Tag: College

Transitioning from a Gap Year to College (Part 1)

by Gap Year Solutions

By Anna Nickerson, Babson College Class of 2022

IMG_8131

Anna near Boulder CO before embarking on her gap year.

When I first took a gap year, I got a flood of questions from friends; “Will you feel weird about not still being in our graduating class? What about college? Can you defer? Are you planning to even go back to school?” Despite the unorthodox path I was taking compared to my friends, I knew that this would best prepare me for my first year of college and my life beyond that — despite others’ opinions. When I look back on my gap year experience, I’m even more confident I made the right decision. My gap year was challenging, exciting, and allowed me to do things I never could have dreamed of doing in college or once I start working professionally.

All gap years are different, and there’s no program that is “One Size Fits All.” When I planned my gap year, I wanted to get the most adventure, travel, and skill-building out of a program as I could. I decided to do a program which takes students to 10 countries over 9 months, and teaches gappers a wide variety of “life skills”. It was the best fit for me and satiated my desire to see and learn as much about the world as I could (in less than a year). With that said, I have college friends who elected to stay home and work, take classes abroad, and even work on a political campaign while on their gap years. The first part of the gap year planning process is identifying what you want to get out of your year, which can then lead you to a year-long program, a series of shorter programs, or even a DIY gap year.

Once you identify what you want and then eventually embark on your gap year, most students choose to go on to college (usually the one they deferred originally). So now what? You’ve had a potentially life changing experience on your gap year and you’re expected to go back to the classroom. What is that going to be like?

IMG_2124 (2)

Anna on her first day at Babson College

Well, everyone’s transition to college is a rollercoaster, regardless of whether or not you’re a “gapper.” To give you context, I’ll be drawing on my own personal experience as I just completed my freshman year of college. My transition from my gap year to college was not necessarily easy, but I feel strongly that it went much more smoothly than it would have if I hadn’t taken my year off from school. I attend Babson College, which is a small, private business school outside Boston. Jumping into a competitive, academically-rigorous and entrepreneurial environment right after traveling the world definitely had its challenges.

Firstly, my intense workload at school was an immediate challenge. It wasn’t the difficulty of the assignments or exams that made Babson particularly challenging, rather the workload itself. Because I had been in an alternative learning environment for so long on my gap year, it took a lot out of me to sit in a cubicle on the third floor of the library doing homework and writing papers for hours on end. I simply wasn’t used to that. Although this was a challenge, it didn’t slow me down. I learned the importance of both giving and receiving feedback on my gap year. This allowed me to more openly communicate with my professors, so I felt comfortable asking for help during office hours or even during class. So many students struggle through college and ignore their learning resources, such as office hours, student tutors, librarians, counselors, etc. I learned on my gap year that it’s a good thing to not only ask for help, but to be proactive about it. And as for those long sessions in the library, I discovered ways to make it easier. I changed up my location every couple hours, studied with friends, and made sure to take breaks.

IMG_8130

Anna and her gap year friends in Belize before jumping off 30 foot cliff!

Another challenge, probably the biggest one of my entire first semester, was how much I missed my gap year friends. Obviously everyone has to make new friends in college, which can be daunting. I felt like this was especially difficult for me because I had just left my closest friends, people whom I considered family, on my gap year. By the end of my gap year, I felt much closer to these friends than I have ever been with my high school friends. Traveling and living with people for 9 months brings out the good, the bad, and the ugly in everyone. But it’s through that shared experience that strangers become best friends. And very few high school friendships are like that, at least from my experience. Because of my expectations for having deep and profound friendships, I found it really difficult to start over with superficial acquaintances in college. As a result, I felt lonely during the first semester, until I joined a sorority and other on-campus organizations and found better friends during the second semester. While this challenge is prevalent for every incoming college freshman, I think it can be particularly difficult for gappers, especially those who have spent intensive months forming life-long friendships. That makes starting over with new friends at school even more difficult.

 — To Be Continued —

In Part 2 of “Transitioning from a Gap Year to College” (August 2019), Anna discusses how her gap year helped her adjust to college life, and final advice for gappers as they head off to college.

