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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It took me 5 years to graduate as well... because I co-oped with the same engineering company 4x times.
Yeah, I never got a "summer break" after my Freshman year, but it was *soooo* worth it.
First off, my resume showed a year+ of actual engineering work before I'd even graduated.
Second, I got to swap around every semester that I was co-oping, so I did everything from Product Qualification to Tech Support to actual software-design.
Third, the semesters co-oping got me a ton of cash. May more than I'd make working 2x semesters at minimum wage.
And as for "never having a break", work is a hell of a lot less difficult than school. You work 8-5... and then you're *free*! Go bowling with your other co-workers. Head to a movie with your new-found money. Whatever. I got more than enough "rest" during my co-op semesters.
Oh, and that company with which I co-oped? They treated their co-op program as an extended interview session. They knew *exactly* who they wanted to hire full-time after those co-ops graduated. Easiest interview I ever did. They already knew they were gonna make me an offer before I even went on-site again. It was just a question of which department wanted me the most.
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.