Gap Year Articles

Gap Year can be a worthwhile step off the "education treadmill"

23 Jun 2010

Stacey Bradford, a writer for CBS MoneyWatch.com, has identified gap years as a way for students to remain on "the educated path" while giving them "some authority over their lives". Her report, which looks at how students feel "burned out" having finished school, investigates the various advantages of taking a step off the "education treadmill", notably that students come back with "extra focus", having had some "real world experience". If they do something worthwhile, she says, students "often feel rejuvenated and enter college (/university) with more maturity than (other) kids".

Holly Bull, president of The Center for Interim Programs, said that many of the top education institutions, including Princeton, are "embracing the gap year".

Bradford's report goes on to suggest volunteer work, professional internships and foreign language programs as potential courses to consider for a gap experience.

more...