids these days having to be handled with kid gloves maybe they're just hoping the extra year might make incoming students a little more mature, maybe a little more thick-skinned?
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
With government mandates to cover children for longer and longer periods of time, we're just accelerating the permanent childhood of our society.
Finding a job to help pay for that college could prove beneficial down the road when those lovely student loan sharks come knocking on your door. If presented the chance I would encourage everyone to find anyway possible to reduce the amount of money borrowed for school - even to go as far as to continue working ones way through school. Naturally not everyone is in this boat, but for many they are. I took 6 years to earn my Bachelors , it did not hurt me later. It may not be a lot of money, but every bit helps.
Plus there's the perspective gained from taking a break from formal "education:" and living a year in the working world. This could provide a more balanced perspective of life before being thrust into the world of academia. College has a way of creating an immersive reality distortion field, as if Steve Jobs himself was every college kids roommate. Anything to counterbalance the effects of living in the bubble could enrich the whole experience leaving the student even more 'well rounded".
Its much harder to become a tranny if you are busy taking eng 101
I graduated HS early and took a year of welding for something to fall back on in case college didn't work out. Never had to take a welding job after college, but it did provide me with some extra money during school. Overall a good experience, and one I would recommend given today's post college job market.
I took 9 gap years between high school and college. I didn't know what the hell I wanted to do with my life, and I was beyond burnt out with high school. I spent those years working shitty jobs for shitty pay with shitty people. Doing dreg work for 9 years let me figure out what I didn't want to do with my life, and motivated me to go back to school and start a career. I banged out a degree with straight 4.0s and never looked back. If I had tried this a year after getting out of HS, there's no way I could have pulled off those grades or that major, and I probably wouldn't be in the (better) position that I'm in now. I wouldn't suggest everyone wait 9 years, especially in this economy, but do wait to go to college until your heart and mind are into it, and you have an actual goal. Just going to say you've gone is going to leave you with a useless piece of paper and a shit ton of debt.
when you can't find a job.
In some schools classes fill up / timing makes so that to get all of the needed filler and fluff classes you need 5 years to do what used to be done in 4.
It must be wonderful being the child of the obscenely wealth. I like Obama and his daughter's are very nice but the whole thing about the gap year just stinks of the privilege that most just do not have.
What about the colleges that 5 year plans from the start. As in we have so many needed classes you can't do it in 4.
and sponge off mom & dad? Brilliant! Best to start off adult life by procrastinating for 12 months.
This happened to me too. I had to take off a semester to get surgery, spending about 6 months on crutches (birth-defect, long story). There was a class I was required to take that was only offered every-other semester....which just so happened to be the one that I missed. Not only that, this class was a pre-req for other classes. What should have taken me 4 1/2 years to complete actually took 5 1/2.
If you post as Anonymous Coward, don't expect a reply.
Here are a few songs about my "gap year".
https://youtu.be/WeYsTmIzjkw
https://youtu.be/KlujizeNNQM
https://youtu.be/lPFC3Xs0eKw
You are welcome on my lawn.
Thats understandable of course. None of them can afford it and their masters tell them that not getting themselves into indentured slavery as soon as possible is a bad thing.
I guess it's like trying to explain computers or toothpaste to starving Africans.
Don't get me wrong though, I do feel sorry for them. It's such a shame.
The traditional University is a dying educational model. It no longer delivers value for the tens of thousands of dollars required in tuition and living expenses. My recommendation: save that money and attend distance learning and massive online courseware from the comfort and inexpense of your home. Eschew the silly social constructs of campus life for real social interactions with the adult world. Universities will morph into excellent content producers. Or they will die. And the next generation will all live more mature, debt free lives.
So how should a student guarantee not wasting money? Even assuming that the first year of a four-year degree is general prerequisites that all majors share, it's not always feasible to predict with certainty which industries will be hiring 36 months after the second semester. The industry associated with your major could end up in a contraction like the buggy whip industry after the spread of automobiles, shrinking from serving horse-drawn transportation to serving the smaller market of Amish, theater, and BDSM.
when you can't afford to finish.
How about doing a "gap year" in community college instead? That way you establish a college track record, leading to easier acceptance, and scholarships. Plus community college is much cheaper than full college, and everything will transfer.
I know just how millennials can spend that gap year. The armed forced or civil service (like AmeriCorps) like many other nations in the world. Obviously keep the people who are just there because they are required to mostly segregated from the people who are in the military are a career.
Before you all shout "But Freedoms!". We can already be drafted through selective service until we're 25 (generally under dire situations). And we all have obligations that are legally required like jury duty.
If Bernie wants everyone to have free college, maybe we should get free graffiti removal from prospective college students through a civil service program? ;-)
Maybe double time for kids from affluent families since they will have it so easy for the rest of their life
(like everything else, there would be exceptions for disability or hardships.)