Interview with Lucia Poggi (UChicago ’23)

by Gap Year Solutions

Interview by Anna Nickerson

Lucia Poggi 1 (2)

Photo: Lucia (left) on the campaign trail in Northern Virginia!

It is a common misconception that in order to take a gap year, you must travel abroad extensively. Many students choose to forgo travel-based programs and focus on other opportunities, such as Gapper Lucia Poggi. Lucia just finished up her gap year, which consisted of career-centered work in the U.S. as well as independent travel. Gap Year Solutions recently spoke with Lucia and asked her about her year. Lucia’s experience serves as an important example that not all gap years are “One Size Fits All.” Independently planned gap years take time and careful attention to plan. Keep reading to learn more about Lucia’s gap year and the advice she has for potential gappers!

Tell me about yourself and your gap year.

I am from Richmond, Virginia and I went to the Hotchkiss School, a boarding school in Connecticut. I deferred my admission from the University of Chicago in order to take a gap year that combined some of my interests. I am really interested in political campaigning, so I wanted this to be a big part of my gap year.

Originally my parents were actually open to the idea of a gap year, but they didn’t want me to do a program. They felt that because I’m now an adult, I should plan my own experience and live where I want. When I started planning my year, the timing worked out perfectly because it was during midterms season. I worked in Northern Virginia on a political campaign for someone aspiring to be in the House of Representatives, 10th district. I wanted to do some resume-building and get real work experience in political campaigning. I lived in a house with fellow Hotchkiss alumni, whom I found through our alumni app.

In the Spring, I traveled to Bonair, a small Dutch island in the Carribbean. I lived and worked there for 3 months. 3 days out of the week, I volunteered for a turtle conservation organization and during the rest of the week, I waited tables at a local restaurant. I also did a lot of scuba diving, which was great.

Lucia Poggi 3

Photo: Lucia and friends scuba diving in Bonaire

What skills do you think you learned on your gap year?

I think the work experience in political campaigning provided me with a lot of professional skills. More specifically, I learned how to structure and organize my time during my entire gap year. One big challenge I had was that the elections ended in Mid-November, but I didn’t go to Bonaire until January. This left me with a couple months of unstructured time, so I wish I had maybe been more productive during those months in Richmond.

I also learned how to live alone and with fewer people than I’m used to. At Hotchkiss, I was constantly surrounded by friends, roommates, and my classmates. There was always an opportunity to be around other people, but my gap year forced me to be with only a few people or even by myself. As an extrovert, I think this was a really important skill for me to learn especially in preparation for college.

How did Hotchkiss support you in your decision to take a gap year?

 Hotchkiss was very supportive and encouraging of my decision to take a gap year, among other students who also chose that path. Out of my graduating class of about 172, somewhere between 10-12 students chose to take a gap year before attending college. Compared to my middle school, which was a K-12, I felt much more supported by Hotchkiss to take a gap year. Some schools can make you feel like an underachiever for taking a gap year, but that wasn’t the case at Hotchkiss.

Why did you decide to take a Gap Year? What got you interested?

 A lot of people at Hotchkiss actually take gap years, so that got me interested. I felt that it would be great to do a lot of things on a gap year that I couldn’t necessarily do once I’m in college or working in my professional career.

I was also feeling burnt out from school. I couldn’t get excited about signing up for classes and I knew that if I took a year off to re-evaluate, I would thrive much more at school.

Lucia Poggi 6 (2)

Photo: Lucia and her brother traveling on her gap year.

What was the biggest challenge on your gap year?

Definitely the unstructured time between the Fall and Spring sections of my gap year. Even though I learned how to manage my time better, this was challenging. If I did my gap year again, I would have planned more in between then.

What advice do you have for someone who is planning on taking a gap year?

Make sure you talk to people who have taken a gap year! I also think you should get a good balance of productivity and fun and doing things that you actually want to do or are interested in, rather than just doing things that look good on a resume.

