College Admissions Gap Years

College Admissions Gap Years May 15, 2012 Dont surf all the time during a gap year and expect to be admitted to a highly selective college (photo credit: L.E. MacDonald). College admissions gap years are becoming more and more common. Its not like we havent written about gap years in the past, but weve got some new data to report thanks to Inside Higher Ed. As reported by ABC News, An estimated 1.2 percent of first-time college freshmen take a gap year, most of them male students, according to the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California Los Angeles. Do you find it interesting that male students are more likely than female students to take gap years? Why do you think that is? Does it have to do with a desire for adventure after high school? Or disciplinary / maturation issues? This certainly explains part of the data discrepency. The fact is that some of our nations most highly selective colleges from Harvard to Princeton to Middlebury offer gap year admission. They allow students to defer their enrollment a year. Maybe its to train to compete in the Olympics. Maybe its to work at an orphanage in Soweto. Maybe its to get a job to help ones parents afford the high cost of college. The reasons vary but the gap year trend remains a constant one. And if youre under the impression that students who choose to take gap years are less motivated than their counterparts who go straight from high school into college, thats often not the case. Are there students who take a gap year to sit on the couch and watch movies? Probably. But thats pathetic. Most students we know that have taken gap years have done extraordinary things during their in-between year. They didnt lounge around on the couch. They went out into the world and tried to make a difference. And when they started college the next year, they were rejuvenated, satisfied in their accomplishment for the previous year, and motivated to achieve great success in college. What do you think about college admissions gap years? Let us know your thoughts by posting below!