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Just another way to suck more money out of Mom and Dad.
The typical USA college student changes their major twice during college years (according to studies touted by some Guidance Counselors).
The typical USA college student takes 5 full, calendar years to graduate (according to published reports circa 2000).
The typical USA college student is less prepared than their parents were and has to take more "bonehead" courses to "get up to speed" ( Main Stream Media).
The typical USA college is running out of students to pay for the college's expenses. Therefore, colleges are doing all they can to lengthen their students' stays (again, reports in the Main Stream Media).
Who foots the bill? MOM and DAD!
Even their student loans are paid by M&D -- thought taxes, through loan guarantees, direct payments, supporting their "educated" kiddies, etc., etc.
Add a "Gap Year" for the Little Darlings and M&D are on the hook for more and more.
These kids are coddled and spoiled.
When they graduate, they deliver a smaller and smaller value to their employers. Large companies offer internal and external course to help these College Graduates gain skills that college used to deliver.
and then rest of the year in service. In return, you get 2 years of junior college tuition paid for (or similar amount applied towards regular college tuition). This would be an easy way to get a number of kids back in shape and have them available for a real war.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
I like Obama and his daughter's are very nice
You seem to have forgotton a key word there. Let me take a wild guess at what it could be.
That gap year should be spent shoveling shit or delivering pizza so kids understand the meaning of being grateful for an education and a better job. Unfortunately most HS graduates today don't know what it is like to be told what to do so I don't know how well that would go over. But, it worked for me.
I didn't shovel shit, but I wish I had. I delivered pizza instead. Shoveling shit would have been better. But, shit jobs do serve their purpose, and that is to teach how important it is to develop a skill and/or get an education.
I'd like to see HS grads take a year off to live on their own in an apartment, paying their own bills and having to work a shit job to pay for it all - no support from mom, dad, or loans. Perhaps then they'll take their education more seriously and major in something other than Feminist Dance Therapy or Post-Modern Whale Psychology.
So I just finished raising my kids, and will be helping them with their college tuition (much is coming from scholarships). And now I'm expected to foot the bill for a year while they "find themselves" in Europe, Africa or Tibet?
No doubt there's a whole industry around planning and taking my money for my kids to travel around the world or build sandcastles..
In my day, "gap year" was known as Summer Vacation. #GetOffMyLawn
I graduated from the eighth grade with a college-level reading comprehension and fifth-grade levels in everything else. I stayed home for four years to teach myself, spent two years working in construction with my father, and went to community college for four years (two years for remedial courses, two years for A.A. degree in General Education.) A decade after I left community college, I went back to learn computer programming, got a 4.0 GPA in my coursework, and started my technical career. I have no regrets.
One of the themes for a gap is to allow the young person to learn how to organise themselves with regard travel, accommodation and earnings. That things don't just happen, they need to be planned, delegating this to some service industry is missing much of the point.
One of the most common middle-class American things is for parents to encourage their kids to take a year off after graduating High School to see the world. I opted just to spend the summer in Cancun, Mexico but that was because I had already started taking college courses while still in High School. It's best to get that world travel experience out of the way while you don't have financial obligations to deal with. Money is saved up from Summer jobs for this very purpose. Maybe Harvard kids are just too sheltered to realize this?
I have 3 daughters, 2 of college age and one graduating next year from high school, and college is expensive AF. But you know what? If they want to take a "gap year", more power to them! I did, in between the AA degree and transferring to a 4 year college. It's been a looooong year -- I never did go back. But I encourage them to do what they feel is best for them.
So long as they pay for it.
The agreement I have with them is this: I have been paying into college funds for over two decades now. So long as they take a full load and get good grades, I'll also pay for their apartment and their utilities, and they get an allowance for groceries and whatnot. Essentially, I'm their employer and I'm paying them to go to school and get good grades. Anything less and they need to start supporting themselves.
So if they want to take a gap year, they better get a gap job, because they are not partying on my dime. Not after I socked all that money away to pay for their college. Stick to my plan or pay for your own plan.
*** *** You're just jealous 'cause the voices talk to me... ***
It'll cost you about $20,000 (USD) in lost scholarship money. The Tennessee "Lottery Scholarship" does not allow for a gap year.
I graduated from high school in 1965 and there was this unpleasantness in South East Asia called Vietnam that was heating up very fast. I entered college in engineering in the fall. However, I didn't know what kind of engineering I wanted to do so the first one on the list was Aeronautical or maybe they called it Aerospace by then. In any case after about 2 years I knew that was NOT the kind of engineer I wanted to be and changed majors to one that I thought would be more in line with the kind of work I would like to do -- this was somewhat limited since many of the "schools" of engineering at my university were not taking transfers from the other schools. However, I found one that would that interested me and made the jump. However, I had to go year around from then to graduation to keep from getting drafted out of the program.
