By Yujia Song

While most of his friends are waiting with apprehension for college acceptance letters, Nate Winston has something different in mind. He is fairly sure he will eventually end up in a college, but when the fall term comes, he will be packing up for Europe.

Winston, a senior from Rockbridge County High School (RCHS), said he plans to take a part-time job this summer to fund the trip. Then he will visit some European countries for two to three months, “seeing what’s out there.” After he returns home, he will start a semester in February at the National Outdoor Leadership School, an organization well-known for teaching expedition and leadership skills.

It’s called “gap year.”
Very few students go on such a nontraditional path as taking a gap year after graduation, according to Deborah Pruett, a guidance counselor at RCHS. Although counselors and teachers can be involved in making this decision, the gap year option is more of a personal choice. At school, students are encouraged to either attend colleges or join the workforce after graduation, said Andy Bryan, the principal of RCHS.
But not all high school graduates are ready to take the next step expected of them. Nor is everyone contented to follow the crowd. That is why Winston’s friend Nick Vandervort also plans to delay college.

“I haven’t found my direction yet,” he said. While the majority of his friends are going straight to colleges, he “didn’t want to be part of it.”

Although it is still an unusual phenomenon in United States, taking a gap year is rather the norm in most European countries as well as in Australia. In Britain alone, over 30,000 undergraduate applicants deferred entry in 2004, according to a study conducted for the Department of Education and Skills of the UK government. And the figure is but “a fraction” of the actual number of “gappers” -- students who take a gap year, a researcher says.

A gap year takes a variety of forms, such as traveling, volunteering or working. Regardless of what students do, a well-spent gap year enhances their maturity, said Nannette Partlett, director of Teacher Education at Washington and Lee University.

The freedom of a college life can be too much for an 18-year-old freshman to handle, she said. But a 19-year-old with more life experience usually finds it easier to adjust to the change.

Katherine Greene, a sophomore at W&L, was a gapper. “I feel a lot more grown-up than a lot of friends of my age,” she said. She worked as a bartender after the university suggested she wait for one year for a better financial aid package. The real world experience has made her a more responsible person, whether it is paying her bills on time or making decisions about her career, she said.

Damon Hopkins, who graduated from RCHS two years ago, is taking a gap year after his freshman year at Virginia Commonwealth University.

“My work ethic has improved a lot,” he said, explaining he is now more disciplined and focused on what he does. Since August last year, he has been working at Lowe’s, a home improvement retailer.

While work can equip students with valuable skills, travel is also “one of the best learning experiences you can have,” said Partlett.

William Noel, a W&L senior, agrees. Having stayed in Thailand for three months by himself, Noel had the opportunity to learn about “the scenery, food, people, transportation… everything about that country.”

However, some are wary of the adverse impact that a gap year has on continuing education. A recent study from the Johns Hopkins University shows students who delay college enrollment by more than one year are 64 percent less likely to complete undergraduate education. Even though many students initially plan to take one year off, some of them may extend their gap year because they have established a family or built up a debt during the first year, said Partlett.

Others may feel rather contented with getting “trapped” in the gap.

“A lot of girls did not want to go back because they could make a lot more money than their parents,” Greene said of her fellow bartenders. Fortunately, she was able to resist the temptation of that easy money, knowing she had other priorities in life.

Still, there are students who realize the importance of higher education from their gap year experience.

Both Mathilde Hungerford and Elissa Hanson of W&L said they missed school during the year off. Senior Hungerford, who worked at a girls’ school in Australia, said she felt a high school education was inadequate. “I was not qualified for something I want to do,” she said.

For freshman Hanson, her experience as a dancer with a ballet company helped her decide between her interests. Her plan now is to keep dancing as a hobby, and study environmental policy law in school.

Whether gap year benefits a student essentially depends on “how you use the time,” said Partlett. Pruett, the high school counselor, shared the same view, saying those who have established goals and plans are more likely to make the most out of the gap year.

For Winston’s parents, a good plan was the main reason for their support of his decision. “He has direction. [He has] definite goals he would like to attain,” said his mother, Sally Winston. She added that Winston needs to fill in more details of his itinerary to get their final approval.

As part of his plan, Winston will apply to colleges when he comes back from Europe, he said. But for most students, it is better to apply earlier. High school counselor Pruett said she strongly encourages students to apply in senior year and then defer entry. This way, they can set off for the gap year, assured of a place in college when they return.

Indeed, this is what most gappers do, according to W&L Admissions Counselor Kelly Kopcial. She said colleges generally support students’ decisions to defer. At W&L, students requesting deferral need simply to submit a letter stating their plans for the year.

From her experience, most gappers make good transitions to W&L, Kopcial said. Despite their diverse backgrounds, they are usually “comfortable in individuality,” with perspectives on life quite different from other students.
 

Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.

Lead supervisor:      Prof. Claudette Artwick

Reporting supervisor: Prof. Doug Cumming

Editing supervisor:  Prof. Pamela Luecke

Technical supervisor:  Michael Todd