More Praise for The Complete Guide to the Gap Year ‘‘What a fine encouragement to serious students to engage in a year of experiential learning and enjoyment to prepare themselves better for college. This book is full of positive examples, common sense, and solid advice. It should be read by all high school seniors.’’ —Malcolm H. McKenzie, head of school, The Hotchkiss School ‘‘Kristin M. White fills a deep void with The Complete Guide to the Gap Year by providing much-needed information about this emerging and sensible option. It’s the definitive ‘How-To’ book on the subject, complete with program possibilities, instructive anecdotes, and sage counsel.’’ —Vince Cuseo, dean of admission, Occidental College ‘‘Kristin M. White provides a comprehensive guide to any student considering the benefits of a gap year experience. Her efforts not only supply the reader with very helpful information and guidance, she creates an excitement for the possibilities a gap year experience offers. As an admissions professional, it is gratifying to see such a thoughtful and thorough approach to this growing phenomenon which can enrich the educational experiences of future generations of prospective college students.’’ —Kurt M. Thiede, vice president for enrollment management and dean of admissions, Bucknell University ‘‘Kristin M. White has done a great job making the gap year more acceptable to both students and parents of students who have been on the fast track since birth. The opportunity to invest yourself in something where you are not graded, but you still have an opportunity to learn and make a difference, is invaluable.’’ —Jean D. Jordan, dean of admission, Emory University
THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE
GAP YEAR The Best Things to Do Between High School and College
Kristin M. White
Copyright © 2009 by Kristin M. White. All rights reserved. Published by Jossey-Bass A Wiley Imprint 989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741—www.josseybass.com No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Readers should be aware that Internet Web sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. Jossey-Bass books and products are available through most bookstores. To contact Jossey-Bass directly call our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-956-7739, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3986, or fax 317-572-4002. Jossey-Bass also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data White, Kristin, 1972– The complete guide to the gap year : the best things to do between high school and college / Kristin White. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-470-42526-8 (pbk.) 1. Gap years. 2. Non-formal education. 3. Experiential learning. 4. High school graduates–Life skills guides. I. Title. LC45.3.W45 2009 378.1’98–dc22 2009020123 Printed in the United States of America first edition PB Printing
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Contents
Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction
xv xix 1
PART 1 Fundamentals of the Gap Year
5
1
7
The Gap Year: It’s Not a Vacation History of the Gap Year Other Names for Gap Year What Types of Things Do Students Do on a Gap Year? Why Go on a Gap Year? The Benefits of a Gap Year The Gap Year as a Resume Builder Why Now? Why Not After College? Why the Gap Year Is Beneficial to Students Today
2
College as the Ultimate Goal: What Do Deans of College Admissions Think of the Gap Year?
21
Colleges Are Leading the Way Working with Your Dean’s Office: Getting a Deferral When the Gap Year Isn’t Your First Choice Can the Gap Year Help You Get into a Better College? Will the Gap Year Add More Pressure to Already Stressed Students?
v
Admissions Directors Speak Out on the Gap Year How to Apply to College During a Gap Year Parental Worries Applying from the Road: Will You Have Better Luck This Time?
3
The Postgraduate Year: A Bridge Between High School and College
37
What Is the Postgraduate Year? History of the Postgraduate Year The Athletic Postgraduate Year Finding the Right Postgraduate Year Program The Postgraduate Year Admissions Process Implications of Pursuing a Postgraduate Year The Postgraduate Year in Great Britain
4
Financing Your Gap Year
47
Free Gap Year Programs Low-Cost Gap Year Programs Federal Financial Aid for Gap Year Programs Volunteer Gap Year Programs and Tax Deductions Fundraising for the Gap Year Working to Fund the Gap Year Gap Year Scholarships Educational Loans Financial Aid Gap Year Overlap for Siblings Why Do You Have to Pay a Fee to Volunteer? Insurance for the Gap Year
5
The Year of National Service: A Free Gap Year Option The Millennial Generation: Born to Serve President Obama’s Call to Service AmeriCorps: Changing Lives, Changing America National Civilian Conservation Corps Making a Case for a Gap Year in National Service
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Contents
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6
The Gap Year Decision: Is It Right for You?
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Consider Where You Are on Your Personal Educational Path Researching and Evaluating Gap Year Programs Research Methods: How to Find and Evaluate Programs Gap Year Program Directors’ Views on Choosing the Right Program Taking the Plunge: Committing to a Gap Year
PART 2 Directory of Gap Year Programs
93
Volunteer Programs: Multiple Countries
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Africa & Asia Venture Aide Abroad American Friends Service Committee Amigos de las Americas A Broader View Volunteers Corp Cosmic Volunteers Cross Cultural Solutions Dragonfly Volunteer Projects Eco Volunteer Up Experiential Learning International Foundation for Sustainable Development Gap Guru Global Citizens Network Global Crossroad Global Routes Global Service Corps Global Volunteers Global Volunteers Network i-to-i Institute for Field Research Expeditions Lattitude Long´e Dominica Contents
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Orphanage Support Services Pro World Projects Abroad Quest Overseas Students Partnership Worldwide Volunteers for Peace WLS International
Volunteer Programs: Africa
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African Conservation Experience African Great Lakes Initiative African Impact African Leadership Academy AVIVA Dodwell Trust Inspire Kenya Ocean Research Conservation Africa Operation Crossroads Africa Shumba Experience
Volunteer Programs: United States
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AmeriCorps City Year Habitat for Humanity National Park Service Volunteers Public Allies Student Conservation Association Other Volunteer Options in the United States
Cultural Immersion Programs Adventure Ireland Andeo International Homestays Australearn
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Bridge Year Carpe Diem Education China Quest Council on International Educational Exchange Cultural Destination Nepal Cultural Embrace Education First Multi-Language Year El Casal Barcelona Global Citizen Year Global Learning Across Borders International Cultural Adventures International People’s College of Denmark Kibbutz Program Center King’s Academy Kokrobitey Institute Kwa Madwala Leap Now Living Routes Madventurer Magic Carpet Rides Masa Israel Journey Passage International Rustic Pathways Sage: Studies Abroad for Global Education Sojourns Abroad Southern France Youth Institute Sunrise Thinking Beyond Borders Up With People VentureCo Worldwide Vermont Intercultural Semesters Where There Be Dragons
Contents
ix
World Learning Study Abroad Young Judaea Year Course Youth International
Adventure Programs
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British Schools Exploring Society Global Vision International Greenforce Pacific Challenge Raleigh International Trekforce
Language Study Programs
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AIL Madrid Spanish Language Immersion School Amerispan CESA Languages Abroad Language Link
Art, Music, Theater, and Media Programs
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Actor’s College of Theatre and Television Apicius: The Culinary Institute of Florence Art History Abroad Brown Ledge Gap Year John Hall Pre-University Course in Venice Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute London School of Sound New York Film Academy Northern Gap Theater School Santa Reparata International School of Art Studio Art Centers International, Florence
Sailing and Tall Ship Programs Barque Picton Castle Class Afloat
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Contents
167
Living Classrooms Ocean Classroom Odyssey Expeditions Sea/mester Sea Semester at Wood’s Hole Semester at Sea World Ocean School
Conservation, Environment, and Marine Life Programs
173
Audubon Expedition Institute Blue Ventures California Conservation Corps Conservation Volunteers Australia Coral Cay Conservation Expeditions Dolphin Institute Earthwatch Frontier Institute for Cultural Ecology The Leap School for Field Studies Wild Lands Studies
Outdoor and Wilderness Programs
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Castle Rock Institute International Wilderness Leadership School National Outdoor Leadership School Outward Bound Outward Bound International
Sports Programs
185
Altitude Futures American Football Around the World Australasian Golf Academy Flying Fish Contents
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Global Sports Experience IMG Academies Ski le Gap Ticket to Ride Travellers Worldwide
Miscellaneous Programs
193
Archaeological Institute of America ArcheoSpain Dynamy Woolman Semester
Postgraduate Year Programs About This Directory Avon Old Farms School Berkshire School Blair Academy Brewster Academy Bridgton Academy Canterbury School Cheshire Academy Choate Rosemary Hall School Cushing Academy Deerfield Academy Fork Union Military Academy The Gunnery Hargrave Military Academy Hebron Academy Hill School Hotchkiss School Hun School of Princeton Interlochen Arts Academy
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Kent School Kents Hill School Kimball Union Academy Lawrenceville School Loomis Chaffee School Mercersburg Academy National Sports Academy New Hampton School Northfield Mount Hermon School Peddie School Phillips Academy (Andover) Phillips Exeter Academy Pomfret School Saint Thomas More School Salisbury School Suffield Academy Taft School Thames Academy at Mitchell College Tilton School Trinity Pawling School Vermont Academy Westminster School Wilbraham & Monson Williston Northampton School Winchendon School Worcester Academy
International Postgraduate Year Options
217
British American Educational Foundation Oxford Advanced Studies Program Ridley College St. Leonard’s School
Contents
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Gap Year Resources
221
About the Author References Index
223 225 227
Contents
Foreword
‘‘I welcome you to this university, and now I ask you to please go away.’’ These were the words that greeted me on my first day of college in September of 1979. They were spoken by Derek Bok, the president of Harvard University, who encouraged us to take a year away from school as a way to get more out of college, and ultimately out of life. I had no idea at the time that I would heed his advice—taking a gap year during college—or that I would start an organization with my college roommate that provides an opportunity for thousands of others to do the same thing: to spend a year doing something richly rewarding for themselves, their futures, and their world. Like most of my generation, I had gone right from high school to college—believing, as a friend of mine often says, ‘‘it’s just the thirteenth grade’’—and I fully expected to be at college for four consecutive years. To my surprise, I took a gap year (before it was called a gap year) after my sophomore year of college. It was a surprise to me, but a decision I am so glad to have made. Looking back on it now, twenty-five years later, my gap year was really a leap year. In fact, it is the year that keeps giving: it continues to shape my life and my life’s work. The summer after my sophomore year I worked as an intern on Capitol Hill. Although it was unpaid and only a temporary position, it was heady stuff for a twenty-year-old. I was given real responsibilities and soon became deeply inspired by the atmosphere of public service and the opportunity to witness and be a small part of the great public debates of the day. I wanted to hold onto that feeling of public purpose, of being part of something larger than myself. I decided to see whether I could
xv
find a job on Capitol Hill for one year. I had not really decided yet to take a gap year—just to go shopping for one. A friend of mine told me that a congressman from California had a position open and to run upstairs and walk my r´esum´e to him. I did just that, and a few days later I was offered the job of legislative correspondent, answering constituent mail from people who lived three thousand miles from my home in Boston. Now I had to decide. Would I really take a year off? Would I really let my friends go back to college without me? Sure, I could rejoin them for my junior and their senior year, but what about my senior year? And the year of adventure and memories I would miss with them? I realized that I really didn’t know anyone who had taken a year off from college, much less a year before college, except for those who had run into disciplinary problems or had had a personal crisis. Suddenly the decision got hard. Stepping off the narrow educational path to a college diploma that I and my peers had been on since kindergarten was not quite so easy. Ultimately, the opportunity to stay in Washington was too exciting to turn down. But I will never forget the lump in my throat when, after spending a weekend with my college friends in New York that fall, they all piled into their car and headed north to Boston and I got into mine and headed south to D.C., alone. The congressman I worked for was Leon Panetta (who would later become President Clinton’s chief of staff and budget director and eventually director of the CIA under President Obama). Congressman Panetta had authored legislation about an idea I had never heard of: voluntary national service. The bill, H.R. 2500, sought to set up a commission to study the idea of national service and report back to Congress about its possible implementation. I remember picking up the file folder with the information on the bill and reading through it, feeling a growing sense of purpose and passion with each page. The idea of national service—of calling on young Americans to give a year or more of voluntary service to their community and country—instantly inspired me. I asked to work on the bill and soon found myself organizing a congressional hearing and marshalling public support for the bill—things I could never have imagined knowing how
xvi
Foreword
to do just a few months earlier. We got the bill as far as passage by a congressional subcommittee, but no further. I, however, was hooked. For me, it was ‘‘national service or bust.’’ When I returned to college the next year, it was with a newfound passion for my education and a focus on public policy and national service. I know I utilized my tuition money better this year than I had as a freshman. I sought out top professors and took advantage of special events and speakers. I had a much deeper appreciation for the privilege of being on a college campus—and being given the time to study. To my great surprise and delight, I discovered that a number of other people in my class had also taken a year off—and my senior year was not without old as well as new friends. Looking back on it now, I realize that my year working on H.R. 2500 changed my life. I realized then that I wanted to do anything I could to help bring about a comprehensive system of voluntary national service for America, until the day when the most commonly asked question of a young person would be, ‘‘Where will you do your service year?’’ I worked with my college roommate, Alan Khazei, to found City Year. We called the program City Year because we came to believe that just as a young person has a freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior year, he or she should also have the opportunity and the challenge of giving a city year—a year for one’s community, where the neighborhoods, schools, and community centers become one’s classroom and people of all walks of life become one’s teachers. While City Year’s motto is ‘‘Give a year—change the world,’’ it is also true that service can positively change those who serve. Over the years in my work at City Year, I have both witnessed firsthand and heard time and again from the young people who have served in the program—and from their parents and family members—what a transformative impact their service year has on them. Whether they chose to serve after high school, during college, or after graduating, the friendships made, experiences gained, and skills learned have changed the way young people viewed themselves, their education, and their possibilities.
Foreword
xvii
Today more than 11,000 young people have served as City Year corps members, and more than 500,000 Americans have given a year as a member of AmeriCorps, the federal national service program for which City Year served as a model. With so much need in America and with so many young adults coming of age each year, it is my hope that a national service gap year can become commonplace, rather than unique. The upside for those who serve and the country at large is so great. I am excited that a chapter on a national service year is included in this book, and I hope readers will consider a service year among their options. But as The Complete Guide to the Gap Year powerfully illustrates, a gap year need not be a year of service for it to be life changing—for it to be a leap year. Kristin White has written a tremendously valuable book that captures the diversity of gap year options available and that helps students, parents, guidance counselors, and higher education admissions officers understand the what, how, where, when, and why of a gap year. She has written a go-to book for everyone interested in how to ensure a gap year is time on and not time off. Anyone undertaking a gap year or supporting someone who is considering it should read this important, insightful book. I encourage anyone considering a gap year to develop a plan for the year that enables you to explore your passion and your curiosity and to ask yourself how the year might change you and the world for the better. You never know where it will lead you. I do not know anyone who has regretted choosing a gap year. The hardest thing may well be deciding to take a gap year—and being confident that the year will have a lasting and positive impact on your life. If you are reading this book, though, then you are beginning to understand that a gap year may be exactly what will help you get the most out of your life and your education. President Bok’s challenge inspired me to move toward my own gap year journey. I hope this book—and the voices and stories detailed within—will serve not only as a resource, but as an inspiration for you or a young person you care about as you consider making the leap. Michael Brown CEO and cofounder, City Year, Inc.
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Foreword
Acknowledgments
I
’d like to offer my thanks to the many people who helped with this book, as well as those who encouraged and supported the idea and cheered me on as I wrote it in my never-quiet home with an infant and a toddler. The gap year community is a large and vibrant one, spanning the globe. I was in contact with gap year program directors who were located as close as five miles from my home and as far away as Africa and Australia. I’d like to thank them all for opening up their programs to my scrutiny and questions and for giving me their views on the rapidly evolving gap year concept. The students who were interviewed for this book inspired me with their passion and dedication to making positive change in the world. I’d like to thank each one for sharing the story of their personal journey. The gap year would not be as popular as it is today without the endorsement of the higher education community. I am grateful to the deans of admission who contributed their thoughts to this book. The section on financing the gap year is especially important in helping make the experience available to students from all economic backgrounds. Michael Bishko, Ethan Knight, and Paul Wrubel were invaluable in explaining the ins and outs of taxes and financial aid as they relate to gap year programs. I owe special thanks to my agent, Molly Lyons, for offering her enthusiasm for this project and also her excellent ideas and help during the earliest part of the process. Working with the editors and staff at
xix
Jossey-Bass was a pleasure, and I’d like to thank Alan Rinzler, my editor, who believed in this project and offered invaluable ideas, assistance, and support. Nana Twumasi always had time to answer my many questions and provided important assistance. Thanks also to Robin Lloyd and Jennifer Wenzel at Jossey-Bass for their involvement in this process. On the home front, I am grateful for the encouragement and help of my husband, Michael. He was a sounding board at all stages of this book, offering his opinion, assistance, and editing skills. He probably never wants to hear the words ‘‘gap year’’ again, and I thank him for withholding that fact over the course of the year. I am appreciative of my parents, Jim and Jeanne, for always supporting my love of books and my interest in writing, and I appreciate my brother Larry for always encouraging me to follow my dreams. I want to thank my daughter Caroline for giving up some playtime with mommy this year, and I’m grateful to my youngest daughter, Julianne, who offered a calming presence by sleeping beside me during much of the writing of this book.
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Acknowledgments
To my husband, Michael
THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE
GAP YEAR
Introduction
I
became a big proponent of the gap year when I saw the positive and lasting effects that the experience had on my clients. They returned from their gap year rested but invigorated—and ready to start college. They felt pride in their accomplishments and were eager to do more great things in college and in life. In some cases, they found a greater sense of purpose in life or clarified their reasons for attending college. I also learned from those students who did not do a gap year, but probably should have. They were the students who bombed their first year of college and entered sophomore year with self-doubt and a lack of confidence in their abilities. It wasn’t just the academically weak students who had this experience; a dismal freshman year can potentially strike all types of kids. It is hard to say with certainty whether a gap year would help these students avoid such struggles in their first year of college, but anecdotal evidence shows that students who complete a gap year have fewer of the academic and emotional challenges that other freshmen have.
In my consulting business, I found that there is a lot of excitement about the gap year. Kids’ faces light up when they talk about the places they
1
might go. Many college admissions officers and people in the education field feel that the gap year is on the verge of becoming something big. It could be more than just a trend; it could be the beginning of a movement in education—a movement that values experiential learning, global awareness, environmentalism, and a concern for others throughout the world. I also realized that the gap year is an educational step that raises a tremendous number of questions, from both students and parents. Such questions probably arise because there are so few resources on the topic of the gap year, aside from the information on specific programs available on the Internet. The most common questions from students concern what they will encounter, where they will go, what they will do, and who they will be with. Parents consistently ask about financing for the programs. They want to know what colleges think of the gap year and where it fits into their student’s overall educational plan. This book is designed to serve as a resource for families who are considering the gap year. It is also ideal for high school guidance counselors, consultants, and others who advise students on their educational options. It provides an overview of the gap year as an educational choice, as well as practical details to help students plan their year. Chapter One defines the gap year and explains why it is an important and useful step. Chapter Two presents the views of the higher education community and suggests that the gap year might be a good option for students who have not been accepted at the college of their choice, because it enables them to apply to colleges again and hope for better results. Chapter Three builds on that theme, offering information on the academic postgraduate year, which is a fifth year of high school for students who want to improve their credentials and study skills before starting college. The cost of a gap year is one of the biggest concerns for most families. Chapter Four presents strategies for making the gap year affordable, including the use of federal financial aid, tax deductions, fundraising, or focusing on free programs. Students who want to pursue a completely
2
The Complete Guide to the Gap Year
free gap year should consider a year of national service, as explained in Chapter Five. Spending a gap year with a team-based, domestic volunteer program provides a meaningful experience that is not only free but also provides a $4,700 education award to use for college tuition. Chapter Six offers a framework that helps students navigate the vast gap year world and determine which areas and programs are a good fit. Finally, the program directory in Part Two has data on over two hundred of the world’s best gap year programs. It is organized by areas of interest and includes prices and Internet addresses for further research. I welcome comments from readers and would like to hear from students who have attended the gap year programs listed in this book. I’m interested in feedback on these programs, as well as recommendations about other excellent programs that I may have overlooked. Please contact me at
[email protected] or through www.completegapyearguide.com with your comments. I hope that this book will inspire students to take a chance, get off the academic achievement treadmill, and take the journey of a lifetime. Kristin White Darien, Connecticut
Introduction
3
PART
1
Fundamentals of the Gap Year
CHAPTER
1
The Gap Year: It’s Not a Vacation
T
he question I hear most about the gap year is: What is it? Many Americans have never even heard the term, and for others it brings up vague images of backpackers or British royals.
So let’s start with my definition: the gap year is a break from formal education in order to become immersed in another culture, to volunteer domestically or abroad, to gain experience and maturity, to improve your skills in a sport, language, the arts, or academics, or take on some combination of any of these things. During a gap year the learning process continues, but in a different format and venue that will inspire and excite a student. In many ways the gap year can be more of a challenge than an academic year. Colleges and employers know that students who have finished a structured gap year are young adults who have direction, maturity, and a unique view of the world. The gap year is more than just a trend. It is a movement in education that recognizes our global economy, our shrinking borders, and our need for public service. It is a response to our students’ need for a year to find purpose in their lives or to their yearning to take a break from achievement for its own sake and awaken their love of learning again.
7
The gap year movement is driven by colleges, is wholeheartedly embraced by students, and is often reluctantly agreed to by parents. Although they are often the last to get on the gap year bandwagon, parents are often the ones who are most excited about the positive transformation they see in their child after a gap year.
HISTORY OF THE GAP YEAR The gap year concept is new in the United States and it is still evolving. Of course, the United States is a country with a rich history of adventurers and explorers. The idea of a young adult going on a quest or a journey is a common theme in American literature and in the family histories of many Americans. But the term gap year —and the idea of taking a year off between high school and college—is a British invention. According to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Services in England, 7 percent of all British students deferred admission to their university in 2007 in order to go on a gap year. Many more students simply take a gap year without making any college plans and apply to college after their journey. It is called a ‘‘gap year’’ or a ‘‘year out,’’ and although it sometimes includes meaningful cultural experiences or volunteer work, it doesn’t necessarily have to. In fact, many British teens use their gap year to visit party destinations such as Ibiza, Spain, and various Greek island hotspots. The American system frowns on this behavior, and trips of this kind are not considered meaningful gap year plans. Colleges do not grant deferrals for a yearlong party; they hope that students will enjoy a break from structured academics but will continue the learning process through self-reflection, learning about other cultures, and finding purpose in their own lives. As the gap year grows in popularity both in the United States and in England, it will be interesting to see whether the differences in their interpretations of the practice become more pronounced. In fairness to British students, many of them have done remarkable work in communities throughout the world during their gap years. But a
8
The Complete Guide to the Gap Year
meaningful gap year was not expected of them—it was their choice. In the United States it’s quite different: U.S. college admissions officers expect a gap year plan that will allow for fun, but also includes activities with intellectual depth that will help students to grow as people.
OTHER NAMES FOR GAP YEAR The term gap year is used by programs worldwide and has strong name recognition. However, it isn’t the best description of what is really going on, since it implies a ‘‘gap’’ in learning. Many educators prefer other terms for the gap year. Heath Einstein, associate director of college counseling at the Hockaday School in Dallas, Texas, was on a trip with a group of high school guidance counselors and observed about the term gap year: ‘‘We universally found that term inaccurate as it presupposes a break in one’s education. Rather, we felt that the year between high school and college could be a vital cog in a student’s education, even though it is not education in the formal sense. Therefore the group sought to rename it as a foundation year, indicating that there is a continuum, a natural progression: high school, then a year for foundation, and then college.’’ Princeton University calls its program for incoming freshmen a bridge year. A working group of faculty and administrators who founded the program wrote: ‘‘We purposely use the word bridge as opposed to gap year in order to underscore the value added during this year, rather than its quality as an educational break or vacuum.’’ The working group’s brief on the subject describes the Princeton bridge year as a fully funded nine-month program abroad where students will live in a ‘‘safe but unfamiliar cultural context abroad that, by its difference from previous settings, should challenge assumptions, encourage innovative thinking, and foster maturity. It will also provide a time of service, and opportunity for students to think about working with and for others, rather than simply with and for an ‘I,’ the psychological orientation characteristic of today’s intensely competitive pre-college experience.’’
The Gap Year: It’s Not a Vacation
9
Whether it is called a gap year, a bridge year, a foundation year, or a postgraduate year, the key elements are that it should be meaningful to the student in some way and that a plan and structure are in place.
