Talk to me about a Gap Year

[hopskipjump]

Has anyone's graduate had a gap year recently? I know things vary wildly between universities, but here are a couple of hypothetical questions:

 

1) Let's assume the student has received academic scholarships to more than one school. And, let's assume that all the universities are willing to postpone the scholarship for one year.

Is it likely that the student will need to commit/accept ONE school to retain that academic scholarship (as opposed to "putting a hold" on more than one scholarship?)?

 

2) Let's assume the student wants to apply to a university she didn't apply to during her regular senior year. If you've applied to schools during your senior year - CAN you still apply to different schools after your gap year?

 

3) If you are applying to schools after a gap year - does your ACT score even matter, or is that for senior-applicants only? Said hypothetical student has a verynice ACT score and is wondering if that score would still be applicable (she wouldn't re-take the ACT, right??).

 

4) COULD said-student re-take the ACT in April or June of 2016 and have it "count" for applications the following fall?

 

5) Said student can still take classes at a community college during the gap year, yes? Is there a default # of credit-hours before a student is considered a transfer student vs a first-year freshman?

 

6) Let's say the gap year will be filled with classes, working, and volunteering (NOT a travel-abroad, or creating a non-profit, or curing cancer situation). Will that be a huge issue?

 

There are lots of complicated reasons I'm asking these questions, and I will be digging for information myself - but you guys are always so incredibly helpful and give me such a solid place to begin the quest. Hypothetical-situation DD has to make the call within the next two weeks, so the time-crunch is real. :willy_nilly:
 

 

[Joules]

Has anyone's graduate had a gap year recently? I know things vary wildly between universities, but here are a couple of hypothetical questions:

 

1) Let's assume the student has received academic scholarships to more than one school. And, let's assume that all the universities are willing to postpone the scholarship for one year.

Is it likely that the student will need to commit/accept ONE school to retain that academic scholarship (as opposed to "putting a hold" on more than one scholarship?)?

 

2) Let's assume the student wants to apply to a university she didn't apply to during her regular senior year. If you've applied to schools during your senior year - CAN you still apply to different schools after your gap year?

 

3) If you are applying to schools after a gap year - does your ACT score even matter, or is that for senior-applicants only? Said hypothetical student has a verynice ACT score and is wondering if that score would still be applicable (she wouldn't re-take the ACT, right??).

 

4) COULD said-student re-take the ACT in April or June of 2016 and have it "count" for applications the following fall?

 

5) Said student can still take classes at a community college during the gap year, yes? Is there a default # of credit-hours before a student is considered a transfer student vs a first-year freshman?

 

6) Let's say the gap year will be filled with classes, working, and volunteering (NOT a travel-abroad, or creating a non-profit, or curing cancer situation). Will that be a huge issue?

 

There are lots of complicated reasons I'm asking these questions, and I will be digging for information myself - but you guys are always so incredibly helpful and give me such a solid place to begin the quest. Hypothetical-situation DD has to make the call within the next two weeks, so the time-crunch is real. :willy_nilly:

 

 

Every school is different, but from my reading of the few I looked at:

1) For scholarships you must commit, but that is not always a choice that is available. Some scholarships are just for the fall you applied and you must re-apply.  It seems easier to hold an acceptance than funding, but I've never looked at the highly competitive schools.

2) If you have not committed, you can continue applying.

3) Yes, SAT and ACT matter unless you are old enough to be non-traditional or have credits to be a transfer.

4) I don't know, but if you are applying late you can take the April and June, so I don't know why not.  Some rolling applications can be sent quite late in the summer.  Taking them at the end of the gap year might be questioned, but it must happen with students who suddenly decide they want to go to college after all.  In my experience, AP tests cannot be taken after graduation year, only in high school.  CLEP can be taken any time.

5) Taking community college classes means you are not an incoming freshman and would be treated as a transfer student.  Taking classes seems to be consistently forbidden for gap years.  Enriching yourself with Coursera and non-credit options seems to be fine.

