Reflection #4

Gap Year

A gap year is a period of time when students take a break from formal education to travel, volunteer, study, intern, or work. A gap year is also referred to as a late year, year out, year off, time out, and time off. A gap year experience can last for several weeks, a semester, or up to a year or more. Normally a gap year is taken between high school graduation and starting college, during college, or between college and starting graduate school or a career. Taking time out between high school and college used to evoke fear that the student would not follow through with college. Today, the college admissions offices at both private and state run colleges and universities are getting more requests from students to defer enrollment, and are freely granting these requests provided the student can demonstrate they have specific goals and will better prepare them to succeed in college. This trend is great news for colleges, students and parents. Given the fact that the dropout rate amongst US college freshman is nearly 30 percent (according to the National Center for Education Statistics), the gap year option is fast becoming a viable alternative for many students.