WHAT TYPES OF THINGS DO STUDENTS DO ON A GAP YEAR? The majority of U.S. gap year students today participate in structured programs where they work in a team with like-minded young adults exploring something new. This small community might be traveling across the ocean on a sailing vessel, living in inner-city Chicago working with at-risk youth, or studying the effect of environmental change on coral reefs. Independent-minded students may choose to craft their gap year outside the realm of structured programs. Some gap year students have gone on personal journeys, spending their time climbing mountains, hiking the Appalachian Trail, starting a nonprofit organization, writing a novel, volunteering on a political campaign, working with a local theater group, or composing their own music. A gap year can be any of these things, but what is most important is finding a fulfilling opportunity and creating a detailed plan for the year. The array of opportunities available is staggering. This book lists hundreds of structured opportunities, which are organized into the following seven main themes:
10
•
Volunteer abroad or domestically. Yes, it helps others, but it also helps you. Get to know a community or an issue firsthand, help community members with their challenges, and become a better person for it. Developing a worldview and an understanding of poverty and other economic issues is important, and this is one incredible way to accomplish that goal.
•
Help the environment or study conservation issues. Animal lovers and those who are concerned about the environment are thrilled with the experiences they have in this type of program. You can
The Complete Guide to the Gap Year
work domestically with a conservation corps program, travel to Madagascar to study the unique marine life there, or spend your days on a boat following pods of dolphins. •
Explore your interest in the arts. The arts and music often get pushed aside at high schools today. If you have a passion for the arts, this can be your opportunity to explore your interests in depth. Gap students can spend a semester making documentary films, joining a British theater troupe, or exploring the studio arts in Florence, Italy.
•
Challenge yourself in the outdoors. Outward Bound and other outdoor journey organizers offer experiences that build confidence and leadership skills. Seafaring types can sail a tall ship around the world. This is the stuff that dreams are made of, and gappers who have sailed the oceans or climbed mountains often call it the pivotal experience of their lives.
•
Learn about another culture. Travel to Europe, Israel, or South America and live with a family, study a language, and get to experience another part of the world as an insider.
•
Go on an adventure travel trip. Those who like to be on the go can join a program that moves the group around the globe. Some programs will visit three continents in three months, and some travel over a smaller region. You usually get the chance to do community service or a homestay to understand the communities visited on a more personal level.
•
Improve your academic skills in a postgraduate year. Join the senior class at an American or British boarding school in order to improve your grades and standardized test scores. Many students choose this option if they are chronologically young for their class or if they need to develop study skills and responsibility before starting college. It is also a popular option for young men who hope to get Division I sports scholarships. They feel that an extra year of physical and personal growth, along with top athletic competition and exposure to college coaches, will help them to reach their goal. The Gap Year: It’s Not a Vacation
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WHY GO ON A GAP YEAR? The typical ambitious high school student is on a treadmill, with constant pressure to achieve. She has been evaluated, tested, and prepped since kindergarten. She joined select sports teams, auditioned for orchestras, attended competitive summer programs, and tried to find impressive volunteer placements. Today’s high school students have taken standardized tests since they were small children, and they have been ranked and compared to others in their school and throughout the country. The gap year offers a chance to step away from all this competition to explore, to unwind, and to learn without the structure, measures, and pressures of most American academic life. The reason for going on a gap year varies with each individual. It might be to satisfy his sense of adventure or his yearning to learn by doing, rather than learning exclusively from books. The gap year might be used to explore her passions, to remember how to love learning again, or to see the world. For those who have studied hard, a gap year can be a well-deserved break and a chance to focus on an area of interest in a hands-on way. Students who have struggled academically appreciate a gap year that gives them a chance to find strengths outside of academia or to study in a new environment that will prepare them for success in college. ‘‘I was like a deflated balloon,’’ described a girl who deferred her admission to Dartmouth to pursue a gap year. ‘‘I was so bogged down with studying and my high school routine that I wondered if I really had the vigor to go to Dartmouth and start it all over again. I volunteered in Ghana during the fall and in Guatemala in the winter. It changed me in so many ways, but I can tell you that those ‘Why am I doing this?’ feelings about studying completely disappeared. When I got to Dartmouth, I knew why I was there.’’
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The Complete Guide to the Gap Year
THE BENEFITS OF A GAP YEAR The list of attributes of a seasoned gapper is considerable: independent, mature, focused, re-energized, and self-directed are some of the traits commonly seen in students who have returned from a gap year. But gap year students themselves are best able to articulate the benefits of the experience. According to Whitney Roth, now a student at the University of Vermont, ‘‘Taking a year off was the best decision I have ever made. I have never once regretted going abroad. I believe that had I gone to college straight out of high school I would not have known what to do with my newfound freedom.’’ Whitney spent three months in South America, traveling to three countries with Youth International. The program included backpacking, homestays, and community service. She returned home to work for a few months to earn money for the rest of her journey. Her final destination was Morocco, where she studied Arabic and absorbed the unique culture. She reflected on her gap year, saying: I consider myself a mature individual, both before and after going abroad, but traveling prepared me in a way I never thought it would. I know how to live and work with a small group of people harmoniously. I know how to handle stress; I know how to approach problems in an adult manner—calmly and logically. I know how to take care of myself. I know now how to be responsible not only for my own physical health, but for my own mental health as well. I still have a lot to learn as an individual, but traveling gave me the starting block. It gave me a sense of self and an idea of who and what I would like to see myself become. I never would have had this kind of foresight had I gone straight
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to college. I recommend it for every graduating senior. It was an experience of a lifetime and a decision that I will never regret making.
Some students talk about the gap year as a journey or a time to explore, find a passion, and return to college ready to pursue that new interest. Charles Monahan was a young man who always had an idea brewing. ‘‘I built a boat when I was a kid,’’ he explained, ‘‘after reading about how canoes were made. I wrote my own mini-newspaper when I was nine; my mom still has the copies. But during high school, I wasn’t doing stuff like that anymore. I wasn’t dreaming—I didn’t have many projects going on—it was just all about school. And when people asked me what I wanted to do for a career someday, I never could answer them. I knew that I wanted to do something big, but I wasn’t sure what.’’ Charles took a gap year in China, where he studied the language, interned at a financial company, and did volunteer work. When he returned to college, he requested a roommate from China so that he could keep up with the language. ‘‘My year in China was incredible. It’s such an important country. A lot of big things are going to be happening in China in the coming years. I already have a few projects going with people I met there, and I plan to stay involved with China as much as I can. My gap year in China was the best year I’ve ever had.’’ Katie Palermo, who taught in a Kenyan school with Volunteers for Peace, voiced an observation echoed by so many gap year participants. ‘‘You never realize how limited your view of the world is until you are able to live and experience a completely different culture and lifestyle,’’ she says. The generation that is in high school today is going to need more than a college degree to be successful. Developing a worldview is crucial to being able to thrive and prosper in a global economy. A gap year experience can set you on a path to seeing your world in a different way.
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The Complete Guide to the Gap Year
GAP YEAR PROFILE
Talia Billig
Talia Billig had a busy and successful high school career, which led to acceptance to Carnegie Mellon University. She was at first ambivalent about the gap year, but then decided to go on the Year Course, a program that allows students to experience Israel while volunteering and studying. So four days after my arrival in Israel I found my nose to the ground doing twenty pushups for dropping my water bottle. I had chosen to take a gap year, but due to a schedule flaw, I was placed in a program where I completed three months of basic training with Israeli teens in the army. It was one of those times in life where an accident taught me things that I will never forget. I learned that the entire country relies on eighteen-year-old kids in uniform. Kids exactly like me. And the entire country loves and respects their children who are in uniform. They may not agree with the politics, but they love their children. Once, an old Russian immigrant stopped me on the street and called me his ‘‘queen of Israel’’ just because I wore the uniform. The program challenged me both mentally and physically, in all senses of each word. I learned about discipline, my physical capabilities, and of camaraderie in the deepest sense.
Talia’s gap year gave Talia a new perspective on herself. She had tested herself and emerged feeling stronger and more confident than ever. She had always been an accomplished vocalist, and even though her gap year did not involve music at all, by the end of the journey she knew that she would pursue music at a higher level. Although she had committed to Carnegie Mellon, she cancelled the spot and enrolled at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York. She is now majoring in vocal music and happily following her dreams.
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THE GAP YEAR AS A RESUME BUILDER Although the point of the gap year is to get away from the competitive race that American students are always running, one whispered benefit of the experience is that it looks good on a resume. If you go on a gap year, it won’t propel you from a third-tier school to an Ivy League college, but it will probably give you a slight edge. This special and unique twist might catch the eye of an admissions officer, as long as your grades are up to their standard. Graduate school admissions committees see the gap year experience in a similarly favorably way. Corporate recruiters who evaluate the resumes of college seniors often find them very much alike. Those with a gap year experience can really stand out. ‘‘Of course, we like to see students who have lived abroad or know a second language,’’ said a recruiter at a major financial services firm in New York, ‘‘but we also like to see students who have been self-motivated, who have created learning experiences for themselves, or have challenged themselves. A resume from a senior with a gap year experience can be a huge plus.’’ Students should never go on a gap year just to boost their resume, of course, but many parents are comforted by the fact that it can have a positive effect on their student’s future.
WHY NOW? WHY NOT AFTER COLLEGE? The jump from high school to college is a significant one, and it comes at a pivotal time in a young person’s life. For many students, the transition is not going well. A study by the Council for Aid to Education found that only 42 percent of students entering public colleges graduated at all, and 55 percent of private college students graduated within five years (Council for Aid to Education, 2001). The study cited increased access to college opportunities drawing more students than ever, but high school preparation and university quality are often too weak to ensure success. College students are taking longer to graduate and in some cases are not graduating at all, because of financial concerns, academic difficulties,
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The Complete Guide to the Gap Year
switching majors, light course loads, emotional problems in being away from home and living on their own, and just plain failing to find any compelling reason to stay in college. With tuition costs as high as they are, the college years are not the time to try to ‘‘find yourself.’’ It is too expensive and too risky to spend your time dabbling. The party culture on many U.S. campuses is so pervasive that it causes many students to become completely engrossed in socializing and drinking. They might regret the time they spent partying, or they may say that it was a necessary part of the maturation process. But imagine how the independence and self-esteem building of a gap year would positively affect the maturity and confidence of those who were likely to be influenced by the college party culture. ‘‘A lot of kids are just here to drink and party,’’ explained a young woman at an East Coast state university. ‘‘It’s kind of sad because they get all stressed and upset about it all the time, yet they keep going back for more. My gap year experience made it different for me. I still go to parties and have fun, but I’m not ruled by it. I have other interests, and I have goals that I can see as real possibilities for myself.’’ People of any age can take a gap year by going on a volunteer vacation, learning a new language, or traveling abroad. But the gap year in its most important and life-altering form usually takes place when an eighteen-year-old plans a year of activities that are meaningful to him and sets off on that journey alone, with the support of family and friends.
Gap Year Facts: Subpar Gap Year Activities Although it is true that a gap year can consist of a wide variety of experiences, following are some activities that are generally not considered acceptable gap year plans: •
Staying at home, relaxing with friends
•
Taking an extended beach vacation followed by an extended ski vacation
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•
Procrastinating or using the time to consider what you could do without actually doing anything at all
•
Going on an international trip with no plan and no opportunity to become immersed in another culture. Backpacking has its merits, but traveling as a tourist is not as beneficial as living, working, and learning with people from a different background.
WHY THE GAP YEAR IS BENEFICIAL TO STUDENTS TODAY The life of a typical American teenager is different from teenagers’ lives ten years ago. Following are some examples of these differences: •
In no other generation have teenagers been so close to their parents. ‘‘Helicopter parents’’ manage most aspects of their children’s lives and are in touch with them by cell phone and e-mail throughout the day. Even teens who don’t have such vigilant parents say that they rarely make a decision without input from their parents and have little confidence in their ability to make an independent decision. Some teens have been given little or no responsibility at home.
•
High school students are overpressured, overscheduled, and often feel uninspired by traditional academics.
•
Boys have fallen behind girls in college and graduate school attendance. Many boys mature later and don’t find a purpose or enthusiasm for academics until their late teens. The simple gift of extra time can make all the difference for a boy’s future.
•
Many students who begin college never finish. The freshman year is the most common dropout point.
All these new factors have made it more common and necessary for kids to take a gap year between high school and college. Five years ago, if you asked a teenager whether she would consider going on a gap year, you
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would get a confused look and ‘‘What’s a gap year?’’ But today, it is clearly established in the lexicon of the teen world and in the higher education community. The media is writing about it, people are talking about it, and more and more students are going on a gap year. Colleges have reported a doubling or tripling of the number of accepted students who ask for a deferral in order to pursue a gap year. As students return from their gap year with positive experiences, it encourages the next crop of kids to take the leap. The next stage of the gap year expansion will be driven by the Obama administration’s initiatives to promote public service. They plan to expand AmeriCorps and offer new and exciting ways for young people to serve their country. They will also offer a $4,000 tax credit in exchange for one hundred hours of public service per year, which will put the volunteer gap year within reach for many, many more students.
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CHAPTER
2
College as the Ultimate Goal: What Do Deans of College Admissions Think of the Gap Year?
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t’s important to know what colleges think of the gap year because, after all, college is the ultimate educational destination. The gap year is never undertaken in place of a college degree, and the experience does not diminish the importance of higher education. College is still the goal, so it is crucial to know what the gatekeepers say about it.
COLLEGES ARE LEADING THE WAY America’s elite universities are enthusiastic supporters of the gap year. Many faculty members and admissions officers consider it an important part of the educational process, one that encourages personal growth and maturity. The coveted Harvard University acceptance letter, which was sent to 7 percent of applicants in 2009, encourages students to take a gap year. This letter is sent to students who can begin college the following fall, but
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it encourages all of them to consider taking a gap year. The 2008 Harvard acceptance letter reads, ‘‘Each year some admitted students choose to defer entrance for a year and find their many and varied experiences extremely rewarding. If you would like to defer, please tell us about your alternate plans. More information about deferring can be found on our website.’’ In addition, the Harvard admissions web site includes an article called ‘‘Time Out or Burn Out for the Next Generation,’’ coauthored by William Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions; Marlyn McGrath, director of admissions; and Charles Ducey, lecturer in psychology at Harvard Graduate School of Education (Fitzsimmons, McGrath, and Ducey, 2006). This article discusses the intense pressure on young people today—pressure that often starts in infancy. The authors make recommendations such as returning summer to its traditional role of relaxation and loose structure. They also recommend postponing college to take a full year off, and they note that Harvard has been recommending this option to its accepted students for over thirty years. They say of this generation of overstressed young people: ‘‘Let us hope that more of them will take some sort of time out before burnout becomes the hallmark of their generation.’’ Princeton University thinks so highly of the gap year that they have launched their own bridge year initiative, which will offer a fully funded international volunteer experience to 10 percent of the incoming freshman class. A working group of Princeton administrators and faculty members wrote a brief describing their plans for this ‘‘precollegiate enrichment year.’’ It will include ‘‘humble service in governmental and nonprofit organizations, in circumstances which will give them an opportunity to become fully immersed in the language and culture of another country.’’ Accepted students will go through an application process that includes interviews and extra letters of recommendation. Princeton’s bridge year founders believe that ‘‘bridge year students will develop an international perspective and a commitment to public service that will inform their four years at Princeton.’’ They note that
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The Complete Guide to the Gap Year
Princeton in turn will ‘‘gain a cadre of relatively experienced and mature freshmen who will add special perspectives to campus life.’’ Many colleges use blogs and accepted student web sites to communicate their support of the gap year. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has an admissions blog page that is read by many prospective and admitted students. In the late spring, an admissions officer writes about the gap year, encourages accepted students to consider it, and provides reams of supporting statements and quotes about it. The accepted students respond and discuss the gap year option with him and each other, creating a dialogue that is read by thousands of students. Although not all colleges and universities make a point of promoting the gap year, most support the idea when a student suggests it. A student’s first gap year–related contact with a college should take the form of a deferral request.
WORKING WITH YOUR DEAN´S OFFICE: GETTING A DEFERRAL Although you may have been researching or thinking about your gap year for months, the spring of your senior year is time to finalize the plans. College acceptance letters arrive in April, and if all goes well, you will choose a college and send your deposit and letter of intent to enroll. The next step is to send a letter to the director of admissions outlining your plans for the gap year. Some students send multiple-page itineraries with extensive detail. Others write letters that are clear, but fill only one side of a page. The admissions committee at your college will read the letter and respond to you with their deferral decision. Nancy Maly, dean of admission at Grinnell College, says that the committee evaluates the letters and considers whether the gap year plan will benefit the student and be worthwhile: ‘‘We almost always approve it. But occasionally we go back to the student and say, ‘You haven’t given us enough sense of what you are going to do. Think it through and come back to us with more information.’ ’’ College as the Ultimate Goal: What Do Deans of College Admissions Think of the Gap Year?
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Likewise, students at Occidental College must provide a detailed plan for their gap year in order for it to be approved. ‘‘We do not automatically grant a gap year; a student must provide us with a clear sense of what they intend to do over the course of the next twelve months,’’ says Vince Cuseo, dean of admissions at Occidental College. Colleges that promote the gap year sometimes tell students that almost any gap year idea will do and say that they have rarely turned down a gap year plan. Though it sounds like a year at the beach might be a possibility here, it probably is not. Because the bright students attending these top colleges almost always develop fascinating gap year plans, they make the deferment decision quite easy for the admissions office. State universities do not publicize the option of asking for a deferment, and many guidance counselors and students believe that it is impossible to get a gap year deferment from a state university. But in fact, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has about twenty-five students each year deferring admission for a gap year. Students have successfully received gap year deferment permission from the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Michigan, the University of Vermont, the University of Maryland, and many others. The University of California system does not offer deferments, but they have a way of accommodating the gap year experience. A student accepted to UCLA’s Honors College who hoped to go on a gap year program explains how the university was able to grant her gap year permission in a unique way: I had been accepted to UCLA, my first choice, but they only offer deferments for the U.S. Army, so I wrote to the dean of admissions and the dean of the honors college explaining my situation and asking if they would grant me a deferment. They informed me that while their system was not equipped to handle deferments, they would guarantee me readmission as long as I did not receive academic credit before I started at UCLA. So while I did have to reapply while I was on the trip, I knew where I would be going and had already completed most of the application beforehand.
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The Complete Guide to the Gap Year
Most gap year students described the process of requesting a deferment as easy. In most cases, nothing more than a simple letter of request is required.
WHEN THE GAP YEAR ISN´T YOUR FIRST CHOICE Sometimes students need to take a gap year that they hadn’t planned on originally. Following are some possible scenarios: 1.
You may be surprised in April of your senior year, when a letter arrives from a college saying you have been admitted, but also an announcement requiring a gap year or gap semester in order for you to attend. Colleges occasionally admit a student with a requirement that they take a gap year and enroll at a later date. They do this to manage enrollments, and it enables them to accept more top applicants than they have room for in the fall freshman class. Middlebury College and Dickinson College offer a January or February enrollment date as a means of managing their campus size. Students admitted for a winter start date go on a gap semester and join their class after winter break.
2.
You may be disappointed at not being accepted but instead being put on a waiting list. Several colleges offer their wait-listed students the opportunity to enroll the following year. Harvard and Tufts are two colleges that have offered some of their wait-listed students the chance of a guaranteed place with the next incoming class.
3.
You may be unhappy that the colleges that admitted you were not your first choice, or even close to first choice. In these cases, a student can send a deposit to any college that accepted him, ask for a gap year deferral, and then apply to more colleges the following year. Or he can go on a gap year without any college acceptance in hand and apply to a range of schools again—older, wiser, and perhaps with a better profile. This approach will not change your academic profile, College as the Ultimate Goal: What Do Deans of College Admissions Think of the Gap Year?
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so it is unlikely to have a drastic effect on your admissions results. But let’s take a closer look at this strategy.
CAN THE GAP YEAR HELP YOU GET INTO A BETTER COLLEGE? For some people, this is the million-dollar question. Students who are striving to get accepted to a top college are looking for every edge they can get. They know that colleges recommend the gap year to their accepted students, but do colleges also recommend it to applicants who have not been accepted the first time around? Will a gap year experience turn a marginal application into a successful one? In the world of competitive college admissions, it is difficult to distinguish one top-performing high school student from another. Colleges that reject 80 percent or even 90 percent of those who apply admit that they are denying admission to thousands of excellent candidates. In this environment, a gap year experience might distinguish a student from the pack of talented high school seniors. Many students have recently been surprised and delighted to find that the gap year helped them to get into the college of their choice. Harvard University, long a champion of the gap year, admits to noticing gap year applicants. Their web site says: ‘‘Occasionally students are admitted to Harvard or other colleges in part because they accomplished something unusual during a year off. While no one should take a year off simply to gain admission to a particular college, time away almost never makes one a less desirable candidate or less well prepared for college.’’ Grinnell College in Iowa accepted a gap year applicant who was denied the year before when she applied as a high school senior. According to Maly, this 2007 applicant was so disappointed with her rejection from Grinnell that she decided to take a gap year and apply again. Grinnell was her clear first choice, so this young woman elected to teach English abroad rather than enrolling at a different college. Says Maly: ‘‘She updated her application with information on all she had done, which gave us insight
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The Complete Guide to the Gap Year
into her personal development during this time. She applied for early decision and was accepted.’’ Christoph Guttentag, director of admissions at Duke University, says: ‘‘We only have a handful of students applying each year from their gap year. They have been successful, though—one became a Rhodes Scholar. Another first-year student applied after a stint in the Marine Corps.’’ One Princeton University student explains how his gap year resulted in a improved admissions decision: I had wanted to go to Princeton for as long as I can remember. I worked so hard in high school— I felt like I did everything right. So when I was rejected from Princeton, I was absolutely crushed. It made me realize that I needed a break and a reality check. I went on a gap year and had an amazing experience. I applied to Princeton and several other colleges again. I was accepted to Princeton, and I’m a student there now. It wouldn’t be true to say that I went on the gap year just so that I could get into Princeton. I assumed they would reject me again. I did the gap year because it was something I needed to do for myself. The fact that I got into Princeton afterwards was an incredible bonus.
One of the more remarkable gap year success stories comes from Ben Gulak, a Canadian who was wait-listed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his dream school. Rather than settling for another school, Ben took a year off to work on an invention that had won him second place in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. His invention, the Uno—an environmentally friendly electric scooter— went on to be named the top invention of the year by Popular Science magazine. Ben is currently a student at MIT, and he has started a company to develop the Uno. Alan Khazei, a cofounder of City Year, a ten-month intensive national service program, notes that several students join the program each year with the intention of applying to additional colleges: ‘‘Many come to City Year, apply again, and then get into better schools. They are better candidates. Any hard-driving service program like City Year is going to be harder and more time-intensive than school. Kids grow from that. They College as the Ultimate Goal: What Do Deans of College Admissions Think of the Gap Year?
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grow in maturity, they grow in skills, and they grow in purpose. Colleges like that.’’ Several college admissions officers note that they usually accept a few applicants each year who have applied during their gap year. They warn against this practice, however, saying that it can be difficult to get transcripts and recommendations from a high school after graduation and cautioning that in most cases the academic profile has not changed, so it does not put the student in a substantially stronger position. According to Kurt Thiede, dean of admission at Bucknell University: ‘‘We have not had a noticeable number of students whose applications came to us during the actual gap year. Our experience has been that these students tend to get their college plans in order before committing to these programs. Depending on the nature of the gap year program, working through the admissions application process could prove somewhat to very distracting. We would very seriously consider the many aspects of the gap year experience for a prospective student in reviewing his or her application.’’ Richard Nesbitt, dean of admission at Williams College said: ‘‘We have a small number of students each year who apply from their gap year. Few, if any, are admitted. A better course is to apply to college in your senior year, secure your place with a deposit at the one college to which you intend to matriculate, and then request permission to postpone entrance to take a gap year. There are many good reasons to take a gap year, but it should not be to try to enhance your chances of being accepted at a more prestigious or more selective college or university.’’
WILL THE GAP YEAR ADD MORE PRESSURE TO ALREADY STRESSED STUDENTS? The gap year has proven to be such a life-altering and positive experience for so many young people that we can only hope it does not become just another box to check for the high-achieving high school student. In the past, students have always been relieved in April of their senior year, when the college application process was finally over. Like
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The Complete Guide to the Gap Year
it or not, your acceptances were what they were, and you chose the best one and moved forward. But now that the gap year is growing in acceptance and popularity, students find that they have another choice in April. Do you enroll at a college that accepted you, or do you move on to an additional round and apply from a gap year? When does the admissions process really end?
