The expression "gap year," so familiar to British students, is not used in North America because no tradition has developed in the U.S. or Canada of high school graduates taking a year off before proceeding to college. But European traditions have a habit of crossing the Atlantic. Tony Wheeler, publisher of the Lonely Planet guidebook series, wrote recently that "even in America, a blank year or two on your CV, once looked upon as a sure sign of unreliability and lack of application, is now starting to be seen as a sign of adventurousness and a wider understanding of the outside world."
Increasingly, U.S. colleges and schools tolerate and even encourage students to defer college entrance for a year. Admissions departments understand that by taking some time to explore their interests between high school and college, students may become more motivated and effective.
And like colleges and universities, exchange organizations in the U.S. are also beginning to promote the concept of a gap year. For example, Global Quest, www.gquest.org, offers a structured semester in Thailand specifically designed for this age group. (The director Tim Ellis has written an interesting article "Why Deferring College Makes Sense," which can be read online at www.gquest.org. Ellis quotes the Dean of Admissions at Harvard, who says that many of the students who burn out at the beginning of their university careers would have benefited from pausing after high school to do something that expanded their horizons beyond the purely academic.)
The organization that was the model for the Peace Corps, Operation Crossroads Africa, has recently initiated a program in Namibia called Pamwe Namibia which it describes as a "Gap Year Opportunity." The British American Educational Foundation promotes an "English Adventure" for those seeking a year of personal growth and discovery between high school and college. A company called Leap Now in California, formerly a branch of the consultancy Interim Programs, offers a program called "Leap Year" for students aged 16-19. Gradually, the choices are widening for young people looking for a year of supervised independence.
Deciding where to go may turn out to be just as difficult as deciding to go, so consider a medley of activities. A possible program might include a language or an art course in Europe, a volunteer placement or internship in a developing country, with some some paid work thrown in to help finance it all.
A key U.S. student exchange organizations, InterExchange, accept pre-university students into some of their programs, provided applicants are over the age of 18. InterExchange can arrange teaching assistantships (in Bulgaria, Belgium, Italy, and Spain), fix up internships or short-term work in selected countries, and place au pairs in Europe.