 

Six Questions Most Students Ask Before Taking A Gap Year

by Gap Year Solutions

029A79D6-3922-4D77-B804-A648EB94B6B5

Photo Credit: GYS student

  1. Would I be behind after taking a Gap Year?

Absolutely not! We understand that this is a common concern of both students and parents though. One of the ways they express their concern is wondering if missing math or not being “academic” for a year will cause a form of learning “atrophy”. This turns out not to be the case. Studies have shown that students who take a Gap Year end up graduating with higher GPAs. In fact, students who take a Gap Year feel more prepared, ready to learn and are more engaged academically and socially after they arrive on campus.

  1. What happens if I choose a different program than my major of study?

While there are no absolutes when it comes to the deferral process and college policies regarding majors and other areas such as transfer credits, for the most part students will find that colleges are flexible. We find that colleges are wiling to work with Gappers to accommodate changes in majors and undergraduate programs. It is up to the student to take the initiative to reach out to their college and ensure that things are in order for their enrollment.

  1. I would like to apply for College, should I apply before or after I take a Gap Year?

We highly recommend that high school seniors apply to colleges as they normally would. Students would then decide on their school, and put down a deposit to hold their place by the deadline. Seniors who are considering a Gap Year will often be thinking about and researching options during their last semester, and checking in with their school of choice to make sure they understand the deferral policies and process. Currently, every school has a unique process, and while there are many similarities, it is super important to understand how it works for the student’s own school. Having said this, we have worked with students who choose to apply to college during the first portion of their Gap Year. This is for many reasons, including not knowing what they want to study in college, not getting accepted to their preferred schools, and sometimes simply because they delayed the whole college application process.

  1. How do I find the right project(s) for me?

Typically students participate in multiple activities during their Gap Year. We tend to think of a Gap Year as broken up into segments, almost like college semesters. There is almost never just one “project” during this time (examples of a long, single activity would be something such as City Year or a year long language immersion program). We work with our students to structure a Gap Year plan that includes a number of experiences based on their interests and goals. These include internships, jobs, service and volunteer opportunities, travel, adventure, leadership and many others.

  1. Are there gap year scholarships or financial aid available?

Many programs offer financial assistance and scholarships to help with affordability, and there are also other grants available specifically to support Gap Year experiences. We suggest enrolling in structured Gap Year programs as early in the process as possible, since funds do run out. Parents can utilize funds from 529 accounts if there will be college credits earned during the program. Also some colleges are now offering stipends to support admitted students who are deferring enrollment to pursue a Gap Year. UNC has done this for several years, and Duke will be awarding up to $15,000 to support their Gap Year.  In addition, many of our students work during their Gap Year and will often use their earnings to help pay for a Gap Year program. Lack of financial resources should NEVER be a reason not to consider a Gap Year!

  1. Do Colleges like Gap Years? Will my application to College be accepted after I take a Gap Year?

Colleges love Gap Years! We recently surveyed U.S. colleges and universities about their attitudes towards Gap Years, and with few exceptions, schools embrace the benefits that Gap Years bring to students. A few comments we received during our research:

  • Boston College: “We fully support the decision to take a gap year”
  • Reed College: “We support the passions of admitted students and how they achieve their educational goals, which we understand may involve a gap year”
  • NC State: “We see them as beneficial to a student’s intellectual growth and maturity”
  • Clark University: “We love students who participate in experiential and alternative learning experiences”

 

This post originally appeared on United Planet on May 13, 2019 as “Six Questions Most Students Ask Before Taking A Gap Year? Gap Year Consultant, Katherine Stievater, Shares Expertise With United Planet.”

 

 

How My Gap Year Made Me A Better College Student (And Better Person)

by Gap Year Solutions

20180809_000928557_iOS

After 13 years of rigorous academics in a very competitive school system, I felt burnout and lacked the motivation to continue on with my studies.  I performed well in the classes I enjoyed, but not so well in others that bored me.   Learning in the classroom was no longer something I enjoyed, it was something I loathed.  After I got out of school and back from my sports practices, I liked to hang out with my friends.  I never did my homework.  I just didn’t see the point.  When would I ever use geometry or physics in the “real world”?  I used to be the first person to tell you that grades didn’t matter, and make up some excuse as to why that was.  Unfortunately, college admissions officers didn’t love my way of thinking, and my top choice college closed its doors on me. I ended up getting an early-action acceptance offer from Fairfield University, but I just wasn’t that excited about going to college. I knew it was time to go to Plan B.