Gap Year Facts: Number of Accepted Students Who Defer Admission to Pursue a Gap Year Harvard Cornell Yale Dartmouth Stanford Georgetown Grinnell Tulane Occidental Duke UNC-Chapel Hill University of Virginia Kenyon Bucknell Notre Dame Emory Massachusetts Institute of Technology
50 to 70 per year 50 to 60 per year 30 to 40 per year 20 to 30 per year 30 to 40 per year 15 to 25 per year 8 to 10 per year 25 to 35 per year 10 to 15 per year 20 to 30 per year 5 to 30 per year 20 to 30 per year 12 to 15 per year 8 to 12 per year 6 to 8 per year 10 to 25 per year 12 to 15 per year
It’s ironic that the gap year, which was created to give overstressed students a break, now might add to the pressure. However, it is unlikely that a large number of students would use the gap year as an opportunity College as the Ultimate Goal: What Do Deans of College Admissions Think of the Gap Year?
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to game the system. The prospect of a year off isn’t for everyone. Going on a gap year for the sole reason of gaining a marginal edge in admissions competitiveness is likely to make for an unhappy year.
ADMISSIONS DIRECTORS SPEAK OUT ON THE GAP YEAR Students who are considering a gap year can go forward with the knowledge that the idea is not only accepted by the higher education community, it is actually encouraged. College administrators, like others who work with young adults, know that a year of service or a year of personal development in the form of a gap year can be a formative experience in a young life. In general, I think it is a terrific idea. Most students who are admitted to schools like Duke could use a ‘‘sabbatical’’ which would let them learn about the world from a different perspective. Christoph Guttentag, dean of admission, Duke University I see it as a wonderful break for students to invest in a passion, explore, regroup, and get ready for college. Students enroll at Kenyon with a new verve and excitement for learning. It is a wonderfully maturing experience. Jennifer Delahunty, dean of admissions and financial aid, Kenyon College It can be a fine idea for the student who might be young for his or her class and wants to gain a year of physical and emotional maturity or who wants to pursue a particular passion. Richard Nesbitt, dean of admission, Williams College For most students, their gap year is used to explore some tremendous opportunities and to have wonderful experiences, and in those cases it is worth it to take a gap year. Pascale Gerdes, assistant director, office of admission, Tulane University
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The Complete Guide to the Gap Year
We believe it can and should be educational and instructive, but we also realize that some students will benefit from interrupting a lockstep academic career by pursuing something experiential. They are not mutually exclusive goals. Vince Cuseo, dean of admission, Occidental College Reed College takes a very supportive position on the gap year. We always approve requests for students to defer enrollment for one year, in part because we have seen countless examples of a gap year providing an enriching experience that better prepares the student (especially socially and mentally) for college. Many students need to step away from the competition and striving of high school for a year and have a chance to engage with the real world in a meaningful way that does not involve passing tests. Paul Marthers, dean of admission, Reed College We believe the gap year concept is a very good idea. Students who enter Bucknell after such an experience are more focused on the academic and social directions they intend to take. Many times the experience—particularly when it includes some community service component—helps students find a new purpose to their higher education. Kurt Thiede, dean of admissions, Bucknell University Students who take a gap year tend to be some of the strongest performers in the classroom. Jean D. Jordan, dean of admission, Emory University
HOW TO APPLY TO COLLEGE DURING A GAP YEAR Preparation and planning are the keys to a successful college application process during the gap year. Assuming you’ve made the decision to enter college after your gap year is completed, it will be necessary to organize and prepare everything during the same year you may be traveling and working far from home. Thus, you must be especially organized, and it
College as the Ultimate Goal: What Do Deans of College Admissions Think of the Gap Year?
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is wise to have your parents or a friend help, if possible, in answering correspondence while you are away. This is probably your second time applying to college, so your experience may help the process to run smoothly. Set a goal of completing most of the application work before you leave on your trip. Certainly, your college list should be finalized during the summer, and you should visit campuses at that time, if necessary. Make arrangements with your high school teachers and guidance counselors to have your grades and recommendation letters sent to each college on your behalf. Send your SAT scores to the colleges on your application list. Open an account with the Common Application (www.commonapp.org) and fill in as much of the information as you can. Use the address of your parents or close relatives or friends, rather than an overseas site, especially if mail delivery is unreliable. An essay written from a gap year program often has a special flair that one written during the grind of senior year might not. The essay section of the application is the one part that you should wait to complete during your gap year. It gives you a chance to tell the admissions committee about your year and how it has made a difference in your life. You will be in the early part of your program, but it’s likely that you will already be changed or inspired in some way. This is your chance to write a remarkable personal statement. With the convenience of the Common Application, you can submit your essays and completed application online from anywhere in the world. If you are participating in two or more programs, arrange to do the most impressive program—or the one that you can write most comfortably about—first. The content of your gap year will be considered by the colleges, so be sure to choose programs and activities that are meaningful to you, but will also be looked upon favorably by the admissions committees. If you are applying to colleges that require a supplemental essay in addition to the personal statement, it might be helpful to write those essays before your trip. They often ask why a particular college is right
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for you or what you hope to study, and if you don’t think the answers will be affected by your gap year experience it is better to write them in advance. Luckily, very few colleges still require a personal interview. Those that do usually have an alumni network that offers interviews all over the world. If they don’t have an interviewer available in your location, try to arrange the meeting at home during your holiday break. If that is not possible, you can contact the college and explain your reason for not being able to complete an interview. They will either offer you a phone interview or waive the requirement.
PARENTAL WORRIES Some parents see the college acceptance letter as their own report card on the job they did over the last eighteen years as parents. The idea of putting off college and gallivanting around the world might concern them. Even worse is the idea of going on a gap year trip without college acceptance, because parents worry that their child might not come back or might never enroll in college. Even the most logical parents have a nagging fear that their gap year child who has not deferred admission to a college will never return to formal education. ‘‘I was sad that he wasn’t going right to college,’’ one mother explained. She continued: Everyone else seemed to be going to college, and I had this fear that Dan never would. But after talking to some parents whose children had gone on a gap year, I started to feel better about it. I realized that I can’t put Dan on my timeline. He applied to college from his trip, got into St. Lawrence, and is doing very well there. The trip seems to have motivated him and given him more confidence in himself. He stands a little taller, and he gets better grades than he did in high school. Even though I doubted it, the gap year was the right thing for Dan.
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APPLYING FROM THE ROAD: WILL YOU HAVE BETTER LUCK THIS TIME? For the students profiled earlier in this book, the answer was a definitive yes. Their gap year experiences and perseverance caught the attention of the admissions committees, and they had a more favorable outcome by doing a gap year. Whether that strategy will work for most other students is uncertain. First, it is important to realize that the gap year adds something extra to your application, but it does not make up for major deficiencies or change your candidacy significantly. The major factor in college admissions are grades and standardized test scores. Your participation in a gap year will not change either of those important measures of you as a student. If you apply to colleges that are in your target range for your academic profile, then the gap year might give you just the extra spark that will bring you a thick acceptance letter in April. Be sure to construct a balanced list between ‘‘safety’’ schools and ‘‘reach’’ schools based on your academic profile. If you are applying for the second time, it might be wise to include a few colleges that you didn’t apply to the first time. Molly Meehan focused on liberal arts colleges and applied to ten of them during her senior year. ‘‘My essays were rushed,’’ she explained. ‘‘I had a lot going on. And I only visited two of the ten colleges.’’ When her decision letters arrived in April, Molly was shocked to only have two acceptances. She visited both colleges and didn’t like either of them. ‘‘I was so upset. I should have visited more colleges and spent more time on my applications. I think that part of the reason that this happened was that I really wasn’t ready to go to college. I had a friend who did City Year, and I started to think that might be the right thing for me.’’ Molly participated in this AmeriCorps program, which cost nothing for her or her parents. ‘‘It was a tremendous experience,’’ she explained. ‘‘It was hard, but I learned so much about myself. Then I applied to four colleges and was accepted at three. I am now attending Gettysburg College and I’m loving it!’’
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The gap year should not be used as a strategy to outsmart the system. It can be a long and hard journey for a student who does not truly want to go on a gap year. But very often, students who are not successful in the college admissions process are in that position because they are not ready for college in the first place. Seniors who apply haphazardly, do not visit college campuses, and show little interest in the process often turn into college students who are not engaged academically, who change majors, and are at risk of dropping out. The gap year experience has proved to be very positive for this type of student. Students who hope to improve those all-important elements of the college application—grades and standardized test scores—should consider doing an academic gap year program. Often called postgraduate or PG programs, they offer students a chance to improve their grades and study habits in preparation for college.
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CHAPTER
3
The Postgraduate Year: A Bridge Between High School and College
T
here are currently over 1,400 high school graduates enrolled in boarding schools in a fifth year of coursework referred to as a ‘‘postgraduate year.’’ This is a year of structured independence, offering students the chance to live in a supportive residential environment while building study skills, improving grades, and gaining the maturity needed to be successful in college. The boarding component helps to ease the transition to college life and is a key element of the postgraduate (PG) year.
There were very few female PG students ten or more years ago because the focus on maturity, structure, and an opportunity to excel in athletics was more commonly associated with the needs of boys. Many girls who needed to improve in these areas chose other educational alternatives rather than enrolling as one of the older students in a high school environment. Today, there are just over one hundred female PG students, a number that has increased in the last three years. Most coed
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schools have just one or two girls in a PG class of ten or twenty students. Andover is unique for enrolling 11 girls in a 32-student PG class, and Cushing Academy matriculated 6 girls in their PG class of 22 students. Jake Muir was a young man who finally started to ‘‘get it’’ at the end of his junior year. His early high school grades had been a collection of Cs and Ds, which didn’t bother him much at the time. During eleventh grade, though, he started to realize that his grades would affect his future, and he found that with a little effort he was able to do fairly well. ‘‘I wish I had another year of high school to show the colleges that I am not a C student,’’ he said at the time. He needed to improve his writing, retake the SAT, and post better grades. So Jake enrolled in a PG year program at The Gunnery, a boarding school in Connecticut. It wasn’t only his grades that improved, but also his self-confidence and his ability to function independently. Ryan Murphy was such a bright child that his parents sent him to kindergarten early. He was a high achiever throughout his school years and was ranked first in his class throughout high school. Starting senior year at age sixteen, Ryan felt younger than his peers. His parents knew that he was immature for his age and that a year of structured independence at a boarding school would be the perfect thing for him. They looked for a PG program at a top competitive boarding school where he could take higher-level math classes. Ryan applied and was admitted as a PG student at Andover, a prestigious boarding school in Massachusetts. He was invigorated by the demanding classes, the thought-provoking class discussions, and his new friendships with students from all over the world. Tim Price wanted to play college basketball at a top academic college and was willing to try anything to make his dream come true. He was a talented player and a strong student, ranked first in his class at a large suburban high school. Tim’s high school basketball team did not have a winning tradition, and they did not graduate any players to intercollegiate basketball during Tim’s high school years. Although he did shine at summer basketball camps and had even been invited to several select
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camps, Tim didn’t get much attention from coaches at the colleges he was interested in. During the fall of his senior year, Tim applied to three boarding schools that had both strong academic reputations and nationally known basketball programs. He enrolled at Lawrenceville School in New Jersey. Tim was challenged academically while he worked hard on the basketball court with this elite team. ‘‘My game improved more than I ever thought was possible,’’ he explained. ‘‘Playing with guys of that caliber, along with the great coaching staff, put me in a better position for college and also gave me a lot more confidence.’’ Tim connected with several Ivy League coaches who were impressed with his basketball ability and strong academic profile. He was accepted at an Ivy League school and is currently balancing academics and intercollegiate sports. ‘‘Not only did the PG year help me get to this level, but it helped me to manage the time constraints and pressure of both playing basketball and studying at a high level.’’ Ryan, Jake, and Tim are young men with very different academic profiles, but they were all successful in PG year programs. More than just a ‘‘do-over’’ option, the PG year varies greatly by school and offers an excellent gap year option.
WHAT IS THE POSTGRADUATE YEAR? The PG year is an additional year of secondary school coursework that is taken after a student graduates from high school, but before enrolling in college. It is intended for students who have not yet applied to college or for those who were not successful in the college admissions process. Students build study skills, improve writing technique, and take an entire year of college prep classes, all in a supportive and structured environment. At most schools, the PG students are simply new members of the senior class. They can fully participate in sports, activities, and in the social life of the school. They live in dorms with underclassmen and receive diplomas from the school at graduation. Finding colleges that match well with students is an important part of the PG year experience. The students
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have the opportunity to improve grades and standardized test scores and to go through the college application process under the care of seasoned guidance staff. Like any other journey, the result of the PG year depends on where a student was when she started. Some students emerge from the PG gap year more confident, with better study skills, and a feeling that they can be successful in college. Others find themselves admitted to colleges that may previously have been out of reach. Many young athletes find that the PG year gave them time to grow physically and emotionally, improve in their sports, and get attention from college coaches. Simply stated, the PG year gives a student the gift of time. It allows one more year to grow and mature, build academic and athletic skills, and get ready for the demands of college. The PG year is a good opportunity for those who need more time to build a foundation for college.
HISTORY OF THE POSTGRADUATE YEAR Young men have been attending PG year programs at boarding schools for about fifty years. The first students were sponsored by U.S. service academies, which ordered them to a year of prep school before accepting them as cadets and midshipmen. Even today, the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation sponsors seventy PG students each year at select boarding schools. The early PG programs were not entirely full of military types, though at that time they usually fit the same mold: they were young men who needed an improved academic transcript or athletes who hoped to play at a higher level. It was a year of structure and foundation that arrived for many of them at just the right time in their lives. Several top boarding schools today note that their board of trustees includes at least one PG graduate. Those young men who did not have their lives completely together at age eighteen often went on to find great success in life, and they give back to their school financially and through volunteer work.
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The PG year is still chosen by significantly more boys than girls. However, girls have started enrolling in PG year programs in very small numbers in recent years. A typical coed New England boarding school that has twenty PG students is likely to have one or two girls at most. This imbalance prevails because girls typically have fewer concerns about maturity and independence, and they don’t benefit as much from the athletic component because they aren’t likely to gain physical size at that age. From a social point of view, boys tend to welcome a year in which they are the oldest in the high school environment, whereas that feature typically holds less appeal for girls.
THE ATHLETIC POSTGRADUATE YEAR Sports are very important to some young adults today, and these individuals will give almost anything to make it to the holy grail of Division I athletics. For many boys, a PG year with the right coach and increased exposure can help them reach their goal of playing intercollegiate athletics. The extra time and practice sessions with other top athletes can help them move to the next level in their sport. For example, an eighteen-year-old boy who is deemed too small for Division I college football may gain enough size during his PG year to attract the attention of coaches who passed him over the year before. A basketball hopeful might gain a few inches in that time and also benefit from working out with other top players. It is a chance to grow not only in physical size, but also in pure athletic ability. Dedicated athletes who are looking for a place to shine and to potentially be noticed by college scouts often meet their goals in a PG program. The athletic programs vary greatly from school to school. Serious contenders for Division I football attend the seventy-student-strong PG program at Fork Union Military Academy, a school that boasts two Heisman trophy winners, ten NFL first-round draft picks, and over seventy graduates signed by the NFL. Basketball players are drawn to Oak Hill Academy, Blair Academy, Lawrenceville School, New Hampton School, or
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Winchendon School, each of which has two or more graduates playing in the NBA. The New England prep schools are strong in hockey, with Avon Old Farms producing dozens of collegiate players and a few professionals. Top lacrosse players are drawn to Deerfield Academy, with its sixteen consecutive winning seasons in the competitive Western New England Division I. Its graduates are on the rosters of all seven Ivy League colleges.
FINDING THE RIGHT POSTGRADUATE YEAR PROGRAM There is a saying in boarding school consulting: ‘‘There are no bad schools—only bad fits.’’ Each has such a unique culture and set of strengths that it is important to find the right one. Students who do not ‘‘self-advocate’’ or ask for help will benefit from schools with support structures in place that assure that they receive extra attention. This might include required study halls, a personal advisor, or a learning center. On the other extreme, students who crave a greater challenge and more competition would do best in a rigorous and academically elite school. These schools offer higher-level math and science classes, along with fast-paced programs in the liberal arts. Admissions selectivity varies from school to school. At the PG level, there are schools that will accept a student with almost any academic record, looking most closely at the student’s willingness to embark on a PG year program. At the other extreme, some schools are so selective that they routinely deny admission to straight-A students and accept, on average, only 20 percent of applicants. Families who are interested in finding a PG program that will fit their student well should review the schools in the directory in Part Two to get a sense of admissions competitiveness, course offerings, and academic profile. The next step is to research schools online and review their brochure and course catalog. A campus visit and interview is a final step that will help you get a sense of the culture and feel of the school.
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THE POSTGRADUATE YEAR ADMISSIONS PROCESS People are often surprised at how much work goes into the PG year application. Students are usually required to submit a paper or online application with one or two essays and several short-answer questions. They have to submit two teacher evaluations and their transcript, along with a guidance counselor recommendation. SAT scores are required, as is a personal interview. Although the interview is often a formality in college admissions, it is a crucial part of the PG year application. The admissions office uses the interview as a means to get to know a student and his accomplishments and to address any academic concerns. They also use the interview to gauge the student’s willingness and interest in doing a PG year. Schools do not want a miserable student on their campus, so they pay close attention to whether the PG year fits in the student’s overall educational plan and whether they feel he would adapt to the structured environment. The application timeline varies. It is recommended that students apply to PG programs at the same time their classmates are applying to colleges. Selective schools have a January 15 or February 1 deadline and a March 10 decision notification date. Students who hope to receive a March 10 notification must complete all paperwork, testing, and the on-campus interview by January. If you are accepted, you will be invited to ‘‘Revisit Days’’ to help you decide which, if any, PG program is the right choice for you. However, the PG applicant is known to come late to the process, so schools often have openings through the spring. If a student is unhappy with her college choices in April, there is still a good chance that she can find a spot in a good PG program. Less selective PG programs see the bulk of their PG applicants start the process in the spring and are less concerned about winter deadlines.
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IMPLICATIONS OF PURSUING A POSTGRADUATE YEAR Students who need ‘‘the gift of time’’ will find that the PG year can be enormously beneficial. Boys, in particular—who tend to become motivated and organized during the later years of high school—benefit from a foundation year before college. A report by the American Council of Education found that men now make up 45 percent of college students. Boys have fallen behind girls in college success, and in many cases a PG year will offer them the tools they need to achieve in college. Andrew McNeill, senior associate director of college counseling at the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, says: ‘‘The PG year is a great opportunity for late bloomers or students who have started to be successful at the end of their high school career. But they need a commitment to be a student, and they must be able to hit the ground running when they get to campus. A good year can be very beneficial, but a bad academic experience can be a real step backward.’’ One of the drawbacks to doing a PG year is the expense. The average tuition of $40,000 at most boarding schools and $25,000 at military schools is a hefty fee for an academic year offering no college credit. Financial aid is available to those who qualify by submitting an application, tax returns, and other paperwork, similar to an application for college financial aid. Schools tend to be less generous with financial aid for PG students, because they are on campus for only one year. However, schools with large endowments share the wealth equally with their PG students. Some elite schools such as Phillips Academy offer ‘‘need-blind’’ admission and full scholarships, and Phillips Exeter has a new initiative that awards free tuition and fees to all students with families earning under $75,000 a year. There is little flexibility in leaving a PG year program if it doesn’t work out. There is no public school to return to, so changing your mind about the PG year and leaving in the middle of the semester can have a disastrous effect on college admissions. This is why it is important for
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candidates to visit campuses and talk with admissions officers, so that they can determine whether the program is right for them.
THE POSTGRADUATE YEAR IN GREAT BRITAIN If you are reluctant to spend another year in a traditional American high school environment, you can go on a PG year at a British boarding school. This opportunity allows you to be in a truly international educational environment, gaining a unique view on the European Union and Britain. The British academic program focuses on only two or three subjects, and rather than completing frequent tests, quizzes, and papers, you are evaluated through an end-of-year exam or project. This preparation can strengthen your transcript and add depth to your college applications.
GAP YEAR TIPS Applying to Selective Postgraduate Programs Academically elite boarding schools such as Exeter, Andover, Deerfield, Choate, and Lawrenceville accept less than one-third of applicants to their PG programs. If you want to beat the odds and get accepted, following are a few tips: 1.
Apply early. Finish the entire process by the January deadline.
2.
Have a positive interview. Tell the admissions officer why you are committed to doing a PG year. Show them what strengths you can bring to their school community and articulate how their school fits into your future plans.
3.
Spend time on the application. In addition to the essay, there are four or five short-answer questions. Do your best on all
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components of the application and be sure that your written responses support what you spoke about in your interview. 4.
Send supplemental information. If you are an athlete, send game tapes and an athletic r´esum´e to the coach of your sport. Stay in touch with him throughout the application process and attend a game or practice if possible. If you are a musician, send a recorded CD or a video to the music director. If you are a visual artist, send a portfolio of work to the art department.
The British American Educational Foundation is a U.S. nonprofit organization that advises students on finding the right school and helps them through the application process. Americans have attended schools throughout Britain, including well-known schools such as Eton, Harrow, and Marlborough. Other options include the Oxford Advanced Studies program, which offers a thirteenth year of school with private tutorials, all in the college town of Oxford. St. Leonard’s School in Scotland offers a Sixth-Form College on its campus in the college and resort town of St. Andrew’s.
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CHAPTER
4
Financing Your Gap Year
T
here may be a plethora of reasons why a gap year is beneficial to a student and her future, but in the end it usually comes down to one and only one consideration: money. Most families are stretching to cover college tuition, so the prospect of a fifth year of significant expense is a daunting one. Finding a way to make a gap year affordable is crucial, and it is indeed possible with proper research and planning.
The gap year in the United States is emerging as a meaningful part of the educational process, exposing young adults to new cultures and languages and helping them find purpose in their lives. This opportunity was once available only to the wealthy, but it is on its way to becoming an experience available to all young people. Because the gap year has been lauded by top universities, foundations, and those in favor of a national year of service, it is likely that extensive funding could become available for gap year programs in the future. The Obama administration plans to increase the size of AmeriCorps,
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offering free, domestic gap year opportunities to many thousands of young adults. Just as colleges have opened their doors more widely through the availability of financial aid, it is possible that the gap year will be seen as another leg on the educational journey, worthy of funding that will make it accessible to all students. Already, Princeton has announced a new program offering a free international gap year to its freshmen, who will do an overseas volunteer ‘‘bridge year.’’ Bentley College is offering a $20,000 scholarship to students who participate in City Year. A cutting-edge program called Thinking Beyond Borders offers full-tuition scholarships for its multicountry journey abroad. In the future, the international gap year experience may be available to all students, regardless of financial means. But for now, financing a gap year requires research, planning, and thought.
FREE GAP YEAR PROGRAMS The easiest way to make the gap year affordable is to choose one with no cost to you whatsoever. The leading free opportunity is AmeriCorps, a federal program often referred to as ‘‘the domestic Peace Corps.’’ Not only is it free, but health insurance is covered and participants who complete the program are awarded a $4,750 education grant. It is open to people from all income levels, and there is no financial-need requirement. Over 50,000 young adults are AmeriCorps members this year. They are in programs such as VISTA, National Civilian Community Corps, Habitat for Humanity, City Year, Public Allies, and other residential and team-based programs focused on community service and leadership. The Obama administration plans to grow AmeriCorps five times over by increasing its size to 250,000 people. They plan to increase offerings in the areas of education, disaster relief, and health-related issues. Several free programs are dedicated to conservation and environmental issues within the United States. The Student Conservation Corps and the California Conservation Corps offer a chance to work in a structured
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program, help the environment, and build leadership skills, all while earning a small stipend. The Corps Network (www.corpsnetwork.org) is an advocate for conservation corps programs in forty-two states and can help you find a placement. A few of the ‘‘postgraduate’’ academic programs held at boarding schools are free or low cost for families with financial need. Phillips Exeter Academy offers a completely free year that covers tuition, room and board, fees, and a computer to admitted students whose families earn under $75,000 a year. Although many overseas gap year programs offer only partial scholarships to participants, there are few that offer full scholarships. Thinking Beyond Borders is an elite program designed for students to explore international development through global service learning and academic study. The program travels to Asia, Africa, and South America. Twenty percent of this year’s participants are attending on full scholarships, including airfare costs. Admissions are competitive, and applicants and their parents are interviewed during the process. Masa Israel is an umbrella organization of Israel-based programs. Their Israel Gap Year program costs only $500 for ten months of volunteer work and cultural study. Participants who qualify for a need-based grant can attend for free. Masa offers many other gap year options in Israel, including sports, dance, and music programs. Students who qualify for financial aid can attend for free or a substantially reduced cost. Another inexpensive gap year option is to forgo the idea of a program completely and strike out on your own. You can volunteer with a political group or nonprofit organization, get an unpaid internship, or take some time to devote to an interest in the arts. And if you can arrange for housing with a friend or family in another location, you also have the opportunity to experience a new environment and the challenges of living independently. If you want to go overseas for free, you can find a placement through World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, where you will earn your keep by working on a farm in one of hundreds of locations throughout the world (www.wwoof.org).
