Gap years are all the rage, and the rationales are many: Take a year off between high school and college to work, travel, learn a language or skill, or volunteer.
Gap years can be “excellent opportunities for students to mature, follow a passion, or scratch an itch they’ve got, and return a year later,” said Houston Dougharty, vice president of student affairs at Grinnell College in Iowa.
But Dougharty says there are pitfalls: “I’ve also seen cases where a student has taken a gap year and not used the time effectively, and found it has not helped them either in terms of maturing or developing skills or being more ready for college.”
