Is a gap year a good idea?

Bob Clagett on Taking a Gap Year

 

Taking a "gap year" -- deferring enrollment for a year once you have been admitted to the school you plan to attend -- is a choice more and more colleges are encouraging. Bob Clagett is the former dean at Middlebury College, which provides the opportunity for students to pursue a semester off and enroll in February. He joins us today to talk about why a gap year can be a good idea, the opportunities that exist for students, and the outcomes -- students who take a gap year have higher grades!

 

Mr. Clagett has also agreed to answer reader's questions about a gap year. Please submit your question in the comment box below or email us at authors@collegeadmissionbook.com. We'll run Mr. Clagett's answers on the blog next week.

 

During almost 30 years of admissions work at Harvard and Middlebury, I saw plenty of students arrive on campus ready and eager to get started.  But every year I also saw a few who seemed unengaged, with a slightly dazed look in their eyes, as if they had just stepped off a wild roller coaster ride.