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LOW-COST GAP YEAR PROGRAMS Programs that cost very little are a good option, especially if they are combined with other financing strategies outlined in this chapter. Keep in mind that low-cost programs lack many of the frills of their more expensive counterparts. There may be less in-country support, fewer group outings, less access to Internet, phone, and other comforts of home, and certainly the living arrangements will be spartan. Language schools can be relatively low in cost, but are generally more casual and offer less than more established programs. Many volunteer programs ask very little of participants in terms of funding, but ask you to work hard and live humbly. You can forgo a structured program and simply find an organization that needs help. Volunteering on your own without a program asks more of you. You need more initiative, organization, courage, and confidence. If you want to find a low-cost overseas volunteer opportunity, check out the Omprakash Foundation (www.omprakash.org). This nonprofit organization has an ever-expanding database of grassroots educational projects that you can contact on your own. Omprakash also offers grants to young people who volunteer with these programs, which can further reduce the cost of your trip. Foreign governments and charities fund some programs, which makes them very inexpensive for participants. For example, Global Volunteers offers the opportunity to teach in Africa for six months for only $1,500, and World Teach offers a year in China for only $500, plus airfare. The International People’s College in Denmark is subsidized by the Danish government, and offers a twenty-four-week session for only $6,000, including room and board.
FEDERAL FINANCIAL AID FOR GAP YEAR PROGRAMS The issue of using federal financial aid for a gap year program is complex. First, students have to select a gap year program with an academic component that offers them college credit. Second, the student has to be
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enrolled as a matriculated student at the college that is sponsoring the gap year program. There are only a few gap year programs that meet these two requirements, so the opportunity for financial aid is currently limited, although they are effective and have helped many low-income students to travel internationally. Federal financial aid, by definition, includes all Title IV programs, including the Stafford Loan, PLUS, Pell Grant, Perkins, and SEOG (Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant). Students qualify for this aid by submitting family financial information during the college admissions process and at the beginning of each school year. You should apply for financial aid during your senior year of high school if you hope to get support for your gap year. Financial aid for the gap year is possible only for programs that offer college credit—that is, a gap year student must be enrolled as a visiting student or a matriculated student at an accredited college and must be taking courses for credit to qualify for aid. Many programs have become affiliated with universities so that their college-aged students can participate while also earning college credits and remaining eligible for financial aid. For example, Semester at Sea offers credits through University of Virginia, and Castle Rock Institute is affiliated with Brevard College. By joining one of those programs, you are eligible for federal financial aid because you will be earning credits from those universities that can be transferred to your own college. For students doing a ‘‘junior year abroad’’ or a gap year after freshman year, the use of financial aid would be quite easy, and it would be available with hundreds of programs abroad. If a student were to attend Semester at Sea, she would enroll as a ‘‘visiting’’ student at University of Virginia through the Semester at Sea program. Her home college would agree to accept those credits and write a ‘‘consortium agreement,’’ which is essentially a transfer of the financial aid. This is widely accepted and has been done for many years.
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GAP YEAR PROFILE
Willy Oppenheim
While Willy Oppenheim was a senior at the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, he started looking for gap year volunteer opportunities in India. ‘‘It was hard to find a direct immersion experience in India,’’ he said. ‘‘There were a lot of overstructured programs, and that was an experience that I didn’t want.’’ Willy eventually linked up with the Lha Language School in Dharamasala and spent his gap year there with two friends. Willy taught English grammar and conversation to Tibetan refugees ages eighteen to forty. These refugees were too old for a traditional school in India, but desperately needed to learn English to function in their new country. After his gap year, Willy enrolled at Bowdoin College, where he had deferred admission. He wanted to continue to support and promote the Lha Language School, but realized that he had no platform to do so. Incredibly, Willy and his friends started the Omprakash Foundation from their dorm rooms during their freshman year of college. This successful nonprofit organization provides a solution to the problem of locating placements at small, international charities in need of volunteers. It is also a valuable resource for gap year students who are searching for volunteer opportunities abroad. The foundation awards several grants each year to young people who volunteer at the partner programs found on the Omprakash web site. Omprakash allows returning volunteers to campaign for their organizations. Donors can support any of the partner organizations by making a tax-deductible contribution to Omprakash. Today, Willy Oppenheim is a senior at Bowdoin College who plans to continue his work with the Omprakash Foundation while pursuing a career in teaching.
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The problem for the gap year student is that she has no ‘‘home’’ college yet, since she has been accepted but deferred enrollment for a year. Colleges cannot arrange a consortium agreement for a student who has not yet enrolled on their campus. A handful of gap year students have found situations where they can directly matriculate in an affiliated university and thus receive federal financial aid. They simply enroll in the host university as a matriculated degree candidate rather than a visiting student. For example, Carpe Diem International offers study and cultural programs throughout the world and is affiliated with Portland State University in Oregon. Carpe Diem participants can register with Portland State and earn credits from that institution while studying with a Carpe Diem program abroad. Students register as Portland State students who are spending the semester at a Carpe Diem study abroad program. By registering directly at Carpe Diem’s partner college, Portland State, gap year students are eligible for federal financial aid. When your study abroad program is over, you can transfer your credits to your college of choice and enroll there, as planned, as a freshman. ‘‘About 25 to 35 percent of our students receive federal financial aid,’’ notes Mike Quinlan of Leap Now. ‘‘Some students have had the entire program covered with grants. This has included airfare and other extra costs for some of them. Others are offered only loans. It depends on the need, and that is evaluated through the FAFSA.’’ Leap Now has structured its college partner relationship with Antioch University in Seattle. This partnership allows students to directly matriculate at Antioch, which makes them eligible for federal financial aid. Not all gap year programs that have a university affiliation offer the ability to matriculate directly. For example, Semester at Sea’s partner, University of Virginia, would not allow a student to matriculate directly unless he has gone through their rigorous admissions process. When choosing a gap year program for financial aid purposes, it is important to talk with the directors about whether past students have been successful in directly
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matriculating and getting financial aid. It is likely that many gap year programs will see the benefit of offering federal financial aid opportunities, and this option might be more widely available in the future. A potential problem with this plan is that students who have ‘‘deferred’’ admission at a selective college may not be permitted to enroll in another college. Part of the deferment agreement at some colleges requires students to refrain from enrolling in or applying to additional institutions. Gappers who deferred admission might find that their college will not allow them to enroll at Portland State or Antioch University. Mike Quinlan of Leap Now found that a few students each year had difficulties in accepting the financial aid offered to them. ‘‘It has been a problem in some cases,’’ he explained, ‘‘but one that we were often able to resolve. Some colleges have a rule that students who had deferred can’t enroll in any other college. But when the student talked to the college and they realized that the credits and financial aid made this whole trip possible, they allowed it. They came to see that it was just a one-year or semester thing and that the student would be coming to their school with new maturity and experiences.’’ Most educators are pleased to see international travel opportunities become available to low-income students. Their rule about enrolling in other colleges is probably intended to discourage students who try to use a gap year to ‘‘trade up’’ to a better college. If they understand the full story of why you plan to enroll in another college, they may allow it. With thousands of dollars of financial aid money at stake, it is certainly worth investigating. Ethan Knight, the executive director of Carpe Diem Education in Portland, Oregon, says: ‘‘In almost ten years of doing this work, I’ve seen all manner of students do our programs. One thing, however, has never quite sat well with me and that’s the lack of socioeconomic diversity that has historically been present. Being able to offer federal financial aid through our partnership with Portland State University brings our programs within reach for so many more students to benefit and grow. In fact, we have
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students who have been promised $9,000 in federal financial aid, bringing a program to East Africa not only in reach, but comfortably so.’’ Paul Wrubel, a college funding expert with more than twenty years of experience and cofounder of the Tuition Coach, a financial aid consulting service, confirms the usefulness of this strategy, saying: ‘‘The student must be registered in a formal coherent degree program in order to get financial aid. They can enter the program for the purposes of going on a gap year and then transfer the credit to any other college.’’
VOLUNTEER GAP YEAR PROGRAMS AND TAX DEDUCTIONS If gap year costs were tax deductible, it would make the prospect of going on excursions that offered a tax break more appealing to everyone. Charitable contributions to nonprofit organizations are deductible, of course, but many people don’t know that the costs incurred while volunteering for a nonprofit organization are usually tax-deductible as well. Students who go on a volunteer-based gap year will find that many of their expenses are tax-deductible. This tax break can make a meaningful difference in the price of your gap year. For example, if you plan to attend a volunteer program that costs $9,000 and requires a $1,000 airline ticket, that $10,000 total can be deducted from your family’s taxable income. If your family is in the 35 percent tax bracket, this deduction would save them $3,500, making the after-tax cost of the program $6,500. However, tax law is complicated, and there are stipulations to consider. First is the requirement that the gap year program be registered as a nonprofit organization that is exempt from federal taxes under provision 501(c)(3) of the IRS tax code. If your gap year program is a foreign nonprofit organization, the costs are not eligible for a tax deduction. Second, your trip must be for volunteer purposes and not for pleasure. The 1986 Tax Act denies a deduction for travel expenses and fees if the volunteer enjoys a significant amount of personal recreation
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GAP YEAR TIPS Raise the Money Before You Leave If you choose to work at home, you will earn a higher rate and be able to save for an exciting trip abroad. Waiting tables in Paris or working at a shop in London certainly sounds like a glamorous and smart way to fund your time abroad. There was a time when young people could go off to Europe with no specific plans and find enough work to cover the rent. However, with today’s restrictions on foreign employees, it can be difficult to get a paying job abroad, especially for an eighteen- or nineteen-year-old. One exception is the au pair position, which usually includes airfare, all expenses, and a small stipend. However, spending thirty to forty hours a week caring for small children and living in a suburban town for a year is not the experience that the typical gapper is looking for.
and leisure. A volunteer who goes to a poor rural village in Africa and volunteers for four hours a day might be eligible for a deduction, because that is his primary reason for going to Africa and the possibility of personal recreation outside of volunteer work is limited. However, a volunteer who goes to Paris or London and spends four hours a day volunteering and the other half of the day exploring the city would be eligible for only a partial deduction, or perhaps no deduction at all, because of the implied personal enjoyment time in the trip. If you want to take a tax deduction, it is essential that you plan a trip that is for the purpose of volunteering only. In addition to the fee paid to the sponsor of the volunteer program, airfare and transportation costs related to the volunteer project are usually tax-deductible. A retired Big Four accounting firm partner—a CPA and lawyer with over thirty-five years of tax consulting experience—offered
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this advice about the tax-deductibility of volunteer travel expenses: ‘‘It may all be tax-deductible, including the airfare, as long as there is no side travel and the plane ticket was purchased for the sole purpose of conducting the volunteer work.’’ He further explains that if a person were to fly to Botswana to do four weeks of qualifying volunteer work, and then take a side trip to a game reserve for a safari, it would put the tax-deductibility of the plane fare at risk. Since the trip is now for both volunteer and pleasure purposes, it would either be partially tax-deductible in proportion with the percentage of time spent volunteering or not deductible at all. A few nonprofit organizations have structured their programs so that participants pay a ‘‘donation’’ rather than a program fee. But in the eyes of the IRS, those programs are effectively identical. The funds spent on the volunteer trip can be called a ‘‘fee’’ or a ‘‘donation,’’ but in either case the taxpayer is still required to consider the purpose of the trip and deduct it only if it is primarily charitable. It is important to note that the IRS has made no specific ruling on ‘‘volunteer vacations’’ or volunteer programs abroad. This is a gray area, so it is important to talk to your tax advisor about your specific program and your family’s tax returns. It is important to ask yourself, ‘‘Is the intention of the trip truly charitable or is the real intention to get a tax-deductible vacation?’’ If you can truthfully affirm that you are going on a trip with the sole purpose of volunteering, then it is probably tax-deductible. As most tax filers know, the only way to determine whether your deductions are acceptable or not is if you are audited. Consulting a tax professional about your tax return is the best assurance that you are making an accurate deduction, but you can also read more about it on the IRS web site. IRS Publication 526—Charitable Contributions—has additional information on this topic and can be found at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p526.pdf. A father from a New Jersey suburb found the tax deduction helpful in making his daughter’s Earthwatch expedition—Carnivores of Madagascar—a possibility. He explained: ‘‘We did take a tax deduction
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for our daughter’s volunteer trip to Madagascar. She worked a full week and camped out, obviously for no pay. She didn’t take a side trip or do anything outside of the structured program. Her fee for the program was $2,550, and airfare was $1,800. At our tax rate, it saved us $1,522, making the real cost of the trip $2,828. Our accountant gave us the OK, and we had no problem taking the deduction for the airfare and the fee.’’
FUNDRAISING FOR THE GAP YEAR If you are going on a gap year where you will be actively helping others in need, you may find that friends, family, and even strangers might support your trip. Some gap year groups even offer a fundraising guide with ideas and helpful tips. As the gap year has become more popular in the United States, students have also begun to tap into the generosity of their friends and the general public in helping them to go abroad. Naturally, people will be most inclined to donate to your cause if it is a true charitable mission, and they will be less inclined to support a fun adventure tour. The most successful method of raising funds is a personal letter to friends, family, and local merchants. Your letter should include specific details on the program so people can research it online if they care to. You should speak from the heart about how you hope to assist the community in need and about how you hope it will change you as a person. One good idea is to divide the cost of your program into days, so that a donor can ‘‘sponsor a day.’’ You can assign that donor to a specific day of your trip, and when that day comes, you will send her a postcard describing what you did that day. Other gap year fundraising ideas include holding a car wash, hosting a benefit concert, or sponsoring a 5K race in your hometown. You can also volunteer your services, such as babysitting, cleaning up after a party, or lawn care, in exchange for a donation. Your sponsors will feel good about helping a young person improve society. And if your program is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and they write their checks directly to the organization, their contribution is tax-deductible as allowed by law.
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WORKING TO FUND THE GAP YEAR Keep in mind that your gap year adventure does not have to be a full twelve months long! You can stay home and work for several months to earn the money pay for your trip. Students have earned thousands of dollars in only a few months by working at stores or restaurants and taking on babysitting or lawn care jobs. If you work part-time, you can also do an unpaid internship or volunteer at a local organization. The work phase of your gap year can be educational, interesting, and profitable.
GAP YEAR SCHOLARSHIPS Many gap year programs offer small scholarships to participants. The tuition and financial aid section of their web sites have information about applying for this assistance. Volunteer-based programs generally don’t offer scholarships, as they try to keep their costs low for everyone and use any extra funding to support their mission. However, adventure programs, study abroad, and the more expensive travel options generally offer a small break in tuition.
EDUCATIONAL LOANS No one wants to incur debt, but if you find that you need a few thousand dollars more to make your gap year program work, there are lenders who will work with you. For the best rates, consider institutions that you already have accounts with or local banks.
FINANCIAL AID GAP YEAR OVERLAP FOR SIBLINGS Your expected family contribution as determined by the FAFSA (Free Application for Student Aid) is likely to be the same, no matter how many children are in school. If going on a gap year means that two siblings will be enrolled in college for an additional year at the same time, that fact could save you money. Financing Your Gap Year
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According to Paul Wrubel of the Tuition Coach, ‘‘If you make $80,000 a year, it will be determined that you can pay about $15,000 for college tuition expenses. Whether you have one or two children in college, the amount is going to be the same. If your older child does a gap year and it puts them in college together for an additional year, you would save $15,000.’’ Considering that many fantastic gap year programs cost considerably less than $15,000, a student in this situation would end up saving his parents money by going on a gap year.
WHY DO YOU HAVE TO PAY A FEE TO VOLUNTEER? All organizations need revenue to support their goals, and some volunteer programs use part of your fee to fund the mission. In addition, your fee brings you the comfort and safety of extras, such as pretrip mailings, an orientation, someone to escort you from the airport, additional security in high-risk areas, screened and approved accommodations, a volunteer coordinator on-site, assistance dealing with local officials, and someone to help you if you become ill. The fee is a small price to pay for these safeguards while volunteering abroad.
GAP YEAR PROFILE
Julie Ahn
Julie Ahn knew that the only way she could go on a gap year was by paying for most of it herself. Although her parents were supportive of the idea of a gap year for their daughter, they were unwilling to dip into her college fund to cover any part of it. Julie wanted to experience a new culture while doing something important to help others. After extensive online research, she found two programs of interest: Aide Abroad’s program in South Africa, with five weeks of volunteer work and one week of travel; and the
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Council on International Educational Exchange’s (CIEE) semester program in Costa Rica, which included a homestay, language study, community service, and fun excursions. The Costa Rica trip was $11,875, and Aide Abroad’s fee was only $2,300. Total airfare to the two destinations would be about $2,500. Julie needed to raise at least $17,000 in order to go on both the trips. Julie planned a ‘‘working block’’ of time that kept her busy from June through October. Over those five months, she worked full-time at a store in the mall, earning $12 an hour. She also babysat on weekend evenings, making $15 an hour. She earned a total of $11,500 during this time. Julie also sent a letter to family and friends asking for donations for her participation in the Aide Abroad program. She raised $1,800 from twenty donors. Julie partnered with her younger sister’s soccer team and hosted a car wash and bake sale. The team agreed to split the benefit proceeds with her, and she netted another $200 for her gap year. Julie found herself $3,500 short of reaching her goal. But her parents considered the tax benefits of her volunteering and talked to a financial advisor. He determined that the Ahns could take a tax deduction for the volunteer portion of Julie’s Aide Abroad fees, and in their tax bracket it would save them $1,800. The Ahns applied this savings to Julie’s gap year, bringing her only $1,700 away from her goal. Although she came up $1,700 short, Julie’s parents agreed to advance her the money, and she promised to pay them back the following summer when she was home and working again. Julie explains: ‘‘It sounds like a clich´e to say this, but the trips meant more to me knowing that my parents didn’t pay for them. I was proud that I was able to earn and raise most of the money myself.’’
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INSURANCE FOR THE GAP YEAR Health insurance coverage for dependent children usually expires when they turn eighteen, unless they are enrolled as full-time students. Parents should check the terms of their policy, because this is an important consideration in planning the gap year. The most common solution to the problem of maintaining valid health insurance is to choose a gap year program in which your child is still considered a student. Examples of such programs include those that offer college credit or a postgraduate year at a high school. Travel insurance is a good idea for all gappers, but it is especially important for those who don’t have any health insurance coverage. The I Next Card is a reputable travel insurance plan sponsored by the Council on International Educational Exchange (www.inext.com). They offer benefits for hospital care due to accidents or sickness and also twenty-four-hour medical, travel, or legal assistance. The I Next card also offers help with lost baggage and travel document replacement services. The I Next card is crucial for those who are traveling abroad without the structure and support of a formal program. If you are worried about the costs and complexities of health insurance coverage after high school, consider going on an AmeriCorps program. Their longer programs—such as VISTA, City Year, and National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC)—include a free health insurance plan.
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CHAPTER
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The Year of National Service: A Free Gap Year Option
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ervice is a spark to rekindle the spirit of democracy in an age of uncertainty. When it is all said and done, it comes down to three simple questions: What is right? What is wrong? And what are we going to do about it? —President Bill Clinton, swearing in the first class of AmeriCorps members The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. —Gandhi
THE MILLENNIAL GENERATION: BORN TO SERVE High school students today are part of the largest generation in U.S. history, with over 90 million members born between 1982 and 2003. This millennial generation is also the most ethnically diverse generation, and they are notably civic-minded and committed to community service. According to Michael Hais and Morley Winograd (2008), authors of Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics, Millennials are primed and eager for structured national service
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opportunities: ‘‘Active involvement is ingrained in Millennials. It is what they do, it is who they are.’’ Hais and Winograd’s recent research found that 80 percent of Millennial high school students participated in a community service activity in 2004. This participation rate is enormous, especially when compared with the rate in 1984, when only 27 percent of Gen X students were involved in community service work. Hais and Winograd further explain: Reflecting this commitment to public service by Millennials, Barack Obama’s biggest applause line when he spoke to youthful audiences during the 2008 presidential campaign concerned his proposal of a policy that would both encourage and reward such service. He suggested giving young people help with college tuition in return for a period of service to the nation and their community. In effect, this proposal would formalize and give official government sanction to the Gap Year concept. On one level Obama’s proposal appealed to the self-interest of many in a generation saddled with large college loan debt. But it also conformed to the service-oriented values of the Millennial Generation.
PRESIDENT OBAMA´S CALL TO SERVICE President Barack Obama, who began his political career by serving poor communities in Chicago, has issued a call to service. It was enthusiastically received by young Americans, who went to the polls in record numbers and have recently reported more interest in civic involvement and service to the country. In his November victory speech, Obama stated: ‘‘Above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it’s been done in America for 221 years—block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand. . . . It cannot happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.’’
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The Millennials are likely to respond favorably to the new opportunities for national service. They are drawn to structured programs with clear goals, where they work in teams with others their age. They believe in the societal benefits of community service. A Harvard University Institute of Politics survey found that 85 percent of Millennials believe that community service can be effective in solving problems facing the country. According to Sandy Scott, director of media relations with the Corporation for National and Community Service: ‘‘Millennials are not waiting for solutions—they are starting their own nonprofits and using cutting-edge technology to organize and make a difference’’ (Harvard University Institute of Politics, 2006). The ‘‘movement’’ in national community service may take off in a way that will excite and engage young people. If national service offers a positive currency, both socially and in the job and graduate school market, AmeriCorps could become a national rite of passage. Teach for America is an example of a national service year program that already has a strong currency among Millennials (www.teachforamerica.org). Almost 25,000 college seniors applied for only 3,700 spots at the program, which aims to ‘‘end educational inequity’’ and places top college graduates at low-performing public schools. Students at the nation’s most competitive colleges passed over opportunities at high-paying firms to apply to this urban and rural education program. At Yale, 11 percent of the senior class applied, as did 10 percent and 9 percent of the senior classes at Georgetown and Harvard, respectively. Overall, young people are drawn to national service for the transforming effect it can have on the country, but also for the positive effect it will have on their own financial condition and career prospects. Hais and Winograd add: The Obama proposal to formally encourage and reward Gap Year service will provide both short and long-term benefits to America. Most immediately, it will help staff community service organizations in a consistent manner, better permitting them to The Year of National Service: A Free Gap Year Option
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provide reliable service to their communities and the nation. In the longer run, this service will likely lead many of the civically oriented Millennials to choose community service as their life’s work, giving service organizations a continuing source of highly educated, experienced and dedicated employees. And, even for many of those who eventually choose another direction, Gap Year community service and the education received as a result will provide valuable experience and training that will benefit both them as individuals and America as a whole.
AMERICORPS: CHANGING LIVES, CHANGING AMERICA If you think that a national service year might be right for you, start by researching opportunities at AmeriCorps (www.americorps.org). Large, nationally known groups such as Boys & Girls Club, Habitat for Humanity, and the American Red Cross are part of AmeriCorps, but so are two thousand smaller, community-based nonprofit organizations. What they have in common is a commitment to their mission, as well as providing young adult volunteers with training, benefits, and an opportunity to gain experience in the field. A recent longitudinal study of AmeriCorps members conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service found that participants were overwhelmingly pleased with their experience and found it helpful to their personal development. The study further noted these trends:
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Ninety percent of AmeriCorps graduates report that they gained useful skills from their experience.
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Eighty percent of AmeriCorps members reported that their year of service exposed them to new career options.
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Seventy-five percent of AmeriCorps members reported that their year of service was an advantage to them in the job market.
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Ninety-four percent of AmeriCorps members would re-enroll if given the opportunity.
