Most students take the beaten path, heading straight to college out of high school. But the idea of taking a year off - a gap or interim year - is becoming increasingly accepted, as the benefits of such an experience become more and more well known.
Dean of Admissions Lee Coffin sees a number of Tufts students who opt to defer admission every year. "In a typical year, 15 to 25 accepted students request a year off between high school and Tufts," Coffin said. "In the class of '09, there are 14 students who deferred their admission."
Joanna Lazarek, vice president of the private educational consulting firm the Center for INTERIM Programs, believes that the concept of students taking time off is a fairly new one.
"It's definitely an idea that's come around in the past 10 years," Lazarek said. "It's absolutely becoming more and more acceptable. A lot of guidance counselors present it as an option to many students - Princeton and Harvard actively encourage it."(According to the Harvard College Undergraduate Admissions website, approximately 20 percent of Harvard students will take some "time out" before graduation.)
At Tufts, however, the numbers of students taking a year off remains fairly stable: Coffin said he has not seen an increase in the number of students choosing to defer.
Most students who decide to take a gap year are students who have already applied and been accepted to a college. "It's more typical that a student applies for admission during the senior year of high school," Coffin said. "As a high school student, the infrastructure to support your application - guidance counselors, testing centers, etc. - are in place."
Junior Andrew Kisielius chose to defer admission for a year shortly before he was scheduled to start on the Hill as a freshman. "I actually made the decision three to four weeks before I was supposed to be at Tufts," Kisielius said.
Lyle Love, now a senior at Tufts, took a year off after deciding not to return to the college he originally attended, the University of Richmond.
"I decided not to return only a few weeks before I was scheduled to start there," Love said. "It was obviously too late to apply for schools for the fall semester, and I didn't want to be a second semester transfer, so I opted to take the year off."
Other students decide to take a year off as a break from academia and a stressful senior year. "[Students] will take a year off because they're sick of school and burned out, or maybe they're 'allergic to the system,'" Lazarek said.
Students pursue a variety of activities during their gap years. "We have everything from volunteering and working with children in Mexico, to working in Florence, in India," said Lazarek, listing organic farming and working with sled dogs in Alaska as other possible interim year pursuits. "I have a student doing a lion breeding," she added.
Taking a gap year is, for some, a way to cement career aspirations and determine what one wants out of the college experience.
"I was really unsure about taking a year off, but it ended up to be a wonderful year for me," said Love, who traveled in addition to working at a children's hospital. "My volunteer and travel experiences were very rewarding. It was great to have the time to really think about what I wanted out of college."
Lazarek described the year off as an opportunity to "shake things up a bit and see how other people live" and to "give back."
Many students use the year to learn another language and live in a country where it is spoken, or to explore an interest in a potential major, according to Lazarek. Students who utilize the consultants at INTERIM Programs typically participate in two to three programs put together by the Center.
Kisielius, who volunteered in several European countries, also worked for a software company during his time off. "I tried to walk the whole Appalachian Trail with a friend," Kisielius said. "There isn't as good a time as between high school and college. When you get out of college you're sort of more pressed for time - you feel like you've graduated and have got an obligation to get a job."
Taking a "gap year" offers an "opportunity to refresh oneself after a rigorous high school experience and approach the undergraduate years with a clear sense of purpose and direction," Coffin said.
And it may make financial sense as well: "Economically, with the cost of college, parents want to make sure that [their children] are ready to go [to college]," Lazarek said.
Students who take a year off come to the Hill with "a broader understanding of why they have gone to college," Coffin said.
"They return to school with a better sense of focus, sometimes because they know what they want to study, sometimes because they've taken that much needed break from academia," Lazarek said.
Taking a year off can also offer the opportunity to break out of rote routine. "I honestly think the biggest thing is getting out of the track system that puts you from high school to college to getting a job," Kisielius said. "It's about being in the world more, and the idea that you are setting your own future."
According to Coffin, there is an established procedure for requesting a year off. "Any accepted student may request a deferral. Tufts enrollment form allows a student to select that option and secure it with a $600 deposit and an explanation of the plan for the year off," Coffin said.
Although they are not in the majority, some Tufts students decide to attend another university after their years off. "A few students use the year off to 'bolster' their chances at another institution," Coffin said. "A handful each year change their mind and enroll elsewhere."