The Miracle Cure: A Gap Year?

My mom suggested I consider a gap year during my sophomore year of high school, but I didn’t give it any thought at the time. But by late senior year I was at a point where I no longer desired to learn and I felt much more excited to gain real-world knowledge through experiential learning. And with the cost of college rising every year, my parents wanted to make sure their investment in my education would be sound. I decided on my own to take a gap year. (No one should be forced to take a gap year, it has to come from within.  If my parents had forced me to take a gap year, I would have experienced intense FOMO and longed to be with my friends experiencing college life.)

Originally, I had planned on spending a semester in the South Pacific. However, that changed once I discovered a “once in a lifetime trip” to Cuba which opened up shortly after Obama visited the country in 2015.  Due to the large expense of the trip in the spring, my parents and I formulated a carrot and stick approach.  I would work in the fall and winter and this money would help pay for a trip abroad in the spring. That divided my gap year up into three distinct semesters, or as I like to say “chunks.”

Chunk One: Real World Experiences

In September 2016 I worked as a “jack-of-all-trades” at a resort in southern Maine. I had many different jobs, from serving food on the cabana to working the register at a store in the facility.  Working in the hospitality industry taught me valuable life lessons, and I could write many blog posts on everything I learned just from that field.  During my time in Maine I was fortunate to be able to live near the hotel in a house that has been in my family for many years.  However, it was anything but easy.  It was the first time I had truly lived alone, and I had adult responsibilities for the first time. My parents had bestowed a tremendous amount of responsibility on me, and I had to prove to them I could succeed.  I got up every day and biked the mile or so to work, rain or shine in order to fulfill my end of the deal.  If I was lazy and decided to not cook dinner, I would have no food to eat.  If I missed work because I was tired from staying up too late, I would get fired.  I was put in a situation where failure was not possible.  This was the first valuable lesson I learned early on during the year: You’re on your own as an adult, and if you don’t do it no one else will. It was almost like getting a shock treatment in independence.  Slowly, I developed a daily routine and started thriving at both home and my job at the resort.

This brings me to another way I grew during the gap year: I developed a solid work ethic.  Even though I have had summer jobs since I was 14, this was the first time where I was working towards a goal other than making spending money.  I had a goal of making money to travel abroad and pursued it with both passion and determination.  In the future when life gets tough, I can always look back and reminisce on my experiences in Maine that taught me the importance of a work ethic and enabled me to mature and develop my independence.

Chunk Two: Helping Others to Help Myself

My second chunk was in my hometown of Belmont, MA where I worked at an upscale Italian restaurant and volunteered at a food pantry in Boston.  The grit, determination, and work ethic I developed at the resort carried back to my new job where I was regularly working 40 hours a week.  At the restaurant, I became friends with a group of three brothers my age who were immigrants from Colombia.  When our conversations would drift from work to life, I came to realize that college was most likely out of their reach.  I thought about how much I had resented schooling and realized that I never fully appreciated my access to high quality education.

Besides working at the restaurant, I also volunteered once a week at a food pantry.  In order to get there, I had to navigate Boston’s public transportation.   It didn’t take me too long to get the “T” down to a science.  It was all very new and exciting, and it felt like a big adventure.  Working at the food pantry also made me appreciate the blessings in my life.  I was helping prepare food for people who were too sick to cook for themselves, and it felt good knowing I was doing some good.

My experiences of working full-time and volunteering developed into the third way I grew as an individual:  I realized that things that I had once taken for granted were privileges.  One of the biggest shifts in my thinking was realizing in United States college education was a privilege, not a right afforded to all.  Ninety-six percent of my high school class attended a four-year university. I had no idea that this number was not the norm in most parts of the country. This realization contributed to my increased desire to perform to the best of my abilities by not throwing away my blessings.  The gap year taught me to be aware of my privileges, and showed me that even though this world is far from perfect there are certainly ways to make a positive impact on the lives of others.