When I did graduate I had a low draft lottery number and bad eyesight. I was either going to be drafted in 1971 or enlist in something since my eyesight prevented me from becoming an officer. It was the best thing that could have happened to me. I enlisted in the Air Force, served one year overseas and have the Vietnam Service Medal even though I was not Stationed in Vietnam, followed by three more years in the U.S. During this time I really learned how to work with people when you have a job to do, and the responsibility of getting it done, but not the authority to order them to do it. I consider this my real Graduate School and it was at least as valuable to me as many of the engineering classes I took.
When someone graduates from High School at 18 years old most do not really know what they want to do and very few have the soft skills of working with people from many different backgrounds. SOME sort of universal service for a year or two would probably help them find out how the world really works, and give them a better appreciation for those not planning or able to continue to college. For those that do not plan on college this service could be a time when they could learn some of the skills needed to make them much more valuable in the job market after this service. Properly done this could be a win win for everyone and for our society as a whole.
...is why the US continues to fall behind in education. Grow a pair and stop being so fucking lazy you worthless cockwads.
I went straight to college and nearly flunked out that first year. I really, really needed a break and took it at the cost of my GPA. After that I was fine but the damage was done. Take a year off if you need it.
What is needed is a 3 semester experience program. Do it in 1 year or over 3 summers. Community service work that puts young people into environments they might not have been before. Billet them in mixed culture groups to give new experiences they might not have had until this time.
Also get them to different environments
a) work in national park, get exposed to camping, hiking and nature
b) work in big city, get exposed to mass transit, inner-city, urban canyons, museums, civic structures
c) work in small town, small town community, farm life, modern food chain, industry town
d) option for boot camp, fitness, self defence, how to properly handle weapons, and respect the chain of command
I thought it took 3 years to get a bachelors in the UK, in the USA, this would mean it would take 5 years to graduate...
Bring back the old version of slashdot.
Every single person I know personally who has taken time between high school and college has ended up
1) Performing very well in the "grading" mechanic of the classes
2) Had a useful outcome from the investment
3) Credits "delayed" enrollment as a major factor in their success
IT has (should have) nothing to do with being a special snowflake or being a stupid millennial. For those without great wealth, it is treating college *crrectly* as a means to an end, as in furthering job prospects, career, or target of career. Simply going from high-school to college because it is "expected" or because it is peer-pressured into being a badge of honor is foolish and an ultimate waste. If one *wants* to be there, has an *understanding* of why the courses are being purchased, andhas a goal in mind, the investment is highly likely to return much more than if the purchase was made out of grudging acceptance.
I propose that business that look at *how* someone completed (within 4 years, going right from high school to college) a degree are just foolish. With nothing other than anecdote in either argument, I also propose that a correlated result rather demonstrates bad hiring practice.
However, the creation of a instituted trend of "gap year" I think is also foolish. Just as foolish as the idea of going to college because you're "supposed to". Don't take a "gap year." Don't go to college because you're supposed to. Decide if you want to go to college or not right then, out of high school. If not, don't waste your time and money. If so, then go.
Further, keep in mind that many jobs that require a "degree" don't require a degree for the actual knowledge and skill gained. It's a convenient partitioning tool used by resume filters to have a higher chance finding acceptable candidates. If you know that you'er aiming for a job or starting position of a career that doesn't actually require the college knowledge, don't go to expensive 4-year insitutions. Get a degree as fast and cheaply as possible and get going on the more fun and free parts of life.
I did this. In fact, I took three years off after graduating high school. I joined the Navy. I think it's a great idea. Let's bring back the draft!
I spent a year mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms at McDonald's.
-----
Sorry, I'm only a 1336 h4x0r.
Every year that a person waits to save for retirement costs them serious money. At this age, these people should be educated enough to realize that they need to start working ASAP for self sustenance and to start saving retirement. It also speaks to the entitlement of that generation as well. Are they working during the year off from school? I doubt the majority are.
Unfortunately at the same the government is classifying people as old as 26 as kids/dependents so they can continue living at home and not earning a living. Another example of government subsidizing/rewarding undesirable behavior.
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
The traditional University is a dying educational model. It no longer delivers value for the tens of thousands of dollars required in tuition and living expenses. My recommendation: save that money and attend distance learning and massive online courseware from the comfort and inexpense of your home.
Yes, because someone who has a bunch of MOOC certificates and no college credits or degrees is the person who goes to the top of my "Must Hire" pile of 2,000 resumes. The only people who come close to that level of obvious competence are the people who learned "Flash" programming getting an associates degree at DeVry University because they like video games and knew they were going to write the next best seller.
Smell me sheltered hole!
Gap year can be a marvelous tool.
When you take a gap year, you free up the scholarship you got, so that someone more deserving, because they are willing to apply themselves, gets it instead.