6) Some schools require an "essay" explanation of what you plan to do and/or what you did.  I don't think you have to do anything magnificent, but you need to articulate its value.

 

Definitely check with the school, some just have a form and others make decisions on a case-by-case basis after talking to the student.  I seemed to get a "well, it depends" answer frequently when I tried to make calls.  

 

And a big dose of sympathy from me.  I will be SO glad when everything is decided.

 

[Lori D.]

NOT an expert here, and the very best/most accurate thing to do is to speak directly to every college DD is interested in and ask these questions, as college policies vary. :) BUT… totally agreeing with Joules, and just stressing the following for questions #5 and #6:

 

5. Absolutely NOT. Your student loses freshman status by even taking ONE course after high school graduation -- ANY course, from any school, whether vocational-tech, bible college, community college, or university, and whether online or in-person. The student loses their admission acceptance and their gap year deferment (because the student is now a student at another school). And the student loses any scholarships they would have been awarded as a freshman, and is considered a transfer college student, and would only be eligible for transfer scholarships, which are much less generous than freshman scholarship -- there are far fewer transfer scholarships available, they are usually of lesser amounts, and they usually just 1-time awards (not renewable).

 

6. The gap year can be filled with your choice of volunteering, work, or travel. NO CLASSES may be involved, otherwise it is no longer a gap year, and no gap year privileges will be extended to the student. One other thing to consider is that if the student works and saves all of that money for college, that could potentially change the financial aid package the student is awarded by the college, as the student will now have more income and assets and will look less in need of any awards. For determining financial aid packages, colleges look at both student and parent financials and weight them most heavily in this order:

 

1. student's income
2. parent's income
3. student assets
4. parent's assets

 

 

As far as the ACT -- no need to take another if your student is happy with her score. I'd only consider re-taking the ACT if the student were "on the bubble" and scoring 1-2 points higher would bump her either from small partial scholarship to a higher partial scholarship, or from a partial scholarship to a full-tuition scholarship. Check each school and see where DD's ACT score falls in the in-coming freshman statistics at each school's website, or at College Board's Big Future college search.

 

Good luck, whatever you decide! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited March 13, 2016 by Lori D.

[bugs]

My daughter took a gap year ( 2014 - 2015 school year) and applied to all of her schools in October.  They all wanted SAT/ACT scores, her high school and college transcripts (se was full time dual enrollment as a junior and senior and earned an AA simultaneously with her high school diploma).  She was treated as a freshman application to 4 of the 5 schools she applied to.  The Univ of Washington considered her a transfer student because she took a year off after taking college classes in high school; if she had gone straight into college they would have considered her a freshman.  She was awarded merit scholarship to the other 4 colleges.

[obsidian]

I'm currently taking a gap year, and will attend begin college this coming fall. I applied to five colleges last year, and was admitted with merit aid to all five.   After I was admitted, I emailed all the colleges and asked whether they would allow me to defer a year, and whether I could defer my merit aid as well. Four out of the five colleges had no issue with the gap year and would keep my merit aid for me. Any need based aid would have been reassessed the following year based on that year's FAFSA/CSS. One college (unfortunately my first choice!), said they didn't allow gap years except for medical reasons, and even if they did allow a gap year, my merit aid wouldn't follow me. After many emails, phone calls, and an in person visit, I did manage to get a gap year approved. In my favor, I was a National Merit Finalist, which this particular college heavily recruits. National Merit had zero issues deferring my scholarship; it was a routine matter for them. All that to say, whether colleges allow gap years and whether merit aid can be deferred varies from college to college. There is a section on the common data set for each college that says whether they allow admission to be deferred. That's not foolproof, though, because all of my colleges said they allowed deferred admission, but in practice, not all did.

