7 Gap Year Trends to Know for 2024 by Katherine Stievater, Accredited Gap Year Consultant This article has been reposted from the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) Insights Journal. View the original post at https://www.iecaonline.com/quick-links/ieca-news-center/insights-newsletter/insights-winter-2024/seven-gap-year-trends-to-know-for-2024/ Part of my mission as a gap year consultant is to help educate students, parents, school counselors, and independent educational consultants (IECs) about the benefits of gap years. Over the last decade, gap years have now fully entered the discussion regarding postsecondary options, assisted by Malia Obama’s widely publicized 2016 experience. The COVID-19 pandemic brought more attention, as thousands of graduating high school seniors…
Research
Gap Year Research Consortium at Colorado College by Bob Clagett IMAGE from Colorado College Anyone who has taken a gap year or is somehow connected to the gap year community is familiar with the myriad benefits of doing so. Students who take a gap year between high school and college are almost invariably more mature, more focused, and more likely to take advantage of the full undergraduate experience from the start of their first year. It has also almost become conventional wisdom that doing something different for a semester or a year can be liberating from the lock-step mentality with…
Self-Assessment Tool for Diversity, Inclusion, & Access 2019 by Elizabeth Bezark What is the DEIA Self-Assessment Tool? Over the course of two years, the Gap Year Association’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access (DEIA) Committee developed a comprehensive Self-Assessment Tool to encourage Gap Year Provider members of GYA to reflect and improve on their DEIA practices in seven key areas. Participating in the self-assessment will deepen Gap Year Providers’ already-existing commitment to leadership within and evolution of the Gap Year Movement through increasing DEIA practices. Read on to see what it’s all about. How does it work? The guided assessment provides…
Is Taking a Gap Year Worth Graduating Late? by GYA Admin In short, YES. Gap Years can kickstart motivation, teach valuable life skills, hone resumes into killer shape, and open doors to future opportunities. And believe it or not, Gap Year students may actually graduate a year ahead of time. Did you know that many teenagers in other countries wait a year after high school before heading to college? In Norway, Denmark and Turkey, for instance, more than 50 percent of students take a year off before college, according to the Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education…