High school can seem like a high-pressured race to get into college, and by graduation, some students just need a break or want to get out and explore the world beyond academics. Others aren’t quite ready for the responsibility and independence that college requires. And some don’t know what they want to study in college – or aren’t sure they want to go at all.
The answer for all of these students might be a gap year or gap semester.
A gap year – a break from traditional academics – is a chance to push the reset button before plunging back into academia. Students can use the time to cultivate the maturity, balance and independence that life after high school requires. No matter the focus, research by Sydney University shows gap years boost motivation and help students focus once they get to college and even in their career paths.
The programs represented in TeenLife’s 2018 Guide to Gap Year Programs span all kinds of gap year possibilities, schedules and budgets. As you will see when you download the guide, you could spend a year interning in Washington, D.C., or two weeks polishing your Spanish in Spain. You could volunteer in Rwanda, rock climb in the American West or sail into Cuba. You could hone your musical skills or help save the environment. And you could work with a gap advisor to figure out just the right mix for your gap year.
Gap programs don’t have to be expensive. Many of these programs offer financial aid or can help you figure out other funding strategies. And colleges are starting to be more flexible about financial aid for students who take a gap year. So don’t don’t think of a gap as a year “off” but as a year “on” for travel, community service, interning, field experience, academics, language immersion, working – or whatever you can imagine that might shape the next stage of life. Our guide can help you figure out exactly what your own gap year might look like.
And if you want to discover more exciting experienced-based gap programs, whether it’s for a year, a semester, a summer or a week, visit TeenLife.com’s gap listings and use the filters to narrow your search. You can also check out the Gap Testimonials written by students who attended a specific program.