Chunk Three: Expanding My Knowledge Abroad

The final chunk of my year was the most exciting part, and what attracts many young people to take gap years: international travel.  I would be spending a semester with a group of 12 people in Cuba.  Besides doing service work and exploring the country, I was also going to be taking classes and receiving 12 college credits. The scale of what I was doing didn’t even sink in until I was already on the plane to Miami.  There would be no turning back now, I was in this for the long haul!  Before I traveled to this “forbidden island”, a friend who had recently studied abroad in Ireland shared a fantastic piece of advice with me.  She suggested that I go abroad without any expectations, not good, and especially not bad.  I carried this advice with me on my trip, and I still use it to this day when approaching new adventures in my life.

I encountered many Cubans and enjoyed having conversations with them.  The Cuban people who I met were incredibly warm and friendly, even though they were living in poverty.  I envied the close bonds all Cubans seemed to share and the general zest for life so many of them had.  This became the fourth unexpected way I grew during my gap year: In my life, the goal was going to be happiness, not monetary “success”.  The Cubans who apparently had “nothing” in terms of material goods, obviously had something much more important.  What I discovered they possessed was happiness.  I would rather be happy than have material goods.  The gap year allowed me to explore my passions to discover what I really enjoyed doing.  After spending three months traveling back in time through Cuba I came to realize that the world was so much more complex and diverse than I ever could have imagined.

Flash Forward

Flash forward to my freshman year at Fairfield University, and my G.P.A is light years ahead of where it was in high school.  After my gap year, I was determined not to let my grades slip like they had in high school.  I realized that the consequences of me slacking off would be affecting my job prospects in the “real world”.  Besides the tremendous effect it has had on my academic performance, the gap year has made me a marketable hire in the business world.  It has helped set me apart, and businesses are interested to hear what I spent my year doing while my peers were busy studying for exams and writing papers.

Another great benefit of the gap year was a general sense of global awareness.  It was really interesting to hear how people viewed the United States from the outside and learning the ins and outs of a different culture.  When trying to explain the gap year to people, I like to say for me, it was a year without societal expectations.  I was not in college, nor had I completely entered the workforce.  The year was a blank canvas, and I was able to fill it with whatever activities or passions that I desired.  Reflect for a moment and think, “When was a time you had the freedom to completely control your life?”.  Ask anyone who took a gap year and they will probably tell you that this was the overarching theme during their year of growth.

Advice for Gap Years

In explaining the growth someone undergoes during a gap year experience, I like to use a simple metaphor.  When an athlete is trying to build muscle or “bulk-up”, they have to lift heavy weights.  If they chose to take the easy way out and lift lighter weights, they will not get the same results.  The same basic theory applies for gap years.  Someone who leaves their comfort zone is going to grow many times more than someone who chooses to stay where it doesn’t “hurt”.  The gap year that involves taking risks and getting out of a comfort zone is going to be much more rewarding in the long term.  The fifth way I grew during my gap year came by realizing that until I could be comfortable being uncomfortable, I would never truly be happy.  Life is full of experiences that downright suck, and being able to have perspective has helped me.  Boston traffic isn’t fun, but neither was having no access to water for 6km of a 12km hike through the jungle!  I am also a firm believer that the journey is much more memorable than just focusing on the end result.  I remember my whole gap year as an unbelievable time of personal growth and understanding.  I don’t just look back to my travels in Cuba and say “yeah, that was the defining moment of this year”.  I value all the parts involved, because I would not have arrived in Cuba so prepared had it not been for the prior months.

The gap year that masks a vacation will certainly allow someone to remain comfortable and lead a very pleasurable and potentially glamourous year.  However, the learning and growth that takes place when someone is uncomfortable creates a much deeper, and more meaningful experience.  I was pushed way out of my comfort zone, and I came out a global citizen who had “real world” experiences I will carry with me for the rest of my adult life. The good news is anyone can experience similar growth and knowledge.  The one question to ask yourself is, “do I have the courage to swim against the current?”.