Applications to AmeriCorps and enrollment in their programs have increased 69 percent over the last four years. Programs have different degrees of selectivity, but roughly one out of three applicants is accepted as an AmeriCorps member. The ten-month program, which provides housing and other benefits, is more selective and structured. But if you are looking for a summer program or a way to get involved in local community organization, visit the AmeriCorps web site for literally thousands of options, with varying time requirements. Recent legislation has been introduced that will expand volunteer opportunities for people of all ages, while bringing new initiatives and funding to nonprofits. The Serve America Act, sponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy and Senator Orrin Hatch and backed by a bipartisan group, was introduced in September 2008. This landmark national service legislation will bring more funding and opportunity to nonprofit organizations and their volunteers. The bill includes a plan to expand AmeriCorps and to offer fellowships for AmeriCorps alumni to become social entrepreneurs. Growing and Expanding AmeriCorps
The Obama administration plans to expand AmeriCorps from 75,000 slots today to 250,000, and they will focus this expansion on the ‘‘greatest issues facing the country’’ (www.barackobama.com). The Obama administration plans to establish the following subdivisions of AmeriCorps: A Classroom Corps to help underserved schools A Health Corps to improve public health outreach A Clean Energy Corps to conduct weatherization and renewable energy projects
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A Veterans Corps to assist veterans at hospitals, nursing homes, and homeless shelters A Homeland Security Corps to help communities plan, prepare for, and respond to emergencies History of AmeriCorps
When President John F. Kennedy founded the widely acclaimed Peace Corps in 1961, he stated: ‘‘The wisdom of this idea is that someday we’ll bring it home to America.’’ Pieces of the Peace Corps vision came home in small bits over the years, and in 1993 AmeriCorps was founded as an umbrella organization for these initiatives. VISTA, or Volunteers in Service to America, is the only program founded specifically to fight poverty. VISTA was founded by President Lyndon Johnson in 1963, and the program immediately became influential and an important part of the nation’s response to the problem of poverty. VISTA members started agricultural cooperatives and helped to develop the first Head Start and Job Corps programs. Over 170,000 people have served as VISTA volunteers since its founding and have established many of the best-known antipoverty programs, such as Upward Bound and the credit union system. Today, seven thousand people serve in VISTA, continuing to address the root causes of poverty. President Bill Clinton sought to expand opportunities for national service and to organize the successful government programs into two organizations. He signed the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993, which created AmeriCorps and the Corporation for National and Community Service, making VISTA and the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) part of AmeriCorps. AmeriCorps National and State is the third and largest section of AmeriCorps. Over two thousand nonprofit organizations across the country are affiliated with AmeriCorps, including name-brand programs such as the American Red Cross, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and Habitat for Humanity. Each of these agencies uses its AmeriCorps funding to recruit, place, and supervise AmeriCorps members.
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AmeriCorps today is seventy-five thousand people strong, with young adults serving in VISTA, NCCC, and thousands of local organizations throughout the country. Benefits of Serving in AmeriCorps
AmeriCorps members report a great sense of pride in helping others and in being involved in service to their country. They gain leadership and management skills, learn job skills, make new friends, and grow to view the world in a new way. They often become mini-experts in the area they are working in, which can lead to promising internships and future jobs. As Alan Khazei, founder and CEO of Be the Change, Inc., and cofounder of City Year, said, ‘‘Look at where our current President started, in community organizing. Spend a year in service; you’ll become a leader.’’ AmeriCorps offers meaningful tangible benefits as well. Many AmeriCorps programs provide room and board, free health insurance, and a small stipend for expenses. At the end of the ten-month program, participants receive an education award of $4,725, which can be used for college tuition. Currently, seventy-five colleges will match that award, including Princeton University, Northeastern University, and University of Delaware. How City Year Works
A little boy in a City Year school says it best: ‘‘When I see a red jacket, I just say hi, and then they say hi back and wave and smile, and it just makes me smile right back.’’ His principal at an inner-city school in Chicago lights up when describing the benefits of City Year to her school: ‘‘When we see the reading coaches coming, our hearts jump for joy. What happens is that you can tell children how you want them to grow up and what you want them to be like, but you have to model it. And City Year is the perfect model.’’ When you put on that official red City Year coat and go into the schools, you’re not just a tutor or weekly volunteer; you are a part of the community. You’ll spend your days in a classroom assisting teachers, The Year of National Service: A Free Gap Year Option
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in a community center organizing after-school programs, or in the field painting murals and revitalizing schools. Through your work as a corps member, you have the chance be part of the transformation of a community, while also making a lasting and personal impact on the children you work with. City Year is one of the country’s preeminent service organizations, uniting young people from all backgrounds for a year of full-time service, giving them the skills and opportunities to change the world. Each year, 1,400 corps members start with a Basic Training Academy. They then break up into teams of six to twelve people and go to one of seventeen cities across the United States. They work as tutors and mentors, they lead after-school programs, they direct youth leadership programs, and they do physical work revitalizing the neighborhood. They are opening themselves up to hard work of the most meaningful kind.
GAP YEAR PROFILE
Tiana Wong
Tiana Wong received an acceptance from Harvard University, with the stipulation that she pursue a gap year and enroll in college the year after. She joined City Year because it offered the chance to do a year of service without paying the large fee that many international programs required. Tiana was a member of the City Year Boston ’05 Corps and says: ‘‘I cannot say enough about how much City Year has helped me personally. It is arguably more valuable than the knowledge you get from studying textbooks. I gained a new outlook that will stick with me for the rest of my life.’’ Although I was never the kind of person who knows what they want to be or do in life early on, I had tentatively planned on studying to become a vet in college because I like animals. After City Year, my ‘‘justice nerve’’ had been turned on, and there was no going back to my prior state of
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mind. I came to value and understand community service on a much deeper level and knew that I wanted to spend my life serving others. After finishing my gap year at City Year, I got involved with public service organizations on campus during my freshman year, like China Care and Habitat for Humanity, the latter of which I’m still active in. Through the first couple years of college, I felt like I didn’t know how I could serve based on what I am most passionate about. I had majored in sociology sophomore year, with the intention of learning more about the issues society faces and how they are dealt with. However, I returned to my earlier interest in biology junior year because I missed it. Now a senior, I am planning to apply to medical school in a couple of years. Despite not having been a pre-med student, I think I am ready to commit myself to this particular profession of lifelong service. City Year implanted my dedication to service. Since then, I’ve learned that it is possible to do service through any job; there is no one best way to help others, just different ways.
NATIONAL CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS If you join a conservation corps program, there is no doubt that you will provide much-needed assistance to people and organizations of all kinds. But studies show that participation in outdoor volunteer programs offers many benefits to the participants themselves. A national study by Yale University found that hands-on outdoor experiences ‘‘exert a powerful physical, emotional, intellectual, and moral-spiritual influence on young people,’’ resulting in improved leadership skills, enhanced problem-solving abilities, greater confidence and self-esteem, and other development benefits. The Year of National Service: A Free Gap Year Option
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The National Civilian Community Corps, known as the N Triple C (NCCC), is unlike any other AmeriCorps program because it offers travel, adventure, and ‘‘extreme service.’’ According to Sandy Scott of AmeriCorps, the NCCC is an ideal gap year opportunity: ‘‘They are on the front lines of disaster response. NCCC participants make a powerful difference for people with dire need. They stay long after the cameras and media have left after a disaster. Students are managing a large number of volunteers; they are problem-solving and getting experience in management.’’ NCCC is a team-based residential program with campuses in Denver, Colorado; Sacramento, California; Perry Point, Maryland; and Vinton, Iowa. Corps members begin their program at one of these four campuses, where they learn first aid, public safety, disaster relief, firefighting, and other skills before embarking on their first project. When a need arises, NCCC crews of ten to twelve people travel to other parts of the country to offer assistance. Organizations asking for the help of NCCC members include the American Red Cross, Habitat for Humanity, and local nonprofit entities such as camps, schools, and national and state parks. Alexandra Curley deferred her admission to College of Wooster in order to join NCCC. The Arlington, Virginia, native was assigned to the California campus and spent her year traveling throughout the West Coast. She started with a one-month orientation and education session at the California campus and then headed to Washington state with her team of twelve people. Like most NCCC teams, her team was about 65 percent female and had a mix of ages ranging from eighteen to twenty-four. Alexandra’s team journey began in Washington state and led her throughout the West Coast for nine months. Their first assignment was to maintain and improve summer camps that benefited low-income children. They lived in faculty housing on the campsite and were able to enjoy the facilities and beautiful weather while they worked to improve the camp. The team then traveled to Blyth, California, on the Arizona border, where they built houses for low-income families. Alexandra said that the team members especially enjoyed working alongside the families who planned to move into the houses.
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The next stop was Pasadena, California, where the team went to the homes of elderly and disabled people who needed simple home repair. On the weekends the NCCC team managed local volunteers who were assisting them. They next moved on to Will Rogers State Park in Los Angeles, where they archived historic maps and assisted with erosion control. The final stop was Umpqua National Forest in Oregon, where they worked rebuilding trails and completed other environmental and preservation projects. Alexandra’s corps year occurred before the Hurricane Katrina disaster and is an example of a typical program outside of the area of disaster relief. If she had served at the time of the Katrina, her team would likely have been mobilized to New Orleans. Alexandra notes: One good thing about the NCCC is that you don’t commit to one project for a whole year. You might be building homes for a few weeks, but then you might completely change gears to tutor in the classroom while running an after-school sports program. One friend of mine worked on a project helping low-income people prepare their tax returns. She thought she would hate it and was glad that it was only a three-week project. But it turned out that she loved looking over people’s returns and helping them find more deductions. She ended up studying accounting and continuing to help people with their taxes.
After the Hurricane Katrina disaster, 60 percent of NCCC teams were mobilized to New Orleans, and corps members spent their time providing relief and assistance. Corps members who provided disaster relief gained experience working with large numbers of volunteers in a sensitive environment. They improved their problem-solving skills and gained experience in management and leadership, all while working with compassion for people who had lost everything. Margaret Motto’s favorite part of her NCCC year was working with teens as a crew leader at the Summer of Service program in Denver. Margaret says: ‘‘My AmeriCorps experience was the best experience of my life so far. It was an adventure. I was able to travel, make new friends from The Year of National Service: A Free Gap Year Option
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all over the country, and I learned a lot about myself. I found several new interests and things I am good at, and I also learned some things I can work on. I learned so much in ten months. It was a blast!’’ NCCC offers 1,200 positions each year, and they accept one out of three applicants. All participants are eighteen to twenty-four years old, and about one-third of them are on a gap year. There are additional organizations outside of AmeriCorps that offer conservation corps programs. These programs are often less focused on disaster relief and more involved with the environment and the national parks. The Student Conservation Association offers an SCA Fire Education Corps, SCA Desert Restoration Corps, and numerous programs that provide environmental education in rural schools and conservation service projects in state parks. The Corps Network, with its motto of ‘‘strengthening America through service and conservation,’’ is an organization that links all the state conservation corps programs (www.corpsnetwork.org).
MAKING A CASE FOR A GAP YEAR IN NATIONAL SERVICE We have all admired people who go to the poorest regions of the world to bring hope to impoverished people. But the sad truth is that there are substantial needs in our own communities. It might be less glamorous to do service work domestically, but it is equally important. ‘‘A year of national service is the ideal thing to do for a gap year,’’ says Alan Khazei, cofounder of City Year. You can learn new skills, work with a diverse group of people, and gain a sense of pride and accomplishment. But the most important thing about the experience is that you develop a new perspective and sensitivity to others in the world, something that will stay with you for life. Khazei further explains: ‘‘When you come face-to-face with injustice, something called your justice nerve gets turned on, and it rarely gets turned off again. Everyone has a justice nerve; it’s just a matter of finding what
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is going to turn it on. When a person does a national service year, that justice nerve gets turned on and we see profound changes. They are not as influenced by peer pressure; they are less likely to tolerate racist or sexist jokes and conversations. They have more confidence in themselves, and they go on to be successful in college.’’ Young people in national service often repeat the mantra, ‘‘Service is the rent we pay for living on this earth.’’ Their message to you is that yes, you can make a difference. The world needs you—join us!
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CHAPTER
6
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he goal of this book is to inform and inspire students and help them plan a gap year that will successfully bring them to the next step in their educational future—college. The gap year is a new direction on the educational journey, one that is being taken by increasingly large numbers of this generation of young adults. For many of you, it is your first major life decision. Do you enroll directly in college, or do you go on a gap year? Both decisions will get you a college degree, but the person wearing that cap and gown five years after high school will be a very different person from the one who enrolled in college directly after high school.
At first glance, who wouldn’t want to do a gap year? The idea of exotic travel, helping people in need, and finally acting as a functioning member of the ‘‘real world’’ sounds more tempting than starting yet another semester of classes. The recent news articles on the gap year make
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it seem like a chance of a lifetime. More and more colleges are actually encouraging their accepted students to defer and go off on a gap year. So why not? Like most decisions in life, the choice of whether to go on a gap year should not be taken lightly. Do your research and some thoughtful self-analysis about whether the gap year is right for you. You know the benefits of the gap year, and now you have heard students rave about the experience. But what if you are already remarkably self-sufficient, and you have been excited about college since fourth grade? What if you thrive on the structure of the academic environment, and the first day of school is secretly your favorite day of the year? Are you already older or more mature than your classmates? Do you have financial limitations? Have you been accepted to a college you would be happy to attend? These are questions to ask yourself and to talk with your parents about before considering an alternative path to college.
CONSIDER WHERE YOU ARE ON YOUR PERSONAL EDUCATIONAL PATH Many American high school students have been working toward that college acceptance letter since elementary school. Decisions on activities, classes, and summer activities are all made with a careful consideration of how the college admissions offices will look at these choices. Sometimes the thought of a college acceptance is the carrot on a stick that helps keep a student plugging away at BC Calculus even when she would rather be in art history class. But what happens once that acceptance letter arrives? Is the offer of admission the be-all and end-all? Does that letter mean that college success and happiness are yours for the taking? Not necessarily. Success and happiness are often elusive in college. It is a whole new world with more rigorous academic requirements, new social situations, and concern about majors and careers. Often all these are undertaken with a financial weight hanging over the student’s head.
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What makes a person successful in college is usually his adaptability, determination, passion for learning, drive for success, and his ability to function independently. Many gappers find that their experience lets them return to college ready to tackle all the challenges that await them.
Are You Burned Out, Frazzled, or Not Enthusiastic About College Academics?
It’s not easy being a high school student today. Parents, psychologists, school counselors, and even college admissions officers are finally realizing that today’s teens are coming to college exhausted and uninspired. They understand what you have been through. You have lived through a whirlwind of challenging classes, meaningful activities, sports, volunteer work, and test prep. You might be a high-achieving student who attended summer programs and enrichment classes, only to find that there is always someone smarter or someone working harder than you, a realization that just adds to your pressure. If you struggled with ADD or learning disabilities, you had to devote many disciplined hours to your high school coursework and might be eager to decompress and explore other areas of life. Whatever your background, you have finally made it to senior year. Are you ready to dive into college academics with the gusto that you know is required to do it well? Or would a year away from it rejuvenate you and help you find your passion for learning again?
Would You Benefit from an Experience That Allows You to Be Truly Independent?
Your generation has enjoyed what experts call the most involved parents in history! They know your friends as well as you do, they attend all your sporting events, they get e-mail updates from your teachers, and they might even have drawn up your college application list for you. Do you call your mom during the school day to report on a math test result or to be sure she knows where you need to be driven that afternoon? Your parents are the allies who have helped you navigate the increasingly The Gap Year Decision: Is It Right for You?
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competitive and stressful high school terrain. But what happens next? Do you have the responsibility and self-motivation necessary for college? For many gap year students, their newfound sense of independence is the biggest gain from the experience. Traveling by yourself, finding your own way, and making all your decisions without any input from anyone will help you build an extraordinary amount of self-confidence. Josh, a student at Hobart College, said: ‘‘I went all over Asia for a year and took care of myself. Now I know that I can solve a problem without getting my mom involved. Sometimes I have to tell her, ‘Mom, listen, I can do this on my own!’ because it really is time for me to take care of things myself.’’ Are You Adventurous? Are You Able to Choose an Unusual Path?
Whether you go to a third-world country or you stay close to home, a gap year experience requires courage. Most of your peers will be going to college directly, so you need to have enough spunk to go in a different direction from the norm. There will be probing questions from everyone in your life about whether the gap year is a good choice for you. Consider whether you have the mettle to take a unique path on your educational journey. Moving beyond the decision to embark on a gap year, you will also need courage for the experience itself. This is especially important if you decide to go to a developing country or live among people with a vastly different culture from the one you are used to. It is often these experiences that provide the most profound change, so don’t eliminate them because of nervousness. But certainly do evaluate whether they are for you. Adventurous types are not the only ones who benefit from a gap year. If you love the comforts of home and are slow to adapt to change, a gap year might help you expand your comfort zone. It isn’t necessary to go abroad to find a good gap year program. There are wonderful domestic programs that can broaden your perspective and worldview.
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Do You Have a Sense of Purpose in Your Life?
Having a sense of purpose is a key ingredient to success and happiness in life. However, the fierce competition for acceptance to college today can eventually make some students feel they are just going through the motions expected of successful young adults. William Damon, director of Stanford’s Center on Adolescence and the author of The Path to Purpose: Helping Our Children Find Their Calling in Life, writes about a group of students who had accomplished so much in high school that they found little in college to engage them. Damon (2008) writes in The Path to Purpose: ‘‘These brilliant students would not be losing their motivation in college if they brought with them a better understanding of what they wanted to accomplish and why. If, during the early years of strenuous effort and high achievement, they had found purposes that went deeper than grades and awards, they would have hit the ground running when they entered college. They would then have been eager to gain more knowledge and skills in order to help them better accomplish their chosen purposes.’’ Many of the gap year students profiled in this book found purpose in their lives after going on a gap year. Talia Billig changed her intended course of study from engineering to vocal studies, and Willy Oppenheim started a foundation and found a career interest in the education field. Charles Monahan solidified an interest in China, and Tiana Wong decided to pursue a career in medicine. Of course, finding purpose in life is not as easy as simply signing up for a gap year program. According to Damon: ‘‘It is not a magic bullet for giving students a sense of purpose. A gap year undertaken without serious thought, where a student plunges into the unknown to see what happens, can contribute to aimlessness. The gap year can be useful if it is done in the right way. It can work if there is a sense of direction, a learning plan, and time to reflect about the experience.’’
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Will Your Parents Support Your Decision to Defer College for a Year?
Parents may have veto power over the gap year plan, and many will exercise it forcefully. They aren’t typically drawn to the gap year idea, and some believe it is just a boondoggle. Parents have spent the last eighteen years saving and sacrificing for their child’s college education. They have evaluated every cultural and extracurricular opportunity with a view toward college. They may even feel that their success as parents is measured by their child’s acceptance (or lack of acceptance) to a good college. Going off to college is not only a rite of passage for a teenager; it is also a turning point in the life of a parent. Putting off college is unfathomable to some parents. They may worry that their child will enjoy the year so much that he will never enroll in college. But in reality it is rare for a gap year student to forgo college. When asked, gap year program directors were unable to think of even one student who did not go on to college. Marilyn McGrath, director of admission at Harvard, said: ‘‘In my experience of twenty years working with students considering and taking gap years, I cannot recall a single student who decided not to go on to college. But parents do worry about that.’’ It is important to talk candidly with your parents about your interest in the gap year and to educate them on what it really is and what it can do to help you find success in college and in life. The gap year is a time of independence, but you will certainly need the support of your parents to make it happen. Jeanne Martinelli was a reluctant parent who ended up seeing all three of her children go on a gap year. Jeanne reflected: ‘‘My first reaction as a parent was, What? You don’t want to go to college? My daughter went on to tell me about her plan, and she showed me articles about the gap year and how positive it can be for some students. She was accepted to college and they allowed her to defer. Who was I to stand in her way? It turned out to be such a great experience that my son did a gap year the next year, and my youngest daughter is planning hers now.’’
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RESEARCHING AND EVALUATING GAP YEAR PROGRAMS The gap year might be the most positive turning point in your life. But in order to get there, you have to do some self-discovery and reflection to see whether it is the right choice for you. When you get to college you will probably take a philosophy course and read Socrates’s famous quote: ‘‘an unexamined life is unworth living.’’ How many college students wish they had examined their own lives prior to going to college? A gap year might put you on the path to self-awareness and help you make a more informed transition from teenager to adult. Navigating the vast gap year program universe is overwhelming. There are hundreds and hundreds of programs, tour operators, consultants, message boards, and opinions on the Internet. Students who have some idea of what they would like to do often search the Internet and come out more confused than ever. Instead of surfing for programs, start by doing a self-inventory, using the worksheet in this section.
RESEARCH METHODS: HOW TO FIND AND EVALUATE PROGRAMS The world of gap year programs is fragmented and constantly changing, so careful research is especially important. The directory in this book is a good first screening method. Read the descriptions and then take your search to the Internet and read the programs’ extensive web pages. Final steps include calling the programs on your short list to get your questions answered. Finally, ask for references from students who have attended their programs. Heather Croke explains: ‘‘I found a great organization online, but it was based in the U.K. This made me a little uncomfortable, since I wanted the chance to meet someone before handing over my money and committing to the trip. My main concern was that I would show up in a foreign country and find out that the program didn’t exist.’’ Heather
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ended up going on a U.K.-based program called Gap Sports (now called Gap Xperience) and spent six months in South Africa. She spoke to the program directors by phone several times, contacted an acquaintance in South Africa to check on the program’s reputation there, and felt confident as she headed to South Africa. It turned out to be a successful trip. Heather says: ‘‘It was the best six months of my life. It changed my perspective on so many things.’’
Questions to Ask Yourself Before Researching Gap Year Programs Consider Your Past Experiences Have you traveled abroad before? Have you studied a language? Have you lived away from home? Have you had any positive volunteer experiences? Have you ‘‘roughed it’’ or lived outdoors? Do you have financial constraints? The answers to these questions can help you set up a framework for evaluating your gap year options. Of course, there is a first time for everything. But if you have had positive or negative
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experiences in any of those areas, these will help you shape your gap year plans. Reflect on What Is Important to You What are you curious about? What do you enjoy doing? Think of a time when you felt proud and fulfilled after finishing a task. What type of task was it? If you could make a positive and lasting change for one issue of concern in the world, what would it be? Do you have a personal interest that you wish you had more time to explore? Is there a country or region of the world that you have always wanted to visit? Key Words: Which of These Interest You? Animals Marine life Conservation Nature Scuba diving Sports Traveling Languages Changing the world
Children Teaching Helping others Helping a community Health and medical issues Adventure Writing Cultural immersion Seeing the world
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Exploring a region Social justice Art Music Oceans Politics
Becoming part of a community Making your country a better place Writing Sailing Outdoors History
The Group: How Important Is It to You? Would you prefer to go on a gap year program with a structured group of peers? Is it important to you that fellow volunteers or program participants be your age? Would you consider an ‘‘independent’’ gap year, traveling alone? You have spent most of your life in classes, activities, and social groups with people who are your own age and quite a bit like you. If you want a similar social group that you might find in college, choose a gap year program that is open only to gappers or to college students. If you create an independent gap year with no structured program, you will be on your own often, or in the company of people of all different ages. Some structured programs, including volunteer trips, art classes abroad, and language classes, are open to everyone, so you might find that your peer group includes not only college students but also working adults of all ages and retirees.
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Lifestyle Do you want a program that travels, or one in which you are settled in one location? Would you prefer a homestay or a dorm? Can you rough it? Can you live outdoors or on a boat? Can you live in an impoverished community? Can you survive with limited Internet and phone access, or do you prefer to use them daily? Are you open to eating different types of foods, or do you have dietary restrictions or preferences?
Length of Your Gap Year Will you spend time working to earn funds for gap year expenses? Would you prefer to attend one long program or several shorter ones?
Finances are usually the driving factor of this decision. Students with no limitations often go on two programs abroad—one during the fall and one in the spring semester. But those who with financial constraints can include a ‘‘working block,’’ where they stay home to earn money for part of the year.
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Some programs offer experiences that are as short as two weeks, while others ask for a commitment of several months or even a full year. The order of the programs that you choose is important. It is better to choose the more structured program first and leave the more independent options for the end of the gap year.
In the earliest days of the gap year, before the Internet was such a significant part of daily life, most gap year participants worked with educational consultants. These consultants kept files of information on hundreds of programs and stayed in contact with key program directors. They sat down with students and parents to talk with them about their goals and ideas for the gap year. Consultants help students target their interests, and they offer an assurance of quality when recommending programs. Many families still use consultants, and if you feel that you would benefit from a series of one-on-one discussions about your gap year, it might be worth retaining an educational consultant. But in most cases, the added cost makes it prohibitive, and families will be able to craft an exciting gap year from resources available in this book and on the Internet.
