The Inside Scoop on Gap Year Programs: Stories from Parents Whose Children Took Time off Before College

By Virginia Young

The gap year has always been a mystery to me. When I was growing up, the beaten path was to attend college immediately after high school graduation. Over the past few years, I’ve been hearing from more and more friends and acquaintances that their teens are taking gap years before college. As it turns out, American students are just discovering what European students have been doing for ages. Since I have teens at home, I decided to dig deeper to find out what all of the buzz was about. The stories these parents shared with me opened my eyes to the benefits of a gap year. Read on...

• A gap year gives a teen time to gain perspective, insight and direction. The high school years can be exhausting for a teen, leaving little time to think about the future. I spoke with the parents of a student athlete who spent the months between October and April of his high school years on the road competing. He would spend the rest of his time studying, catching up on missed assignments and tests, and preparing for college admissions. He had almost no time left for life outside of sports and schoolwork. By the time he graduated from high school, he was burnt out and needed a break. After applying and receiving college acceptance letters, he decided to explore his interest in economics and finance and interned with a wealth management company. He developed new skills and knowledge in his chosen industry, and learned so much about himself that by the time he started college, he knew what he wanted to do with his life.

• A gap year provides a teen with time to explore new activities and/or deepen knowledge and involvement into already established interests and passions. High school schedules are demanding and don’t usually include time to find or explore new interests. A gap year gives a teen a chance to slow down and smell new roses: the gift of time allows a teen to pursue activities he’s considered but never had time to experience. I spoke with a parent whose teen decided to take a deep dive into coding, a hobby he had only dabbled in during high school. During his gap year, he enrolled in a coding boot camp, where he sat for lectures, learned new concepts, and participated in job searches and networking events, in addition to practicing coding on his own for several hours a week. After a few months of this grind, he not only knew how to code, but he acquired the skills to land a fulfilling lucrative job. When he entered college the following year, he had a more mature outlook on life. After freshman year, his coding skills enabled him to land competitive summer internships and to negotiate stipends above the average intern because he had the skills, experience and knew what he was worth.

• During a gap year, a teen has time to develop the skills and maturity required to live away from home. The gift of time is especially useful for kids who may be younger than the typical college freshman. I spoke to the parents of two academically gifted students who had each skipped some grades. One took a gap year between junior and senior year of high school, and the other after high school graduation. Both spent their gap years focusing on interests that they had limited time for during their high school years, but more importantly, the break gave them a chance to mature and further develop the independent living skills, such as time and resource management, that are required for dorm living.

• A gap year gives a teen a fresh perspective on school and education. All of the teens whose parents I interviewed said that their children were more eager to learn and more motivated when they returned to school. Not only did the gap years address or circumvent burnout, but the teens gained a new appreciation of the purpose of college and were excited to begin in order to build up the skills learned during their break.

Today, there are more than a few colleges that encourage incoming students to take a gap year and some even offer financial support. In fact, high schools are jumping on the bandwagon and embracing the gap year as part of the school culture. In both instances, the gap year is seen as a valuable tool to produce more focused students and a richer classroom environment. Bottom line: with schedules getting more and more packed with academic and extracurricular pursuits, it makes sense for some teens to want to put the brakes on academic life to breath and explore, and to get to know themselves. It’s a win-win for all.

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