Then, when you are ready to go to college, you can apply for the scholarship and not get it, because they've given preference to new high school graduates over non-traditional students (which you now are).
Then you can take out student loans to pay for your stupidity^W^Wcollege, just like everyone who didn't qualify for a scholarship in the first place.
Unless, you know, you're the son or daughter of millionaires willing to foot the bill.
and we will need student loan bankruptcy soon as what happens when a lot of people just stop paying them min wage will have to be like $20/hr just some one to hope of paying off an 250K one.
I sorted boots for the first Gulf War while still in high school. It was a good experience but not one that I wanted for the rest of my life. Though I do have to say that anyone who wears a size 18+ Army boot probably doesn't need a gun to kill you.
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
student loans are only welfare to banks and school
The military pays for more than that already. I have a good number of friends who went into the military and got their entire schooling paid for. Granted you have a fixed amount of time to get your shit together and through school before the benefits run out but it is enough time to go to get all or part of the way through school. If you take some of the gen ed courses while enlisted they military will pay for those as well and it makes it easy to get done in plenty of time. As an added benefit they got an additional stipend while in school after their service. Some of them went to college right out of high school and then quit eventually signing up for various branches of the service, others went straight in, one even went in at 17 while still in high school (Minnesota national guard) and did basic between junior and senior year.
Time to offend someone
I took 2 years off, worked a few different jobs.
Between saving money from those jobs, plus savings from jobs growing up, and working summers between each term, I graduated with no student debt.
More than that head start in life-after-university, those 2 years made a huge difference in maturity level. I was more focused/serious about my studies, didn't squander my first year partying and didn't have a "first year do-over" because I went into the wrong major.
This is all fine and dandy if you were born into a privileged family that has a nice cushion and can afford some dead weight. These were my choices:
Accept my full scholarship and attend college straight out of high school.
- or -
Continue flipping burgers to pay for gas.
Which one do you think I chose?
How about the 2-year gap: mandatory Army.
The American Gap Association (AGA), founded in 2012, oversees this industry, acting as a kind of accreditation agency. ...Brrrrrrrrrr! As a ""kind of""
They dont understand. They are slaves. Its not their fault for the most part.
I took a "gap year" between finishing school and starting job hunting to slob around at home playing Everquest.
Don't do that.
Parents allowing their kids taking a year out of the most valuable years for education are sociopathic criminals who hate their kids.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
Sounds great. Is the college funding going to fund my survival during that "gap year" too, or is that "year off" just going to be filled with crap bottom-rung overtime work / starving underemployment that's even more stressful than college and the whole fucking reason to get a degree in the first place?
I did a "gap year" (and a half) involuntarily because I had no idea that my poverty-ridden ass living in the toolshed next to dad's trailer could get college funding and so assumed college just wasn't a thing for me. Instead I alternate worked my ass off and tried to work at all with the limit job prospects someone with no education has. Actually starting college at last was an unbelievable breath of fresh air compared to that bullshit.
-Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
"I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
Hamish and Andy did a series about taking a "gap year" to see the world. It was called "Hamish and Andy's Gap Year".
When they came for the communists, I said "He's next door. Take him away. Goddam commies."
For those not coming from wealthy families, or not having another means of paying for college, there is also the military option of a 4 year gap (or 6 for technical fields in the USA). Choose from land, sea, or air, go places, learn things, and have some college money when done. If you can, take courses using their tuition assistance and save that G.I. Bill for later. If you like it, stay for 20 and start collecting retirement before you turn 40. Not for everyone, but an option for those who can do it.
Beware of the Redittor who loans you a Sharpie.
The military pays for more than that already. I have a good number of friends who went into the military and got their entire schooling paid for. Granted you have a fixed amount of time to get your shit together and through school before the benefits run out but it is enough time to go to get all or part of the way through school. If you take some of the gen ed courses while enlisted they military will pay for those as well and it makes it easy to get done in plenty of time. As an added benefit they got an additional stipend while in school after their service. Some of them went to college right out of high school and then quit eventually signing up for various branches of the service, others went straight in, one even went in at 17 while still in high school (Minnesota national guard) and did basic between junior and senior year.
Unless you absolutely can't get loans any other way, this is one of the worst ways to pay for college. Some people may appreciate the other benefits, and may need some structure to whip them into a respectable adult, but anyone joining the military just for free college is bad at math.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
I took a gap year, well 2 years, before I guess it had a name. It worked out for me. Most of my friends who went to college right after high school partied, dropped out and never finished. Somehow I knew I wasn't ready. I planned to take 1 year off and it turned into 2. It was a great experience and it worked out for me, but it could have gone another way. One of my mentors at the time saw that I was spinning my wheels literally drove me to the closest collage and got me to fill an application. Those 2 years did motivate me to finish though.
I am speaking of 1 year or a gap year, and you get that tuition.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.