A Year of Their Own

Gap years aren’t rare at Harvard—and any freshman who has marked a friend’s 20th birthday knows that. Gap year experiences are as varied as the class each of the students belongs to. Research, volunteering, paid work, and travel are all possibilities. In America, however, the opportunity to simply unwind and reflect has often been neglected in favor of commercialized, accredited gap-year programs edged with scholastic and pre-professional striving.

Among Britons, taking a gap year is a common practice, but also a different one. It often has as its express aim pleasure and relaxation, and many Brits spend the interlude between high school and university at home, on the beach, or at the club. This is quite the counterpoint to its American homologue. Both are valid, but students in the United States would benefit from examining the British approach more closely. No one needs reminder of the great stresses induced by junior and senior years of high school and the college application process, and some require more than the intervening summer to deflate. Their decision should be respected, perhaps celebrated for its break from the norm. There is no one way to do a gap year, and we must ensure high school seniors know that. Accreditation for gap year programs sends the wrong message, stamping the imprimatur of an academic association on certain experiences and spurning others.

Colleges should support students in their choices, whatever they be. Making gap years accessible to all students is a worthy goal to which universities may contribute. Targeted information, travel stipends, and other forms of assistance could help students form post-high school plans that are best for them. Some structure may also be desirable. Princeton has developed a yearlong bridge program that deploys students to service-related projects in India, China, Peru, Brazil, and Senegal. While Harvard, like most schools, permits admitted high school seniors to defer the admission for a year, it does not actively encourage gap years and would do well to consider a program like Princeton’s Bridge Year.

A gap year might be the longest uninterrupted stretch of time in which one is unencumbered by school, work, or family obligations. We hope high school students make the most of it. And on their own terms.