Q. Is asking for a deferment in order to do a GAP year a complex process? A. No, college admissions usually asks students to write a letter explaining the design of their GAP year. Approval means that a student’s place will be secured for the following academic year.
Q. Are students who take an interim year the needy or the less successful? A. Many students take GAP years; Harvard, Princeton, Brown encourage their applicants to take an interim year. (see resource link to Harvard article)
Q. Do students who anticipate deferring need to worry about applying to colleges their senior year? A. Students need to complete the college application process in a serious manner, following their high school’s timeline; accessing high school documents once graduated is a more complicated process.
Q. Should students declare the idea of taking an interim year on their college apps.? A. Colleges that encourage the interim year may ask students to indicate this choice on their application; others suggest accepting by May 1 and then writing a deferral request.
Q. Do students who take an interim year decide not to attend college? A. Just the opposite is true; almost 100% of all interim students go to college.
Q. After a successful interim year, could a student be accepted at a college that originally rejected him/her? A. We wish we could confirm this possibility; however, a well-designed GAP year speaks authentically about a student’s additional strengths in a distinguishing way and thus could be additionally persuasive. A GAP year can also re-direct a student’s initial college choices based on his/her new self-understanding. On the other hand, an interim year will not eradicate a blotchy academic record.
Q. Are scholarship opportunities denied after a GAP year? A. Not necessarily. A need-based scholarship would be reviewed, of course; most merit-based scholarships are tied to an individual’s enrollment. Verifying the specifics is important, because policies vary from school to school.
SEEC, Inc. Student College and Gap Year Consulting