GAP YEAR PROFILE
Emily Burleigh
Emily Burleigh used a consultant from a firm called Center for Interim Programs to help her plan her gap year. ‘‘They had vetted or had information from people who had previously been part of the programs, which made my parents significantly more at ease,’’ Emily explained. Emily’s gap year had three components. She started with a trip to South Africa with Gap Sports Abroad, where she taught field
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hockey at two different schools near Port Elizabeth. She lived with fifteen other students in a backpacker’s hostel, and they traveled as a group to the two schools each day to teach rugby, netball, field hockey, and soccer to the children. The next stop on Emily’s gap year was the Apicius Cooking School in Florence, Italy, which she and her mother attended together. The final leg of Emily’s journey included living at home and working for the Lone Pine Foundation. Emily explained: I decided on three programs after considering what interests of mine I would like to further pursue. I acknowledge the fact that I had never traveled on my own before and only occasionally to a foreign country. My trip to South Africa provided me a time to grow and mature as an individual with the comfort of doing something I knew well (field hockey). I was also very excited about seeing a part of the world I had never been to before and couldn’t even imagine. The Gap Sports Abroad Program had the structure and opportunity I was looking for. The second aspect of my semester was about my interest in cooking. It had been a central part of my family for years and something that I was and am incredibly interested in as a very passionate hobby. Finally, I wanted to experience real life, and I had always been involved in community service portions of my schools. My work at the foundation enabled me to see what that would be like as a potential career.
Emily did these programs in a ‘‘gap semester’’ because she was scheduled to enroll at Middlebury College in February. Middlebury had a cohort of 105 students who started their college careers at midyear and were known collectively on campus as ‘‘Febs.’’
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GAP YEAR PROGRAM DIRECTORS´ VIEWS ON CHOOSING THE RIGHT PROGRAM Consider the amount of support provided, both in-country and prior to departure. Think about the personal benefits to the individual, both long-term and short-term. Does the program offer work experience, life experience, skill development, etc.? Be sure there is an opportunity for travel in the region. Nicola Jasieniecka, Global Xperience Students should look at the gap year structure. Does the program provide structured freedom for participants to make decisions? If so, what are some examples that would exhibit this structured freedom? . . . The work the participants partake in [should be] truly identified and supported by the local host community. This is a fine balance . . . one that can often create tension on either side if it is off-balance. Important questions to ask the gap year program are: What is your relationship with the local community? How is that relationship nurtured? What roles do the community and the gap year organization play in the decision making about the placements? Cara Ciminillo, Longe´ Dominica Look for the opportunity to stretch the perimeters of the world through a safe adventure that develops confidence by exposing different cultures, and the opportunity for collective learning and sharing. Priscilla Arthur, Kokrobiety Institute Students should look for programs that offer a life-changing and very personalized experience from an organization which is run with professionalism and integrity. Scott Burnett, Pacific Discovery A gap year is an opportunity to step outside of one’s physical, psychological, and emotional comfort zone. A valuable
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program is one that will present students with challenges in these areas. Alexandra Retzleff, Youth International The ability to grow and gain expertise in possible future career areas is extremely important in a gap year program. Volunteers in the Americas experience Spanish-language improvement, gain insights into public health and nonprofit fields, experience community development, and grow as leaders. Tara White, Amigos de las Americas [Look for] an organization with a proven track record and solid management, country and/or regional expertise and focus, along with a program that balances structure with experiential education—something that does not replicate the insular classroom experience gap year students are explicitly avoiding. Also look for a strong list of student and parent references, small group sizes to maximize learning and group dynamics, small leaderto-student ratios, and an organization with comprehensive risk management practices. Alex Safos, Global Learning Beyond Borders
TAKING THE PLUNGE: COMMITTING TO A GAP YEAR Many students vacillate about their gap year decision, unable to decide whether to do it or not. No one knows precisely how many students consider a gap year and then do not follow through, but the number is probably thousands and thousands. In interviewing students about the gap year, I never came across anyone who expressed regret over doing a gap year. Even students who had a traveling disaster or a challenge abroad or went on a program with difficult community service all reflected on their year positively. I did meet many college students who wished that they had taken a gap year. They spoke of missing out on exciting options and wishing that
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they could have explored a personal interest. Most often they told me that if they had pursued a gap year, they wouldn’t have had such a mixed-up and unproductive freshman year. The decision to take a gap year is a big one, but in most cases if you take the plunge and follow your heart, you are going to have a fantastic experience.
GAP YEAR TIPS Things to Think Twice About
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1.
Be wary if a program refuses to give you phone numbers or e-mail addresses of past students. The accolades from past participants that are posted online do not offer enough assurance that a program is acceptable. Before traveling to a distant country, you must have at least one conversation—by either e-mail or phone—with a past participant.
2.
When a program offers general, nonspecific details about your living arrangements, it is a concern. If it is a homestay situation, they might not have the name of your assigned family, but they should be able to tell you the name of the town and the local program coordinator.
3.
Many travel programs have entered the gap year market because it is one of the fastest-growing travel segments in the world. Be cautious of new programs that don’t have the details worked out yet. Of course, new programs can turn out to be excellent, but they require extra vetting and consideration.
4.
If your interactions with the staff are disappointing or give you a bad feeling, move on to a different program.
The Complete Guide to the Gap Year
PART
2
Directory of Gap Year Programs To the world you may only be one person, but to one person you may be the world. Gandhi
PART 2 Volunteer Programs: Multiple Countries
Volunteer Programs: Multiple Countries
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olunteering abroad is the most popular gap year activity, and the one that is most often cited by students as an activity that affected them the most and opened their eyes to other cultures and economic systems. This section of the directory includes programs whose primary activity is volunteering, although they may offer cultural events, travel, and language instruction in addition to the service work. Students who want volunteering to be a part of their program but not necessarily the main activity should look at the section on Cultural Programs, as it includes many excellent volunteer opportunities abroad that are less intensive.
One or two sample fees are listed for each program. Unless specified, the fee includes accommodations, meals, orientation, airport pickup, and program fees. Some programs offer a dedicated in-country staff, insurance, trips or tours, and language study as part of the fee. British and Europe-based programs are often more expensive to Americans because of the weak currency exchange rate. Because many U.S.-based programs
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are registered nonprofit organizations, the fee and travel expenses for these programs are often tax-deductible.
P AFRICA & ASIA VENTURE www.aventure.co.uk 10 Market Place, Devezes, Wiltshire, England SN10 1HT Phone: 01380 729009 Africa & Asia Venture sends over four hundred students a year on volunteer and cultural trips to China, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda, Mexico, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Panama. Volunteers are between eighteen and twenty-four years old and live, work, and travel together in teams. Teaching and coaching are the primary volunteer activities, although there is opportunity for environmental work. Programs also include a six-day safari and three weeks of group travel in the region. Fee: A five-week trip to Kenya is approximately $2,600.
P AIDE ABROAD www.aideabroad.org 1221 S. Mopac Expressway, Austin, TX 78746 Phone: 512-457-8062 Aide Abroad has a sixteen-year history of providing volunteer and cultural programs. Participants live with host families, take language classes, and volunteer in the community. Volunteers in the Argentina program work in daycare centers and orphanages, with programs for troubled teens, in soup
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PART 2 Volunteer Programs: Multiple Countries
kitchens, and in medical programs that provide support to children living with HIV. Aide Abroad also offers placements in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru, and South Africa. Fee: Two weeks in Argentina costs $1,700, with $275 for each additional week and $500 a week for language classes. Aide Abroad is a U.S. nonprofit organization, and the fee is tax-deductible as allowed by law.
P AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE www.AFSC.org 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102 Phone: 215-241-7151 The Religious Society of Friends, also known as the Quakers, sponsors summer work camps in Mexico and China for young adults. The China program begins in Beijing for sightseeing, followed by a journey to the Hunan province, one of the most remote areas in Asia. Participants teach English and environmental studies to local children. The Mexico work camp, in its sixty-seventh year, is a seven-week experience for students interested in issues of sustainable development and social justice. Fee: The China program is $1,500, and the Mexico trip is $1,350.
P AMIGOS DE LAS AMERICAS www.amigoslink.org 5618 Star Lane, Houston, TX 77057 Phone: 713-782-5290 Are you interested in a meaningful cultural exchange in Latin America while living with community members and working together on Volunteer Programs: Multiple Countries
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sustainable health, construction, and environmental projects? AMIGOS has over forty years’ experience ‘‘providing unparalleled leadership and community service opportunities for young people while concurrently contributing to the well-being of hundreds of communities throughout the Americas.’’ AMIGOS is a summer program with placements in Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Paraguay. Over 850 volunteers participated in AMIGOS projects last year. Fee: The participation fee is $4,200, and because AMIGOS is a U.S. nonprofit organization, it is tax-deductible as allowed by law.
P A BROADER VIEW VOLUNTEERS CORP www.abroaderview.org 1001 Dell Lane, Wyncote, PA 19095 Phone: 215-780-1845 A Broader View is a well-established volunteer vacation provider, offering placements as short as one week or as long as three months. They offer opportunities in twenty countries throughout South America, Asia, and Africa. Volunteers work in orphanages, schools, health clinics, and in community development and HIV/AIDS prevention. Fee: Three-week programs are approximately $1,100. A Broader View is a U.S. nonprofit organization, and the cost of the trip is tax-deductible as allowed by law.
P COSMIC VOLUNTEERS www.cosmicvolunteers.org 3502 Scotts Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19129 Phone: 888-813-0248
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PART 2 Volunteer Programs: Multiple Countries
Cosmic Volunteers offers programs in twelve countries, with the opportunity to assist in the areas of education, child care, health care, community kitchens, animal rescue, and environmental education. You can live with the Maasai tribe in Kenya, work in a wildlife animal hospital in Ghana, teach English in China, or work with elephants in Thailand. Cosmic Volunteers has in-country staff members in each location and offers a short orientation and opportunities for cultural travel. Fee: A six-week program at an animal sanctuary in Thailand costs $2,400, six weeks in India is $1,435, and six weeks on the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador is $1,890. Cosmic Volunteers is a U.S. nonprofit organization, and fees are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
P CROSS CULTURAL SOLUTIONS www.crossculturalsolutions.org 2 Clinton Place, New Rochelle, NY 10801 Phone: 800-380-4777 Cross Cultural Solutions is one of the largest volunteer program operators, supporting over four thousand volunteers a year and 250 in-country staff members. Gappers can choose from twelve countries or twenty program sites, in sessions that last one to twelve weeks. Volunteers complete a skills and interests survey that enables the staff to place them in an appropriate program. Volunteer opportunities include teaching, working with children, caring for the elderly and disabled, assisting with women’s programs, and working in health clinics. Fee: A six-week program is $3,900, and two weeks is $2,600 at all locations.
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DRAGONFLY VOLUNTEER PROJECTS www.thai-dragonfly.com 1719 Soi 13 Mookamontri Road, A. Meuang Nakhon Ratchasima Thailand Phone: 66 44281073 Dragonfly brings volunteers to Thailand to work with people and animals, learn about Thai culture, and gain new perspectives on life. You can teach English, work with children in an orphanage, work on building projects, or participate in animal rescue. Animal lovers can help at a gibbons’ sanctuary rehabilitating apes that have been used as working animals. Volunteers at the animal sanctuary feed and care for the one hundred animals on-site, while also educating the public about the issues facing wildlife. Fee: Two weeks working in the orphanage costs $750, and two weeks at the animal sanctuary is $1,200.
P ECO VOLUNTEER UP www.volunteer-latinamerica.com Marcella 154 and Shyris Avenue, Quito, Ecuador Phone: 593 2 2265736 Eco Volunteer Up offers you the opportunity to volunteer in the magical country of Ecuador. Volunteers can work in an orphanage and with street children in Quito or in the Cloud Forest, a rural rainforest and farming community. Cloud Forest volunteers participate in conservation projects, environmental research, and community building. Eco Volunteer Up is a
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P EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING INTERNATIONAL
PART 2 Volunteer Programs: Multiple Countries
small program, with about fifty volunteers each year. It is an inexpensive program, and fees are not paid until arrival in Ecuador. Fee: A six-week program is $805, and a one-week program is $150.
www.eliabroad.com 2828 N. Speer Blvd., Suite 230, Denver, CO 80211 Phone: 303-321-8278 Experiential Learning International (ELI) offers low-priced volunteer programs in twenty-one countries. ELI believes that the most compelling life lessons come through experience, and that international experiences are among the most profound influences on our sense of self and our view of the world. ELI volunteers can work with street children or health clinics in Vietnam, orphanages or wildlife programs in Kenya, or women’s programs or eco-tourism in Nicaragua. There are also hundreds of other opportunities to volunteer or intern in any of ELI’s many program locations. Fee: ELI programs are especially low in cost, averaging about $1,100 for a four-week program and $1,300 for a six-week program. ELI is a U.S. nonprofit organization, and fees are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
P FOUNDATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT www.fsdinternational.org 517 Potrero Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94110 Phone: 415-283-4873
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Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD) offers internships and volunteer programs for students and professionals that give hands-on international development and cultural experiences while making an impact on underserved communities abroad. Participants can choose from over 350 volunteer opportunities in areas such as microfinance, women’s empowerment, health, human rights, community development, and youth and education. FSD places two hundred students per year, many of them college graduates who are pursuing careers in international development. Most placements are at least nine weeks long, and volunteers can go to Argentina, Bolivia, India, Kenya, Nicaragua, or Uganda. Fee: The average cost of a nine-week program is $3,485. FSD is a U.S. nonprofit organization, and fees are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
P GAP GURU www.gapguru.com Bankside House, West Mills, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 5HP England Phone: 0800 032 3350 Gap Guru is a specialist in gap years in India. They offer placements in the medical field, journalism, business, and hotel management, which can help students explore careers and build knowledge in a sector of interest. Gap Guru also offers volunteer placements in teaching and community development and a chance to help people who were displaced by the recent tsunami. After your volunteer or internship placement, Gap Guru can send you on an adventure tour, trekking the Himalayas or exploring the jungles of southern India. Fee: Three months teaching at a school for poor children and living with a host family costs $2,600.
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GLOBAL CITIZENS NETWORK
Global Citizens Network sends small teams of volunteers to rural communities around the world, where volunteers immerse themselves in the daily life of the community. Trips last one to three weeks, and projects include establishing libraries, teaching business skills, building health clinics, or planting trees to reforest a village. Global Citizens Network has a yearly schedule of trips, and participants of all ages are welcome to sign up for programs in South America, Africa, Asia, and North American locations such as Kentucky, Arizona, Minnesota, and Washington. Fee: Trips are one to three weeks long and range in price from $1,100 to $2,590. Global Citizens Network is a U.S. nonprofit organization, and fees are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
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www.globalcitizens.org 130 N. Howell Street, St. Paul, MN 55104 Phone: 800-644-9292
P GLOBAL CROSSROAD www.globalcrossroad.com 415 East Airport Freeway, Irving, TX 75062 Phone: 972-252-4191 Global Crossroad programs attract two thousand participants each year in twenty different country locations. They offer reasonable prices and have a high satisfaction rate among alumni. In 2007, Global Crossroad volunteers constructed a home and a school for sixty orphans in Nepal; built a soccer field and playground in Tibet; and painted an orphanage in India, while providing care and compassion to its children. They also constructed schools in the largest slum in Kenya, hosted HIV/AIDS awareness programs in Ghana, launched a conservation awareness program in Volunteer Programs: Multiple Countries
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Honduras, and participated in sea turtle conservation efforts in Mexico, among many other projects. Fee: Four weeks in Kenya costs $1,389; six weeks in Bolivia is $4,160.
P GLOBAL ROUTES www.globalroutes.org One Short Street, Northampton, MA 01060 Phone: 413-585-8895 Global Routes is one of the leaders in volunteer travel for high school students, and they also have an established teaching internship program for gap year students. After a one-week in-country orientation program, volunteers go in pairs to a rural village, where they teach in a primary or secondary school. They coach sports or teach music or art classes and also embark on an independent project, such as starting an after-school program, initiating a recycling program, or refurbishing a library. Volunteers can go to Costa Rica, Ecuador, Tanzania, Kenya, India, or Thailand. The ten-week program ends with a travel adventure tour. Fee: The ten-week program is approximately $6,400. Global Routes is a U.S. nonprofit organization, and fees are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
P GLOBAL SERVICE CORPS www.globalservicecorps.org 300 Broadway, San Francisco, CA 94133 Phone: 415-788-3666
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PART 2 Volunteer Programs: Multiple Countries
Global Service Corps is a program that focuses on volunteer programs in Thailand and Tanzania. Thailand volunteers meet in Bangkok for an orientation and then split up and travel to other towns and cities for a homestay and placement. Service work includes HIV/AIDS prevention and education, teaching English to Buddhist monks, orphanage work, and volunteering in the Thai health care system. Volunteers in Tanzania focus on community development, HIV/AIDS education, and sustainable agriculture and food security programs. Fee: A three-week volunteer vacation costs $1,430. Global Service Corps is a U.S. nonprofit organization, and fees are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
P GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS www.globalvolunteers.org 375 E. Little Canada Road, St. Paul, MN 55117 Phone: 651-407-6100 Global Volunteers has a truly global scope, because it offers the opportunity to volunteer in Europe and the United States, as well as Africa, Asia, and South America. Volunteers can teach English in Italy or Hungary, work with orphans in Romania, or help with social services on the Cook Islands. Fee: Global Volunteers programs are expensive, with a one-week fee of $2,400 at most locations, and a three-week fee of $2,700. Global Volunteers is a U.S. nonprofit organization, and fees are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
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GLOBAL VOLUNTEERS NETWORK www.volunteer.org.nz 102 High Street, Lower Hutt, New Zealand Phone: 800-963-1198 This New Zealand–based nonprofit supports the work of local organizations by adding volunteers from around the world. They offer typical volunteer programs in eighteen countries, but also some unique opportunities. Participants can help the postgenocide people of Rwanda, participate in a Be the Change Class in Colorado or New Zealand for social entrepreneurs, and help educate the children of Kenya by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, or assist at a wildlife sanctuary in South Africa. Fee: The Rwanda program is $847 for four weeks, and the cost for working four weeks in a Vietnamese orphanage is $997. The South Africa game reserve program is $1,147 for four weeks.
P I-TO-I www.i-to-i.com 261 Low Lane, Horsforth, Leeds, LS18 5NY England Phone: 08700 333 2332 i-to-i offers over five hundred volunteer projects in twenty-five countries throughout the world. This group offers everything from the chance to work with monkeys on a South African game reserve to building homes in Honduras to teaching English at a Buddhist monastery in Nepal. i-to-i also offers sports-based programs such as Thai Boxing Training, Surf and Save Turtles in Costa Rica, as well as opportunities to coach soccer in Argentina and various countries in Africa.
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P INSTITUTE FOR FIELD RESEARCH EXPEDITIONS www.ifrevolunteers.org 8500 N. Stemmons Freeway, #5030, Dallas, TX 75247 Phone: 800-675-2504
PART 2 Volunteer Programs: Multiple Countries
Fee: Two-week programs average $1,300.
Institute for Field Research Expeditions (IFRE) conducts and supports authentic field research programs on poverty, ecology, environment, wildlife, disease, and other areas affecting the global community. They also organize humanitarian and volunteer placements in eighteen countries. Students traveling to Costa Rica can work in an orphanage or women’s center, teach at a school, work in a conservation program, or on an organic farm. Volunteers at their Brazil location can work in an orphanage, in a health care clinic, in a school, or on an HIV/AIDS awareness project. Fee: Four weeks in Costa Rica is $1,016; four weeks in Brazil is $1,424. IFRE is a U.S. nonprofit organization, and fees are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
P LATTITUDE www.lattitude.org 44 Queen’s Road, Berkshire RG1 4BB England Phone: 0118 959 4914 Lattitude has a thirty-five-year history of providing volunteer placements for gappers. Volunteers are required to be between seventeen and
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twenty-five years of age, and most are eighteen or nineteen. Lattitudes offers the typical teaching and child care programs throughout Africa and South America, but they also have some unique offerings in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Fiji, locations that are not on the menu of most other companies. Fee: Lattitude charges a one-time fee of $2,200 for the placement, which includes finding a placement, orientation, and in-country support. Housing and accommodation are sometimes included, depending on the program selected.
P LONG E´ DOMINICA www.longedominica.com 5258 Carnegie Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15201 The Long´e Gap Year Program, on the eastern Caribbean island Dominica, offers a hands-on educational environment ideal for exploring another worldview. One unique aspect of this program is that gappers work alongside young adults from the local Kalinago community. Volunteers work at a preschool and a health clinic, and also work with community members in developing new programs and initiatives. This program provides a forum for young adults from two cultures to live and work together, share their knowledge, and learn from each other. Fee: A fourteen-week session costs $4,900.
P ORPHANAGE SUPPORT SERVICES www.orphanagesupport.org P.O. Box 345, Rexburg, ID 83440 Phone: 208-359-1767
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PART 2 Volunteer Programs: Multiple Countries
Orphanage Support Services (OSS) is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that provides aid to orphanages in Ecuador. Volunteers can stay for a longer two- to three-month program or a shorter program of three to fourteen days. Most volunteers are between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two, and they live together in OSS housing. They work with children of all ages and also serve on planning committees and have the opportunity to study Spanish. Fee: The fee for a ten-week program is $3,990, which includes airfare from the United States. OSS is a U.S. nonprofit organization, and fees are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
P PRO WORLD www.myproworld.org P.O. Box 21121, Billings, MT 59104 Phone: 877-733-7378 Pro World has a volunteer project model that is defined by host country needs and executed by a cross-section of the community. Their focus is on the areas of health, environment, and social and economic development. Projects are offered in Peru, Belize, Mexico, India, and Thailand. About 15 percent of Pro World volunteers are on a gap year, and the average age of all participants is twenty-two. Fee: The program cost is $2,600 for a four-week program.
P PROJECTS ABROAD www.projects-abroad.org Aldsworth Parade, Goring, West Sussex BN12 4TX England Phone: 01903 708300 Volunteer Programs: Multiple Countries
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Founded in 1993, Projects Abroad sends over four thousand volunteers to twenty-three countries each year. Placements can last anywhere from two weeks to twelve months. Volunteers work in teaching, child care, conservation, culture and community, sports, medicine and health care, journalism, business, law and human rights, archeology, veterinary medicine, and languages. Fee: Teaching in Mexico costs $2,685 for four weeks, orphanage work in Ethiopia costs $2,895 for four weeks, and a soccer volunteer program in Brazil is $3,345 for four weeks.
P QUEST OVERSEAS www.questoverseas.com 15A Cambridge Grove, Hove, East Sussex BN3 3ED Heath, West Sussex RH16 1XP England Phone: 1273 777 206 Quest Overseas offers volunteer projects and expeditions exclusively to gappers ages seventeen through nineteen years old. Volunteers work and travel together in teams of ten to sixteen people. Quest offers programs that combine a period of volunteer work with an organized expedition in that region. You can work with children of the favelas of Rio de Janero, Brazil, and then explore the beaches, mountains, and jungles of this beautiful country. Volunteers in Africa can work in conservation in Swaziland’s game reserves and in local communities. They end their trip with an adventure trip that can include scuba diving with sharks, exploring the Okavango Delta, or admiring Victoria Falls. Fee: A three-month program in Tanzania and Malawi is $7,000; six weeks in Peru is $3,800.
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STUDENTS PARTNERSHIP WORLDWIDE
Students Partnership Worldwide (SPW) trains over one hundred youth a year as peer educators who provide life-saving adolescent sexual and reproductive health education programs to young people who are at risk. Placements are available in seven African countries, as well as India and Nepal. SPW’s support for youth leadership in health education has brought them recognition from Unicef and the World Bank. The program lasts five to twelve months. Fee: SPW volunteers are not charged a fee, but are asked to raise $6,500 for the project. The fee is the same regardless of the length of the placement.
PART 2 Volunteer Programs: Multiple Countries
www.spwusa.org 1413 K Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005 Phone: 202-289-0858
P VOLUNTEERS FOR PEACE www.vfp.org 1034 Tiffany Road, Belmont, VT 05730 Phone: 802-259-2759 Volunteers for Peace (VFP) is a well-regarded nonprofit that has been placing volunteers abroad and in domestic U.S. projects since 1982. Its low cost and large variety of opportunities make it a popular choice for gappers. VFP is a membership-based organization with many global partners. They don’t organize specific projects, but instead arrange to send volunteers to existing projects, where they join volunteers from all over the world. The cost to participate in most programs is only $300 for a two- or three-week placement including room and board. VFP Volunteer Programs: Multiple Countries
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offers three thousand volunteer projects a year, including fifty to sixty projects in the United States. Sample projects include planting trees near Mount Kilimanjaro, working in a national park in Botswana, organizing a summer camp for needy children in Mongolia, or working with disabled children in Peru. Fee: $300 for a two- or three-week placement, plus a local partner fee of approximately $200. VFP is a U.S. nonprofit organization, and all fees are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
P WLS INTERNATIONAL www.gapyearinasia.com 29 Harley Street, London W1G 9QR England Phone: 44 870 479-5145 WLS International offers quality gap year volunteer programs in Asia. The Beijing program is especially popular, offering volunteers the chance to live in this vibrant city while making a difference teaching in schools for poor children. Programs are also offered in Cambodia, Philippines, India, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam. Fee: WLS has very reasonable prices, offering three weeks in Nepal for $975 or three weeks in Ho Chi Minh City for $1,035.