 

For all the colleges, taking classes for credit was a huge no, and would have caused me to count as a transfer student instead of a first year freshman. I also did have to commit to one college; I couldn't keep offers open at multiple colleges. If I had wanted to apply to various colleges this year in addition to the ones I applied to last year, I think I would have been able to do so, but I would have been out the tuition deposit at the school I committed to. There's actually a whole contingent of students on College Confidential that will take a gap year just to apply to different schools / reapply to top tier schools that rejected them. As for ACT scores, colleges generally still want to see them even after a gap year, and the date you take the test doesn't matter, so long as they get the results by their application deadline.

 

I certainly did not cure cancer or save the world during my gap year, but I did have a purpose and a plan. For me, that especially mattered, as I had to convince the one college they should let me take a gap year. Some colleges might ask for a brief explanation of plans, and I think the Common App has an essay about things you learned in a gap year if you apply during the gap year. Other than that, what you do doesn't matter that much, and many colleges even encourage gap years.

[hopskipjump]

Y'all - of course - rock! Thank you! So helpful!

 

We have a gazillion phone calls to begin making tomorrow. (I think she would just sign up to some online AP classes to keep her head in the game, since CC classes are a definite no-no).

 

Always so many things to juggle with this kid - and time is NEVER on her side! :biggrinjester:  Trying to make sure we steer her correctly!

[Luckymama]

One college (unfortunately my first choice!), said they didn't allow gap years except for medical reasons, and even if they did allow a gap year, my merit aid wouldn't follow me. After many emails, phone calls, and an in person visit, I did manage to get a gap year approved. In my favor, I was a National Merit Finalist, which this particular college heavily recruits. National Merit had zero issues deferring my scholarship; it was a routine matter for them. All that to say, whether colleges allow gap years and whether merit aid can be deferred varies from college to college. There is a section on the common data set for each college that says whether they allow admission to be deferred. That's not foolproof, though, because all of my colleges said they allowed deferred admission, but in practice, not all did.

 

STEM, would you share the name of the school? Dd is gathering info on how schools treat gap years. Thanks :)

[cjzimmer1]

Y'all - of course - rock! Thank you! So helpful!

 

We have a gazillion phone calls to begin making tomorrow. (I think she would just sign up to some online AP classes to keep her head in the game, since CC classes are a definite no-no).

 

Always so many things to juggle with this kid - and time is NEVER on her side! :biggrinjester:  Trying to make sure we steer her correctly!

 

Would you plan to have her take the AP exams?  Are you planning on making this a fifth year of high school?  I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but if she's not in high school, I don't think she can't take AP exams. 

 

We are considering the possibility of a gap year because we were unable to get many applications out and the ones we did don't seem like they will pan out.  It is frustrating that to take a gap year means no formal academic learning.  I have a kid who would really benefit from the intellectual stimulation but we don't want to mess up the freshman year status either.

[hopskipjump]

nm

Edited March 2, 2018 by hopskipjump

[Lori D.]

Would you plan to have her take the AP exams?  Are you planning on making this a fifth year of high school?  I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but if she's not in high school, I don't think she can't take AP exams. 

 

We are considering the possibility of a gap year because we were unable to get many applications out and the ones we did don't seem like they will pan out.  It is frustrating that to take a gap year means no formal academic learning.  I have a kid who would really benefit from the intellectual stimulation but we don't want to mess up the freshman year status either.

 

Agreeing! And if you were thinking about CLEP or DANTES study and testing, you also want to be very careful about NOT testing-for-credit during the gap year, as many colleges have policies about how close to starting as a freshman in college you may take these exams -- sometimes no closer than 2 months before the high school graduation -- so that would mean NO testing during the gap year. Colleges don't want students taking a load of CLEPs right before entering college and knocking off a year of classes with credit-by-exam… ;) So if you were at all thinking in this direction, you might want to check on the college policies on deadlines for taking credits-by-exam options so you don't accidentally get tripped up there.

 

Y'all - of course - rock! Thank you! So helpful!

We have a gazillion phone calls to begin making tomorrow. (I think she would just sign up to some online AP classes to keep her head in the game, since CC classes are a definite no-no).

