For American high school seniors (and their parents), the first four months of the new year ring in an especially stressful period – the final throes of the college admissions process. Deadlines for applications arrive, decisions for early action are made, campus visits are made and weighing final selection all add to the angst. “Will I get in?” is replaced by “where will I go?” in the minds of these students.
 
For those who grapple with the pressure of a third question, “am I ready?” there is an increasingly popular alternative if they don’t feel ready to matriculate in September: a gap year.

That’s what Milwaukee resident Sage McCormick, who just turned 19, chose. She one of a growing number of students studying abroad in Asia. McCormick, who is in China, says of the experience:

What I ultimately learned was our final was pretty much like any other test we took at the end of the week, except it covered what we'd learned throughout the whole semester rather than just the weekly topic. Basically I am no longer intimidated by midterms or finals. University is going to be a breeze!

The American Gap Association finds nearly all students say their gap years helped them develop as a person (95 percent) and increased their maturity (97 percent). It also helped focus their academic and career paths: 84 percent say it helped them acquire skills to be successful in their future careers. Indeed, isn’t that the purpose of education? No wonder 73 percent say the experience increased their readiness for college.
 
Selective colleges and universities like the University of North Carolina, Yale, Princeton, and Middlebury get it and are beginning to bake an international gap year into their curricula. This year Tufts’ Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service just launched a new bridge-year program to provide a structured year of full-time national or international service before students begin their four years of undergraduate study.

While some students elect to spend their gap years exploring or working domestically, there is an advantage to going abroad during this time. As the Asia Society notes in its book Educating for Global Competence: Preparing Our Youth to Engage the World, today’s students need a globally conscious education for what is assuredly a global era:

“Young people need to understand the worldwide circulation of ideas, products, fashions, media, ideologies, and human beings. These phenomena are real, powerful, ubiquitous. By the same token, those growing up in the world of today— and tomorrow! —need preparation to tackle the range of pervasive problems: human conflict, climate change, poverty, the spread of disease, the control of nuclear energy.”

 
Whoa! That’s pretty heady stuff for a 17-year-old. But consider the effect a gap year abroad had on one of its highest profile advocates, author Nicholas Kristof, who credits his gap year in the Sudan with shaping his own global perspective. He now runs a contest to bring college students on international reporting trips.
 
For families in the midst of the college application process, uncertain about following the status quo rather than striking their own path, a gap year abroad may be just the solution to be better prepared for the next chapters in the student’s life, not only college, but career and life beyond.

Sage and her host family little sister, Joy

Matt Redman is the Vice President for High School Study Abroad at CIEE

More resources:

Planning a gap year: 5 essential tips

The Big Trip: Your Ultimate Guide to Gap Years and Overseas Adventures