Gap Year in light of COVID

ForumCategory: ApplicationsGap Year in light of COVID
Lil asked 3 years ago
I’m taking a gap year and I’m not sure what to do, as COVID is still a very big problem in the US. Do you have any ideas of what I can do, or any insight into what colleges are looking for, with these limitations in mind? Also, how should I discuss my gap year in my application (supplements, resume, essay, etc.)?
Thanks!

2 Answers
Susanna de Chenonceau answered 3 years ago

Hi Lil!  It’s great to hear from you. Typically kids apply to college with their class and then defer their admission and take their gap year, so you will want to be clear to the colleges that you graduated and took a gap year and are applying during your gap year. That aside, here are some excellent ideas that I have been collecting for gap years. Many of them have great options for this year during Covid.  🙂

Tufts offers a Civic Action Gap Semester that looks really great: Civic Action Gap Semester

This is my running resource list of gap year programs:

·       Academy at Watkinson
·       Adventures Cross-Country
·       Africa & Asia Venture, Ltd.
·       Amigos de las Americas
·       API
·       Art History Abroad
·       Carpe Diem International Education
·       Center for Interim Programs
·       CIEE (Council on International Education Exchange)
·       City Year Inc.
·       Cross Cultural Solutions
·       Dynamy Internship Year
·       Ecole International d’Etude de la Terre
·       EF International Language Centers
·       EnRoute Counsulting
·       First Abroad
·       Foundation for Sustainable Developmenthttp://
·       Gap Year South Africa
·       Global Citizen Year
·       International Studies Abroad ISA & ISA High School
·       LEAPNOW: Transforming Education
·       Maximo Nivel
·       National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)
·       Next Step China LLC
·       Outward Bound
·       Real Gap
·       Rustic Pathways
·       Sansori
·       Sea | mester
·       Summit Adventure
·       Take Australia
·       The Experiment in International Living
·       The Leap
·       Thinking Beyond Borders
·       VisitOz
·       Where There Be Dragons
·       Youth For Understanding (YFU)

Hope this helps, dear!  Post any other questions you have. 🙂

Yay, college!
Susanna

Susanna de Chenonceau answered 3 years ago

PS, I also just realized that you could also take some classes this year if you want. BUT, be careful NOT to take college credit classes or you will have to apply as a transfer student and it is WAY more difficult to be accepted as a Transfer than it is as a regular freshman with no college classes.

Here are some online class options, but talk with your school counselor before you do anything like this.  🙂
Stanford Online High School
immerse.education — Oxford and Cambridge tutors work with you one-on-one
Florida Virtual School
Harvard’s free programming classes: https://online-learning.harvard.edu/subject/programming
DigiPen
idTech
Codeacademy
Coursera
EdX
Udemy
Udacity
Khan Academy
Class Central
EDX
coding.com
Harvard’s MORPH (Mathematics Online Reading Program for High schoolers) program: Recommended Online Math, CS, and Statistics Resources!
http://www.cambridge-research.org
Hope this helps!
Susanna