 

Hmmm… Agreeing with cjzimmer1, that if you're planning a gap year mostly to allow for more time to mature but the student really wants to keep schooling, then maybe a 5th year of high school with AP courses and dual enrollment might be the better option...

 

Or, if a gap year really is the best option and your student is really wanting to continue with academics, then she can self-study with lots of free resources (or not-for-credit / not-from-college-course-providers) -- some of these are intro college level, rather than high school level...

- documentaries

- check out your library for video lecture series from The Teaching Company and others

- tutorials, videos and podcasts (Khan Academy, Annenberg Learner, and others)

- Open Source courses (Online Education Database, iTunesU, and others)

- MOOC (Mass Open Online Courses) such as Coursera

Edited March 14, 2016 by Lori D.

[hopskipjump]

:auto:

Edited March 14, 2016 by hopskipjump

[cjzimmer1]

Taking a year to be sure of what she wants to study seems a reasonable explanation for a gap year.  Also I would think you would want to check with the AP providers about it before enrolling her.  She would have technically graduated high school and I don't know if they would even allow her to enroll at that point.  Just something else to consider.

Edited March 14, 2016 by cjzimmer1

[Lori D.]

… response deleted at OP's request ...

 

BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Lori D.

[obsidian]

STEM, would you share the name of the school? Dd is gathering info on how schools treat gap years. Thanks :)

 

Northeastern University, Boston University, and WPI had no issues with a gap year (blanking on the name of the fourth uni; will try to remember to come back and post it later). University of Kentucky had issues, but ultimately they allowed me to take a gap year, and I'll be attending there this coming fall. 

[Luckymama]

Thanks STEM :) Best wishes to you!

[prim*rose]

Not to hijack, but I'm curious - if a student on a gap year takes classes at a university in another country, and chooses to not tell the US college that they took such classes (because they just wanted the experience, and do not want the credit to be transferred to the US school), does it matter and is it "allowed" for purposes of merit aid?

[Lori D.]

Not to hijack, but I'm curious - if a student on a gap year takes classes at a university in another country, and chooses to not tell the US college that they took such classes (because they just wanted the experience, and do not want the credit to be transferred to the US school), does it matter and is it "allowed" for purposes of merit aid?

 

Location of college does not matter; college courses taken from any college anywhere in the world, or via an online provider moves the student from freshman status to transfer student status.

 

Colleges require transcripts from ALL post-high school institutions as part of the admission process, and colleges usually have very stiff policies about this -- failure to reveal coursework and credits from other colleges can result in loss of merit aid (possibly even having to pay back any merit aid received), denied admission, or expulsion if already attending the college that granted the gap year -- and even the potential of being stripped of a degree earned at that college if the failure to provide all transcripts from other colleges comes out after the fact of attending a college and earning a degree.

 

"Not telling" about college credits earned at a school other than the college the student is currently applying to is more frequently an attempt to "hide" a low GPA from another earlier college -- usually by a high school student who earned college credit with a poor GPA through dual enrollment, but also with a student who took some coursework, stopped college for a period of time and wants to return as an older student.

 

But no matter the reason, the student is breaking college admission policies and risks huge negative consequences.

 

 

A better, safer (legal) option would just be to apply to and attend an out-of-U.S. university starting as a freshman, OR, attend U.S. college as a freshman and apply for the school's international studies program. There are also tuition exchange programs which include international universities as participants, such as ISEP or NSE.

Edited March 19, 2016 by Lori D.

[rlestina]

Can you apply to colleges, and then if you don't like the results / don't get admitted where you want, decide to do a 5th year of high school and then reapply?

 

Wouldn't the colleges notice and think it odd that you applied twice, as a senior both times?  If you dual-enrolled during that 5th year of high school, might they not somehow decide that the student should have graduated at the end of their 4th year of high school and thus was really a transfer student?

 

It seems risky to me - is it really a viable option?