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Volunteer Programs: Africa PART 2 Volunteer Programs: Africa
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raveling in Africa can offer you unparalleled adventure, a chance to see natural beauty at its finest, and an opportunity to experience some of the world’s most vibrant cultures. Africa is also the world’s most needy and impoverished continent, with staggering HIV/AIDS rates, devastating poverty, and disheartening conflict. Volunteers who take on the challenge of Africa find that they can make a real difference in a person’s life or in the life of a whole community. They leave their placement knowing that whatever mark they have left on Africa is much smaller than the mark that Africa left on them. This section is dedicated to programs that operate solely in Africa, but many of the programs in the Multiple Countries section also offer volunteer opportunities in Africa.
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AFRICAN CONSERVATION EXPERIENCE www.conservationafrica.net Churchend Lane, Charfield, Wotton-Under-Edge, Gloucester GL12 8LJ Phone: 0845 5200 888 African Conservation Experience offers some of the most fascinating wildlife projects in Africa. You can join a veterinary project where you help to relocate giraffes, or you can help ensure the future of endangered animals by working at a breeding facility. Volunteers can track and monitor cheetahs and leopards or care for injured and orphaned animals. African Conservation Experience has a dedicated in-country staff, and they offer the opportunity to split your time between two or three projects. Fee: A typical two-week program costs $3,300, and twelve weeks cost $7,500.
P AFRICAN GREAT LAKES INITIATIVE www.aglionline.org/Program/workcamps.htm 1001 Park Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63104 Phone: 314-621-7262 The African Great Lakes Initiative (AGLI) of the Friends Peace Teams is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization affiliated with the Quakers, which promotes peace at the grassroots level. Their work camp program takes place for five weeks during the summer in former sites of brutal conflict, such as Rwanda, Burundi, the Congo, Kenya, and Uganda. The work camp consists of American and European volunteers who work alongside Africans to support reconciliation, community building, and healing through Alternatives to Violence Project workshops. Work camp participants build houses, schools, clinics, and peace centers, with plenty of opportunity for exchange of ideas with Africans and for personal growth.
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Fee: The fee is $2,300, which includes a large donation to the project. AGLI is a U.S. nonprofit organization, and all fees and travel expenses are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
P AFRICAN IMPACT
African Impact is a company rooted in Africa, which helps to ensure adequate program support and authenticity. If you want to explore the heart of Africa, you will find many fascinating programs with this firm. You can work directly with large animals, helping to rehabilitate lions, cheetahs, rhinos, elephants, or leopards at wildlife reserves. You can join the Big 5 Wildlife Experience, which takes you to Zimbabwe’s most stunning natural parks and offers the chance to work hands-on with elephants, rhinos, and lions. African Impact offers teaching, sports coaching, and health care volunteer programs in addition to their renowned wildlife experiences. They are affiliated with Pathfinders Africa, an adventure tour company (www.pathfinderafrica.com). Fee: A two-week Africa Lion Rehabilitation and Conservation trip to Victoria Falls costs $1,990, the Big 5 Wildlife Experience is three and a half weeks for $3,070, and teaching in a rural Cape Town preschool is $2,390 for four weeks.
PART 2 Volunteer Programs: Africa
www.africanimpact.com P.O. Box 1218, Gweru, Zimbabwe Phone: 877-253-2899
P AFRICAN LEADERSHIP ACADEMY www.alagapyear.org P.O. Box 529, Hurlingham 2070, South Africa Volunteer Programs: Africa
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The African Leadership Academy (ALA) is a boarding high school that seeks to support young leaders from across Africa who will play a role in the continent’s transformation. The ALA gap year program is an intense ten-month pre-university program for seventeen- to nineteen-year-old leaders from across the world. They engage in a study of the African continent and design and implement a community service project, while building friendships with the students in the school. The ALA is in its inaugural year and received a strong show of support in its first admissions year. Over 1,700 African students applied for just 106 spots, resulting in a 6.2 percent acceptance rate. American students who hope to do their gap year at ALA must enter a competitive admissions process. Term abroad programs are available for students who can’t commit to a full year. Fee: The September-through-June placement includes a year-end break and costs $30,000.
P AVIVA www.aviva-sa.com P.O. Box 60573, Table View 7539, South Africa Phone: 27-021-557-4312 AVIVA is committed to helping grassroots projects that have evolved to meet real needs in the community. They offer a quality program with strong in-country support and a large percentage of gap year volunteers. Over 70 percent of AVIVA volunteers are between the ages of seventeen through twenty-five. A few of the unique opportunities offered by AVIVA include penguin conservation, wild horse rehabilitation, whale and dolphin research, as well as many meaningful placements in children’s homes.
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Fee: Four weeks in a lion cub rearing program is $2,278, and six weeks at the African penguin conservation program is $1,100.
P DODWELL TRUST
The Dodwell Trust is a U.K. charity dedicated to helping the people of Madagascar, focusing on the issues of education, health, and sustainable development. Dodwell is a smaller organization, with sixty volunteers per year and a strong presence in Madagascar. Volunteers are welcome to stay for three weeks to one year. The primary activity is teaching English to children, but also tutoring and teaching music or sports. There are also conservation projects available for students willing to stay at least ten weeks. Fee: A three-week volunteer program costs $840, and ten weeks is $1,500.
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www.dodwell-trust.org 16 Lanark Mansions, Pennard Road, London W12 8DT England Phone: 44 208 740 6302
P INSPIRE KENYA www.inspirekenya.com Greaghone, Carrickmacross, Monaghan, Ireland Phone: 35 38 79949859 In Kenya, a child is orphaned every five minutes. Many Kenyan children sit in classrooms with no teachers because of a national shortage. Inspire Kenya needs volunteers to help care for abandoned babies and orphans.
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They also need teachers at preschools, grammar schools, and high schools, and no experience is needed. Inspire Kenya offers conservation projects, such as working in a primate research center, on a wildlife refuge, or with an animal rescue service. Fee: Two weeks at a Nairobi abandoned baby project costs $1,380, and four weeks at a Lake Victoria conservation project costs $1,380.
P OCEAN RESEARCH CONSERVATION AFRICA www.orcafoundation.com P.O. Box 1812, Plettenberg Bay, 6600 South Africa Phone: 27 44 533 5083 For those who love the ocean and its creatures, the Ocean Research Conservation Africa (ORCA) program offers a volunteer program in one of South Africa’s premier locations. If you volunteer with ORCA, you will have the opportunity to ‘‘witness the power and grace of whales, the exuberance of dolphins and seals, the majestic beauty of mountain, forest and coastal scenery.’’ ORCA volunteers do underwater sound recordings, census dives, aquarium maintenance, water sampling, tag and release programs, as well as education programs geared to schools and tourists in the area. Weekends are free for diving or exploring the beaches of Plettenberg Bay. Fee: $380 per week.
P OPERATION CROSSROADS AFRICA www.operationcrossroadsafrica.org P.O. Box 5570, New York, NY 10027 Phone: 212-289-1949
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PART 2 Volunteer Programs: Africa
Operation Crossroads Africa was started in the United States in 1958 and remains a top cross-cultural exchange program. Crossroads volunteers join an African community for six weeks of work on a community-initiated project. Volunteers live and work together with local people on the project they designed. Projects include construction of buildings and the design of youth recreation programs, health outreach programs, new schools, or other needs within the community. After the period of work, Crossroads volunteers travel in Africa for one week. Placements are available in eighteen African countries. Fee: The program fee of $3,800 includes airfare. Operation Crossroads is a U.S. nonprofit organization, and the fee is tax-deductible as allowed by law.
P SHUMBA EXPERIENCE www.shumbaexperience.co.uk 95 Ditchling Road, Brighton, Sussex BN1 4ST England Phone: 0845 257 3205 Shumba Experience is geared toward gappers and those aged eighteen through twenty-two. They offer a wide variety of placements, along with the ability to move to multiple placements during your trip. You might monitor eagles in Swaziland and then spend the next month aiding dolphin conservation on the Mozambique coast. Shumba offers a variety of conservation, game reserve, and wildlife conservation placements, as well as a few community projects that support and educate local people. Volunteers have refurbished a vocational training center, built a preschool, planted trees, and hosted workshops. Fee: Four-week programs cost about $2,000, and eight-week programs are $3,500.
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Volunteer Programs: United States
PART 2 Volunteer Programs: United States
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olunteering within the United States might not sound as glamorous as a venture abroad, but the experience can be just as meaningful and educational. The movement toward national service has been growing for many years, and interest in it has spiked recently. This is likely to be a result of the weak economy and a new spirit of change, encouraged by initiatives in Congress and from the new presidential administration. Students looking for a free gap year should consider AmeriCorps programs, which offer team-based leadership-building programs at no charge, with many offering an educational award upon completion.
P AMERICORPS www.americorps.org 1201 New York Avenue, Washington, DC 20525 Phone: 202-606-5000
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The AmeriCorps web site is the place to go if you want to do a U.S.-based service program. They are the authority on quality community and national service programs and are partnered with thousands of organizations. You can enter your location and areas of interest at www.americorps.org and get recommendations of volunteer programs that would fit well. Positions are available at well-known nonprofit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the American Cancer Society, or the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, as well as local programs. Most of the AmeriCorps programs are full-time and offer an education award upon completion. You can work at an after-school soccer and poetry program in Texas, an early literacy program in Rhode Island, or join the Red Cross in Louisiana to help in resettling Hurricane Katrina victims, among thousands of other opportunities. In addition, AmeriCorps offers its signature N Triple C program, the National Civilian Community Corps. This is a full-time, ten-month, team-based residential program for people aged seventeen through twenty-four. After training on an NCCC campus, volunteers travel throughout a region of the United States, working with local nonprofits addressing their needs. NCCC team members tutor children, provide emergency and disaster relief, and maintain national parks, among other activities, staying with each program for about six weeks. Volunteers are helping those in need and are also gaining leadership and teamwork skills, while gaining experience in management and in working with many types of people. Fee: Not only are AmeriCorps programs free of charge, many offer a stipend and a $4,700 education award upon completion of the program.
P CITY YEAR www.cityyear.org 287 Columbus Avenue, Boston, MA 02116 Phone: 617-927-5200
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City Year is the preeminent program for gap year students who choose to serve domestically. A competitive admissions process yields a diverse group of young adults who come together to make a difference in the lives of children, while transforming schools and communities in eighteen U.S. cities. City Year is a ten-month team-based residential program. Volunteers in the City Year Washington, D.C., program focus on combating illiteracy through one-on-one tutoring and classroom support, and on HIV/AIDS prevention education through a curriculum delivered to middle and high school students. City Year D.C. participants also run Young Heroes, a Saturday service-learning program for middle school students; they also engage in physical service projects such as painting murals, planting gardens, and creating play spaces. Fee: City Year charges no participation fee; participants receive living expenses, health insurance, a stipend, and a $4,700 education award. PART 2 Volunteer Programs: United States
P HABITAT FOR HUMANITY www.habitat.org 121 Habitat Street, Americus, GA 31709 Habitat for Humanity has built more than 300,000 houses around the world, providing 1.5 million people with safe and affordable housing. If you are interested in a short-term local volunteer project, you can search the Local Affiliate list at www.habitat.org and get connected with a project in need of assistance. If you are looking for a long-term project, you can visit the AmeriCorps web site and search for a full-time Habitat placement, which often provides a stipend and an educational award (www.americorps.org). Fee: There is no fee to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.
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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE VOLUNTEERS www.nps.gov/volunteer Volunteers from all over the world serve at the national parks to preserve and protect America’s natural and cultural heritage. The National Park Service web site lists volunteer positions available at every park in the United States. Simply choose a location and an area of interest, and you can find a meaningful way to contribute to our national parks. Fee: There is no fee to volunteer with NPS.
P PUBLIC ALLIES www.publicallies.org 611 N. Broadway, Suite #415, Milwaukee, WI 53202 Phone: 414-273-0533 Public Allies is an AmeriCorps program designed to advance new leadership to strengthen communities, nonprofits, and civic participation. Allies participants serve ten-month paid internships at local nonprofits and participate in a rigorous leadership development program. If you are interested in being a part of the next generation of leaders in our communities and nonprofits, apply for a gap year with Public Allies. Fee: Participants receive a monthly stipend of $1,300 to $1,800, and an education award of $4,725 upon completion of the program.
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STUDENT CONSERVATION ASSOCIATION www.thesca.org P.O. Box 550, Charlestown, NH 03603 Phone: 603-543-1700
PART 2 Volunteer Programs: United States
The Student Conservation Association (SCA) offers opportunities for students aged eighteen and up to serve in a conservation corps or work at an environmentally focused internship, usually completed at a national or state park. ‘‘At our Corps sites, members don’t just follow the pros, they become the pros.’’ Corps members live in a community and work in teams on wildfire management, trail restoration, invasive species eradication, and environmental education. You have the chance to learn from the land, on the land, and to develop leadership skills while giving back to your community. Internships are held at national parks in a wide variety of fields, including resource management, bird populations, invasive plant management, exotic plant management, and many others. Over three thousand people a year volunteer with SCA, and they do their work in teams of ten people. Fee: Free. Housing is provided, and students receive a weekly stipend of $75 to $160 per week, depending on the program.
P OTHER VOLUNTEER OPTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES Short-term local volunteer opportunities are ideal for gap year students who are taking a work block or for those who are pursuing personal interests from home. Students who spend part of their gap year working
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often add a few hours of community service each week to give themselves a broader experience. Gappers who devote their time to composing music, writing, or some other personal interest often add a short-term volunteer project to their weekly schedules. If you are interested in volunteering, you can contact a nonprofit in an area of interest directly to ask if they need help. You can also visit one of the following web sites, which list projects in need of support: www.volunteermatch.org www.idealist.org www.dosomething.org www.1800volunteer.org
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Cultural Immersion Programs
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P ADVENTURE IRELAND
PART 2 Cultural Immersion Programs
f you want to experience another culture through a program that doesn’t require a full day of volunteer work, consider a cultural immersion program. Each program has a different design and focus, with some combining several activities or goals. You can travel, go on expeditions, attend cultural classes, learn a language, intern, teach English, or study an issue that interests you. Volunteer and community service work are important offerings of most cultural programs.
www.adventure-ireland.com Donegal Adventure Center, Bayview Avenue Bundoran, Co. Donegal, Ireland Phone: 353 7198 42418
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Adventure Ireland hosts American and European college and gap year students for its Cultural Ireland Program, where students take classes in Irish history, language, literature, music, sports, and culture, while practicing ocean sports in the surf town of Bundoran. There is plenty of time to surf and travel throughout Ireland. Programs last between two and ten weeks. Fee: A ten-week program is $9,000.
P ANDEO INTERNATIONAL HOMESTAYS www.andeo.org 620 SW Fifth Avenue, Suite 625, Portland, OR 97204 Phone: 800-274-6007 Andeo International has been offering homestays for over twenty-five years. This year they hosted one thousand students in the United States and sent 350 students abroad to nine countries. They offer structured programs specifically for gap year students, which include language studies, cultural classes, and plenty of opportunity for exploration. Gap year homestay programs are offered in Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Mexico, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Japan. Fee: Twelve-week programs cost $3,675 in Ecuador, $4,225 in Germany, $4,990 in Italy, and $5,775 in Japan.
P AUSTRALEARN www.australearn.org 12050 N. Pecos Street, Suite 320, Westminster, CO 80234 Phone: 800-980-0033
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AustraLearn is an established study abroad provider that recently began a program specifically for gap year students. With opportunities in New Zealand and Australia, students can spend their gap year studying at a local university, interning, or exploring this exciting region. Fee: A semester program at an Australian university is approximately $17,000, and internship program fees vary.
P BRIDGE YEAR www.bridgeyear.com Roman Diaz 287, Providencia, Santiago, Chile Phone: (USA) 312-242-1868
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PART 2 Cultural Immersion Programs
Bridge Year is a language and cultural immersion program specifically for gap year students. Participants live with host families in Santiago, Chile, or Buenos Aires, Argentina. Three activities are organized each week, including trips to salsa clubs, sporting events, cooking classes, or museum tours. Bridge Year also sponsors overnight weekend trips to coastal towns, colonial villages, and outdoor adventures. Daily language classes, a homestay, and a seven-week volunteer opportunity are other components of the Bridge Year program. Fee: A twelve-week program is $3,925, and a sixteen-week program is $5,060.
CARPE DIEM EDUCATION www.carpediemeducation.com P.O. Box 17427, Portland, OR 97217 Phone: 877-285-1808
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Carpe Diem is a leader in financial aid for gap year programs, offering an opportunity for federal financial aid as well as assistance with fundraising. Carpe Diem programs make learning real and active. They combine volunteering, authentic cultural experience, travel, adventure, and language study into structured and interesting gap year programs. The Fiji-New Zealand-Australia gap year program includes building low-cost houses for Fijian families and spending time at an outdoor leadership school and an organic farm in New Zealand. In Australia, the students experience different aspects of aboriginal culture, study at a Buddhist monastery, and dive the Great Barrier Reef. Programs are also available in Central and South America, India, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Fee: The three-month India program is $8,400, and the Australia travel program is $9,900.
P CHINA QUEST www.chinaquest.org 576 Valley Road, Wayne, NJ 07470 Phone: 973-732-1186 China Quest is a thirty-two-day journey from Beijing to Shanghai that offers exposure to Chinese language, culture, and history. The program is offered only in the summer and includes forty-five students age seventeen through twenty. The trip starts in Beijing, where students take language and cultural classes at BeiHang University. Activities with Chinese students are planned to encourage cultural and language exchange, and the program plans excursions to various shows and performances in the evenings. The group travels to Inner Mongolia, then on to Zhengzhou, Xi’an, and Shanghai. China Quest has organized student trips to China since 1995 and has received excellent student reviews for this program.
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Fee: The program fee is $4,860, and airline travel is available for $1,050.
P COUNCIL ON INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL EXCHANGE www.ciee.org 300 Fore Street, Portland, ME, 04101 Phone: 207-553-4000 Since 1974, Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE) has sent fifty thousand youth to locations around the globe. CIEE is one of the most highly regarded players in the study abroad sector. The CIEE gap year program offers an opportunity for language study, immersion in a foreign community by living with a host family, and an experience teaching English or participating in volunteer work. Students can spend their semester in Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, China, Japan, France, or Spain. CIEE sponsors trips and excursions to historical and cultural sites for its gappers. Fee: Semester programs cost $12,975 on average. PART 2 Cultural Immersion Programs
P CULTURAL DESTINATION NEPAL www.volunteernepal.org.np GPO Box 11535, Dhapasi, Kathmandu, Nepal Phone: 977 1 437 7623 Cultural Destination Nepal introduces participants to Nepal’s diverse environment through experiential education. The program includes an orientation phase of two weeks, a one- to three-month volunteer phase, followed by a two-week-long trek and an additional recreation trip such
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as river rafting or a jungle trip. Volunteers live with a Nepali family and learn about their unique culture and customs while volunteering in the community teaching English. Fee: A two-month volunteer program, plus the orientation and travel time, costs only $1,475.
P CULTURAL EMBRACE www.culturalembrace.com 7201 Bill Hughes Road, Austin, TX 78745 Phone: 512-469-9089 Students who want to spend time abroad but don’t necessarily want to volunteer can find interesting possibilities with Cultural Embrace. They offer a Language Exchange program, where participants spend fifteen hours a week tutoring their host families in English and the rest of the time exploring the region. Language exchange is offered in the countries of Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Chile, Spain, China, and Thailand. Cultural Embrace offers cultural classes such as capoiera in Brazil, Muy Thai boxing in Thailand, Indian cooking, Italian cooking or arts and crafts, or diving in Australia. There are also opportunities for internships, paid employment, and volunteer projects throughout the world. Fee: The Language Exchange costs $1,310 for eight weeks in Brazil, and the Italian art and language program is $3,000 for four weeks.
P EDUCATION FIRST MULTI-LANGUAGE YEAR www.ef.com/mly One Education Street, Cambridge, MA 02141 Phone: 617-619-1764
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The Multi-Language Year is a unique opportunity to intensively study three different languages at three different destinations in the world. You can choose from Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, or China. You have the choice of living in a homestay, at Education First residences, or in a university residence hall; or you can try a different housing option at each location. You’ll find an activities coordinator in each city, who arranges tours, evening programs, volunteer work, and cultural classes. The Multi-Language Year is a thirty-two-week program, but Education First also offers shorter language study programs. Fee: Approximately $500 per week.
P EL CASAL BARCELONA www.elcasalbarcelona.com Balmes 163, 3-1, 08008 Barcelona, Spain Phone: 34 93 217 9038
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El Casal offers an unforgettable gap year experience in one of the most beautiful and exciting cities in Europe: Barcelona. This small program is especially for gap year students, and it combines travel, language study, cultural activities, homestay, and involvement in the local community. Fee: The fourteen-week program is $10,790.
GLOBAL CITIZEN YEAR www.globalcitizenyear.org 251 Rhode Island Street, Suite 205, San Francisco, CA 94103 Phone: 415-963-9293 Cultural Immersion Programs
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Global Citizen Year will launch its first class in the fall of 2009. This program, which was incubated at Harvard Business School and funded by foundations and entrepreneurs, has an organization vision that includes a goal of twenty thousand participants by 2020. Global Citizen Year is a nine-month program that will ensure students develop the civic savvy and global fluencies they need to approach college, their careers, and their lives with perspective, purpose, and passion. They will start with a U.S.-based training institute, and then go abroad where they will live with a host family and support local development efforts. The capstone project requires students to return to their own communities to share their experiences. There will be thirty participants in the first year with plans to grow exponentially. Global Citizen Year will have a presence in three regions: Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Fee: $26,277, including airfare. Financial aid is available.
P GLOBAL LEARNING ACROSS BORDERS www.global-lab.org 4818 43rd Street, Suite 4C, Woodside, NY 11377 Phone: 800-984-4522 Global Learning Across Borders (Global LAB) offers dynamic semester programs in India, Morocco, and China for young people ages seventeen through twenty-two that are particularly popular with gap year students. Programs begin with a residential orientation in the United States to prepare students for cultural immersion through language study, homestays, community service work, and independent study projects. Global LAB programs focus on a range of themes, including globalization, sustainable development, the arts, wisdom traditions, peace and conflict studies, and public health issues.
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Fee: The semester in China and Tibet is $10,845, the semester in India is $9,845, and the Morocco semester is $11,845. Global LAB offers scholarship awards of up to $5,000 based on need and merit.
P INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL ADVENTURES www.icadventures.com 172 Park Street, Newton, MA 02458 Phone: 888-339-0460 International Cultural Adventures runs cultural immersion programs for people of all ages in Peru, India, and Nepal. It starts with an orientation and education phase, which includes music and language classes, meditation, homestays, tours, and cultural seminars; it ends with a community service phase in any area of interest to the participant. Fee: Six-week programs are $3,990, and twelve-week programs are $5,450.
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www.ipc.dk Montebello Alli 1, 3000 Helsinger, Denmark Phone: 45 4921 2128
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INTERNATIONAL PEOPLE´S COLLEGE OF DENMARK
The International People’s College (IPC) is not a university, but an international relations school for students age eighteen and up, with an international and cross-cultural focus. The main idea of IPC is to bring together many different cultures and to create dialogue, understanding, and mutual respect. The study program offers a wide range of global classes, with a focus on world politics. Sixty to seventy students are in
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residence at a time at IPC, and they typically come from thirty different countries. Fee: An eighteen-week course is only $4,417.
P KIBBUTZ PROGRAM CENTER www.kibbutzprogramcenter.org 114 West 26th Street, New York, NY 10001 Phone: 212-462-2764 If you are looking for a meaningful and inexpensive way to visit Israel, living on a kibbutz might be for you. Participants live in a unique alternative community in which work, income, and property are shared. If you join a kibbutz, you will work six or seven hours a day in exchange for room and board. Fee: Free.
P KING´S ACADEMY www.kingsacademy.edu.jo P.O. Box 9, Madaba-Manja 16188, Jordan Phone: 962 6 430 0230 King’s Academy is a co-ed boarding high school founded by King Abdullah in 2007. The school welcomes eighteen Gap Year Fellows each year, and these students are immersed in all aspects of King’s Academy life. In this ten-month program, gap fellows participate in an internship, take Arabic classes, assist with extracurricular activities, and aid in dorm supervision.
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Fellows are typically students who have graduated from American or European boarding schools. Fee: Free. Students receive a stipend and one round trip airline ticket.
P KOKROBITEY INSTITUTE www.kokrobiteyinstitute.org P.O. Box 9732, K.I.A, Accra, Ghana Phone: 233 28 910 4173 Founded by an American, and led by an international board of directors, the Kokrobriety Institute is an ocean-side campus and a place for learning, discovery, and reflection. Programs are focused on environmental studies, art and design, and community service. Kokrobriety is an international community of learners, with representatives from Ghana, the United States, England, and several other countries. Participants can stay from two weeks to an entire semester. Fee: A four-week course is $3,500.
KWA MADWALA www.kwamadwala.net P.O. Box 192 Hectorspruit 1330, Mpumalang Province, South Africa Phone: 27 13 792 4526
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Kwa Madwala offers an exciting gap year adventure in the bush of South Africa. Participants learn about conservation and wildlife while living on a game reserve. They can track lions, admire elephants, and identify reptiles
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and small mammals. One placement includes adventure activities such as bungee jumping, tubing, and caving. Fee: A twelve-week program is $5,200, and a four-week program is $2,225.
P LEAP NOW www.leapnow.org 11640 Highway 128, Calistoga, CA 94515 Phone: 888-424-5327 Leap Now, whose motto is ‘‘transforming education,’’ believes in a unique way of learning, where cultural immersion, study abroad, and work abroad are the main vehicles for learning about yourself and the world. Leap Now’s signature nine-month Leap Year program is focused on helping gap year students make the transition to adulthood, independence, and college academics. More than just a study abroad program, Leap Year offers a segment of group travel, a solo internship or volunteer placement, and retreats and other residential opportunities to take inventory of what has been learned and experienced. Leap Now also offers One Revolution, a shorter version of the Leap Year program, as well as internship and volunteer placements. Fee: The fee for Leap Year is $31,900, which includes a year of college credit. Federal financial aid and scholarships are available.
P LIVING ROUTES www.livingroutes.org 284 N. Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01002 Phone: 888-515-7333
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Living Routes specializes in study abroad programs in ‘‘ecovillages,’’ which are learning laboratories focused on the issues of world population, global warming, biodiversity, or social inequality. Ecovillages use renewable energy and sustainable agriculture systems, while encouraging cross-cultural awareness, and they are made up of people who want to build a better world. Gap year students can join an ecovillage in India, Scotland, Senegal, Australia, Israel, Mexico, Brazil, or Peru. Fee: Semester programs cost $15,500.
P MADVENTURER www.madventurer.com 1 Pink Lane, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 5DW England Phone: 0845 121 1996
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Madventurer’s goal is to assist local communities in developing countries through their volunteer projects, while enabling gappers to have life-changing experiences through cultural integration, challenge, and adventure. Over one thousand participants have gone on Madventure trips over the last ten years, and the firm has earned a reputation for quality volunteer projects that are important to the local community. Madventurer offers a three-week Lima-to-La Paz journey in Peru, Australia and Fiji adventures, and volunteer and service combination trips in Africa, South America, and Asia. Fee: A typical four-week trip costs $2,000 to $3,000.
P MAGIC CARPET RIDES www.magiccarpetrides.org P.O. Box 550, Eastsound, WA 98245 Phone: 360-376-8900 Cultural Immersion Programs
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Magic Carpet Rides is a Guatemala-based gap year program with an experiential curriculum designed to foster the development of life skills and discovery of one’s passions. Students live with a host family, study Spanish, and explore the beauty of Guatemala and its culture. There is a special focus on adventure activities such as climbing active volcanoes, exploring caves, and trekking in the jungle to Mayan ruins. Fee: Semester tuition is $10,500.
P MASA ISRAEL JOURNEY www.masaisrael.org 633 Third Avenue, 21st Floor, New York, NY 10017 Phone: 212-339-6077 Masa Israel is one of the largest gap year providers in the world, sending over three thousand gap year students on programs last year. Known for its generous grants to Jewish students traveling to Israel, Masa Israel is also an umbrella organization for 160 Israeli programs, many of which are open to students of all religions. Programs include Dance Journey, Rimon School of Music, an academic gap year at Hebrew University, and many others. Most programs are nine months long, but some are as short as five months. The fees vary, with generous scholarships available for those with need. Fee: Fees range from $500 to $28,000, depending on the program.
P PASSAGE INTERNATIONAL www.passageinternational.com GPO Box 8974, CPC 373, Kathmandu, Nepal Phone: 415-448-7686 (U.S. number)
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Passage International has offered unique cultural immersion programs in Nepal for seven years. Students can go on a ‘‘Personal Passage’’ or join one of two group programs—the Himalaya Semester or the Village Semester. Participants live with host families and get to know the language and culture while also trekking, rafting, and going on excursions. Fee: A twelve-week program is $7,775.
P RUSTIC PATHWAYS www.rusticpathways.com/gapyear P.O. Box 1150, Willoughby, OH 44096 Phone: 800-321-4353
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Rustic Pathways is a leader in high school programs abroad that has recently added programs specifically for gap year students. They sponsor the ultimate adventure—a trip around the world that you are welcome to join for one or more modules. The journey starts in Costa Rica in September, reaches New Zealand in early December, and finishes in Tanzania in May. Fee: Three-week modules typically cost $3,000.
www.sageprogram.org 19 Old Town Square, Suite 238, Ft. Collins, CO 80524 Phone: 888-997-7243 Sage Program offers two gap year options in India, both designed for students to grow intellectually, emotionally, and socially. The first option Cultural Immersion Programs
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is an academic year or semester at one of India’s renowned international boarding schools. Students live in residence halls with Indian students, taking high school or college-level courses and fully participating in the life of the school. Sage also offers a nonacademic gap year option focused primarily on community service in India. Fee: A full academic year is $18,000; a semester is $9,000; the summer program is $4,000.
P SOJOURNS ABROAD www.sojournsabroad.org P.O. Box 1171, Manchester, VT 05254 Phone: 802-362-5855 Sojourns Abroad is a unique opportunity to live and learn experientially abroad, in a learner-centered curriculum. Semester programs are for gap year students only and are offered in Paris, Barcelona, and Siena, Italy. Sojourns Abroad allows time for students’ own exploration and individual projects, while offering language classes, outdoor adventures, service projects, creative writing exercises, and excursions. Fee: A semester-long program is $16,900.
P SOUTHERN FRANCE YOUTH INSTITUTE www.southernfranceyouthinstitute.com Southern France Youth Institute offers a semester program for American students interested in the culture of Europe and the French language. They offer a dynamic travel-based curriculum where students learn about
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the people, customs, architecture, cuisine, and art of the various regions of Europe. The program is open to students aged sixteen through twenty and includes high school and gap year students. Fee: A semester-long program is approximately $26,000; a four-week summer program is $5,900.
P SUNRISE www.sunrint.com 71A Church Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 2BB, England Students who want to experience China can find many interesting programs at Sunrise, a China specialist. They offer a Chinese Cultural Course that includes lessons in languages, painting, martial arts, calligraphy, cuisine, and other modern Chinese subjects. Sunrise offers English teaching placements, internships in the medical and journalism fields, and volunteer projects, including a popular panda conservation project. Fee: A four-week program combining panda conservation and a travel tour of Beijing is $2,700. PART 2 Cultural Immersion Programs
P THINKING BEYOND BORDERS www.thinkingbeyondborders.org Phone: 203-993-0236 Thinking Beyond Borders is a program designed for gap year students to explore international development through global service learning and academic study. It is a thirty-five-week program designed to educate participants about the economic, cultural, and political realities of the world, while empowering them with the tools to create proactive Cultural Immersion Programs
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social change. This fascinating around-the-world journey begins with an orientation in Costa Rica and continues on to Ecuador. Over the next eight months, participants follow a course of study that takes them to Asia, Africa, and back to the United States. The final six weeks are spent in the United States, offering a chance for students to process what they have learned while meeting with representatives from the United Nations, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. Their final task is to share their Presentations of Learning with educational and philanthropic groups. Fee: The cost for the thirty-five-week program is $35,000, which includes airfare. There is need-based financial aid available, with some students receiving full scholarships.
P UP WITH PEOPLE www.upwithpeople.org 1600 Broadway, Suite 1460, Denver, CO 80202 Phone: 877-264-8856 Up With People is a world-traveling musical performing arts group with eighty to one hundred cast members in each cast. Participants on this six-month journey get to know the culture of each destination through homestays, volunteer work, and meetings with political, corporate, and social leaders. Cast members visit schools to talk with children about their homeland and have worked with people in shelters and refugee camps. The Up With People show has been performed on the Great Wall of China, Red Square in Moscow, and at four Super Bowl halftime shows. Musical talent or experience is not required, since Up With People is ‘‘more interested in your character than your talent.’’
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Fee: The fee for the nine-month program, including all air travel, is $14,250. This fee covers only 30 percent of the cost per student; the remainder is supported through donations. There is financial aid available.
P VENTURECO WORLDWIDE www.ventureco-worldwide.com 64-66 The Market Place, Warwick, CV34 4SD England Phone: 44 1926 411 122
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VentureCo is a gap year specialist firm with programs that combine language schools, local aid projects, and expeditions. Their Three Phase experience includes a period of learning, then volunteer work, and then an expedition. For example, a gapper can learn Spanish in ancient Cusco, volunteer in the Belize jungle to help save the manatees, then venture into the Amazon jungle on an adventure trek. The Inca and Amazon Adventure takes you to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile, while the Kilimanjaro Venture goes to Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. Shorter programs include volunteering as a storyteller with a traveling ‘‘book bus’’ in Zambia, or spending five weeks in East Africa. Fee: A fifty-two-day Central American trip costs $2,900, and two weeks on the book bus in Zambia is $760.
VERMONT INTERCULTURAL SEMESTERS www.vermontis.org P.O. Box 464, Brookfield, VT 05036 Phone: 802-276-3424
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Vermont Intercultural Semesters is a cultural immersion program in Ladakh, a former Buddhist kingdom in the Himalayas that is now a part of India. This program for gap year students is unique because most of the activities, projects, and learning happens with a cohort of Ladakhi students, providing a powerful exchange of knowledge and ideas. Students do a lot of hiking, trekking, and community work, as well as studying the politics and social issues of the region. Fee: The low cost of this semester program is only $9,000, including airfare.
P WHERE THERE BE DRAGONS www.wheretherebedragons.com 3200 Carbon Place, Boulder, CO 80301 Phone: 800-982-9203 Where There Be Dragons programs are authentic, rugged, and profound learning adventures that encourage deep immersion into different physical and cultural landscapes. Semester programs for gap year students are offered in China, the Himalayas, India, the Andes region, West Africa, and Southeast Asia. The programs vary by region, but have the following common components: language study, service learning, a study of philosophy and comparative religion, internships or independent study projects, a survey of development issues, a homestay, and travel in the region. Fee: The West Africa semester is $9,785, and the China semester is $10,150.
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WORLD LEARNING STUDY ABROAD www.sit.edu/studyabroad Kilpling Road, P.O. Box 676, Brattleboro, VT 05302 Phone: 802-257-7751 World Learning is a seventy-five-year-old program with operations in more than seventy-five countries. Their semester academic programs are open to gap year students who are interested in more than just a casual cultural and language trip. Their programs focus on critical global issues, and students can choose from the areas of development studies, environmental studies, global health, peace and conflict studies, gender studies, Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, social justice, or the arts. World Learning offers an enormous number of opportunities in various countries, subject areas, and specializations. Fee: Semester programs range from $15,000 to $18,000.
P YOUNG JUDAEA YEAR COURSE
The Year Course was founded in 1956 as a means for Jewish youth to visit Israel. Today it is a thriving and vibrant program that immerses over five hundred students into life in Israel for nine months. They experience a blend of academic study, community living, volunteering, and travel. The program also has specialty tracks, which allow students to focus on
Cultural Immersion Programs
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www.yearcourse.org 50 West 58th Street, New York, NY 10019 Phone: 212-303-814
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athletics, culinary arts, visual arts, fashion design, or medicine. Young Judaea programs are recommended for Jewish students only. Fee: All courses are nine months long and cost $17,700. Scholarships and financial aid are available.
P YOUTH INTERNATIONAL www.youthinternational.org 232 Wright Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M6R 1L3 Canada Phone: 416-538-0152 Youth International offers one of the lowest-priced travel gap year programs, but is also known as the one with the sparsest living conditions. A Youth International Team consists of fourteen participants between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five and two group leaders. There are three trips each year: one each to Africa, South America, and Asia. All trips start with an orientation in Denver and then move on to multiple countries in the region, staying with host families and completing volunteer projects. The South American trip goes to Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador, including the Galapagos Islands. Fee: An eleven-week program, including airfare from Denver, is $8,500.
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Adventure Programs
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f your idea of getting to know a country means climbing it, hiking it, or tracking its wildlife, then adventure travel is for you. You can go on an expedition to Antarctica, complete a jungle training program in Belize, or explore the Sahara desert. Most adventure programs include community service or conservation components. Participants interested in adventure travel should also review the section on Environmental and Conservation Programs in this directory.
P BRITISH SCHOOLS EXPLORING SOCIETY PART 2 Adventure Programs
www.bses.org/uk Royal Geographical Society, 1 Kensington Gore London SW7 2AR England Phone: 020 7591 3141
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British Schools Exploring Society is an adventurer’s dream, sponsoring polar gap year trips to Antarctica. On the Extreme Arctic trip, volunteers study glaciers and participate in research activities, while learning to live in frigid temperatures. Those who like to stay warm can try a summer trip to the Amazon, where they will canoe, trek, research, and journey to unexplored areas. Summer trips are also offered to the uncharted Himalayas and the Arctic. Fee: A five-week summer trip is $4,400, and a four-month winter Antarctica trip is about $8,900.
P GLOBAL VISION INTERNATIONAL www.gviusa.com 252 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116 Phone: 888-653-6028 Global Vision International (GVI) sends over 2,500 people abroad each year. They volunteer on conservation projects and critical human rights initiatives. They join teams of other adventurers as members of an international research team, living in some of the most remote and dramatic locations on earth. If you go on a GVI trip, you might find yourself tracking lions and elephants through the African bush, trekking through the Amazon rainforest, or climbing to the top of a snow-capped volcano. GVI also offers safari field guide courses and survival courses, as well as traditional volunteer programs. Fee: The four-week safari field guide course in South Africa is $1,700.
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GREENFORCE www.greenforce.org 11-15 Betterton Street, London WC2H 9BP England Phone: 020 7470 888 A partner program with Trekforce, Greenforce specializes in adventure travel while contributing to the lives of fragile and threatened communities. Greenforce offers a Penguin Rescue course near Cape Town, South Africa, a Panda Conservation course in China, and a humanitarian and conservation program in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. Other programs include marine adventures in Fiji or the Bahamas and a wildlife tracking program in Tanzania. Fee: Five weeks in China with the pandas costs $2,360, and six weeks in South Africa with the penguins costs $1,500.
P PACIFIC CHALLENGE www.pacificchallenge.org P.O. Box 1408, Winona, MN 55987 Phone: 541-520-3500
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Pacific Challenge offers an adventure ‘‘down under’’ that combines physical challenges with personal development and ecotourism ideals. You can spend fifty-six days in Australia and New Zealand with eighteen other gappers, engaging in exciting activities such as rafting, caving, rappelling, sea kayaking, swimming with dolphins, and more. Pacific Challenge also offers shorter trips, as well as adventure tours in South America and South Africa.
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Fee: The fifty-six-day Australia and New Zealand program costs $7,450 for three months, including airfare from Los Angeles, but does not include lunches, some dinners, and some activities.
P RALEIGH INTERNATIONAL www.raleighinternational.org 207 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8XD England Phone: 020 7371 8585 Over thirty thousand people have gone on Raleigh International expeditions since its founding in 1978. Raleigh offers a variety of programs, including two core gap year expeditions of either five or ten weeks to Borneo, India, or Costa Rica and Nicaragua. The gap year expedition has three distinct programs: three weeks on a community project; three weeks protecting the country’s natural habitat and wildlife; and three weeks on a tough physical and mental adventure, battling nature’s elements. The Costa Rica and Nicaragua program is especially popular, since it combines a biodiverse and beautiful natural environment with a region of poverty, enabling participants to make a difference while also enjoying a personal adventure. Fee: A ten-week program costs $4,500.
P TREKFORCE www.trekforce.org.uk 530 Fulham Road, London SW6 5NR England Phone: 020 7384 3343
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Trekforce embodies ‘‘the true spirit of raw adventure.’’ If you want to go on an extreme trek through the jungles of Borneo or to Mount Everest in Nepal, or if you want to experience the Sahara desert in Morocco, Trekforce is the program for you. Since its founding in 1990, Trekforce has planted 250,000 trees, been responsible for the formation of one hundred new national parks, worked with three hundred rural schools, and helped set up significant rainforest, archeological, and marine research centers. Trekforce participants complete jungle and cultural training, go on expeditions, and spend time living with a host family and teaching in schools or working on biodiversity projects. Programs last from two weeks to five months, with the most rigorous or ‘‘extreme’’ programs lasting three months or longer. Participants can be placed in Papua New Guinea, Nepal, Central America, Borneo, Morocco, the Amazon area, or Australia. Fee: The Nepal trip costs $2,400 for five weeks or $1,600 for two weeks.
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PART 2 Language Study Programs
Language Study Programs
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here is no better way to learn a language than to undergo a complete immersion experience. There are thousands of language schools across the world that offer the opportunity for intensive instruction. Some of these language schools comprise no more than a few teachers in a community center, with homestays arranged with local families. Others are more elaborate and structured, offering cultural nights, volunteer projects, tours, and arts classes. It is difficult to accurately evaluate a language school abroad, so it’s best to use an agent, which is a firm that provides an unbiased view of the programs, free of charge. Language schools are for people of all ages, so a gap year student might find himself in class with a family, a retiree, or fellow teenagers. Listed below are a few language programs that gap year students have enjoyed, as well as two agents who can help you find an appropriate language school placement.
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AIL MADRID SPANISH LANGUAGE IMMERSION SCHOOL www.ailmadrid.com Doctor Esquerdo 33, 28028, Madrid, Spain Phone: 34 917 256 350 Learn Spanish in the fascinating city of Madrid. AIL offers the opportunity to do an internship, volunteer, and take dance or other cultural lessons. Students can enroll for only one week or stay for AIL’s twelve-week gap year course. The gap year course includes activities and excursions as well as the choice of living in a university residence hall or a homestay. Fee: The cost is $450 per week.
P AMERISPAN www.amerispan.com 1334 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107 Phone: 215-751-1100 Amerispan has sent over thirty thousand students to language programs in the last fifteen years. Amerispan provides an unbiased view of language schools and programs. Their fee is the same as if you registered directly with a language school, since the language schools pay them a commission for placement. Amerispan also arranges part-time volunteer projects during your language course or full-time programs or travel after the course has been completed. Fee: Prices vary by location, but are typically $200 to $400 per week, including a homestay.
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CESA LANGUAGES ABROAD PART 2 Language Study Programs
www.cesalanguages.com CESA House, Pennance Road, Cornwall, TR16 5TQ England Phone: 01209 211800 CESA is one of the leading language schools, offering language classes around the world. Travelers can study Spanish in South America or Spain, French in France, Arabic in Morocco, Portuguese in Portugal, as well as Japanese, Italian, German, Chinese, or Russian. Fee: A four-week program in Moscow, including Russian language classes and homestay accommodation, costs $2,800.
P LANGUAGE LINK www.langlink.com P.O. Box 3006, Peoria, IL 61612 Phone: 800-552-2051 Language Link focuses on Spanish-language schools only and sorts through all of them, recommending only the best. They have contracts with many top corporations and have placed thousands of students. With one office in the United States and another in Mexico, Language Link staff can help you to find the right Spanish-language school for your gap year.
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PART 2 Art, Music, Theater, and Media Programs
Art, Music, Theater, and Media Programs
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he gap year is a wonderful time to explore the arts. You can find opportunities to study fine arts, acting, design, art history, or filmmaking, all while traveling and learning about other cultures. Students who felt compelled to put off their interest in the arts in order to achieve high grades in high school will welcome the opportunity to spend their gap year focusing on their passion.
P ACTOR´S COLLEGE OF THEATRE AND TELEVISION www.actt.edu/au 505 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000 Phone: 02 9213 4500 Australia’s leading acting school offers short-term classes for beginners to accomplished thespians. Students can study acting, musical theater,
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or technical production. Actor’s College of Theatre and Television has a large international student population, so there is plenty of opportunity to meet people from all over the world and to explore Australia. Fee: Courses are $200 to $500 and do not include accommodation or meals.
P APICIUS: THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF FLORENCE www.apicius.it Via Guelfa, 85 50129 Florence, Italy Phone: 39 055 2658135 All cooking classes at Apicius are conducted in English and have a large number of international students. You can try a two-week Gusto Course or take a one-week specialty class. Apicius offers Italian-language classes, wine appreciation sessions, and homestays or apartment rentals. Fee: A one-week session with one class is $370; with two classes it is $670.
P ART HISTORY ABROAD www.arthistoryabroad.com 33 St. Andrew’s Street South, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England Phone: 01284 774772 AHA offers a renowned six-week Italy tour that became so popular that they started offering shorter tours for the parents of their gap year students. The course is a tour of Italy focusing primarily on the wonders of art, but also drawing connections between art, philosophy, music, literature,
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The Complete Guide to the Gap Year
and history. Most students on the program have never studied art before, but after their journey through Venice, Verona, Florence, Siena, Naples, Rome, and six other cities, they finish with an enthusiasm for art and a love of Italian culture. There are twenty-four students and four tutors on each course. Fee: $9,300 for the six-week tour. PART 2 Art, Music, Theater, and Media Programs
P BROWN LEDGE GAP YEAR www.brownledgegapyear.com 25 Wilson Street, Burlington, VT 05401 Phone: 888-74 FOCUS Budding documentary filmmakers flock to the Brown Ledge Gap Year program, which uses digital video, audio, and photography tools to help young people understand and document the world around them. The program starts at a camp in Vermont, where participants learn the essentials of production along with discussion of the ethics and history of documentary filmmaking. The group then travels to El Paso, Texas, where they embark on individual internships and community service projects, and six weeks later they move on to New Orleans for a similar residency. Fee: A semester program is $14,000, including transportation between locations.
P JOHN HALL PRE-UNIVERSITY COURSE IN VENICE www.johnhallvenice.co.uk 12 Gainsborough Road, Ipswich IP4 2, UK Phone: 44 01473 251223
Art, Music, Theater, and Media Programs
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The John Hall Course is a ‘‘nine-week introduction to some of the finest and most thought-provoking achievements in the Western World, from the Classical past to today. The course, conducted through a series of lectures and visits from a team of world-class experts, includes not only painting, sculpture, architecture, but also courses in music, world cinema, literature, painting, photography, and Italian language.’’ The course begins in London before traveling to the residence in Venice. Program extensions to Rome and Florence are available. This program is specifically for gap year students, with forty-two participants in each course. Fee: The nine-week course is $10,600.
P LE CORDON BLEU CULINARY INSTITUTE www.cordonbleu.net 114 Marylebone Road, London W1V 2HH England Phone: 020 7935 3503 Aspiring chefs can earn a Le Cordon Bleu Basic Cuisine certificate in a ten-week program, or they can explore the culinary arts in shorter classes. The institute has locations in London, Paris, and fifteen other locations. Fee: A one-day course in Paris is approximately $210, including meals. A ten-week certificate course in Basic Cuisine is $10,000. These fees do not include accommodations.
P LONDON SCHOOL OF SOUND www.londonschoolofsound.co.uk 35 Britannia Row, Islington, N1 8QH London England Phone: 44 20 7354 7337
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Aspiring music industry moguls can get their start at the London School of Sound, taking courses in recording and mixing, sound engineering, music production, and DJ. Short courses last from three days to eight weeks, and certificate programs are one year. Fee: An eighteen-week music production class is $3,800, and a DJ weekend crash course is $685. PART 2 Art, Music, Theater, and Media Programs
P NEW YORK FILM ACADEMY www.nyfa.com 100 East 17th Street, New York, NY 10003 Phone: 212-674-4300 People from all over the world come to the New York Film Academy to pursue their
