Taking a Year Off Before Entering College
THE GAP YEAR
Considering taking a year off before entering college? Some reasons students want to delay college:
- Not sure what they want to study yet
- Want real-world experience before entering college
- Want to travel and study other cultures before entering college
- Very interested in studying a foreign language
- Feel burnt out on school and are mentally not ready for college
- Ready to take on a new experience!
STUDY ABROAD
AFS Community Service Program www.usa.afs.org AFS Community Service Program Participants volunteer with local organizations that address community needs such as helping street children lead healthier lives or developing training programs with human rights workers. During the program, participants are exposed to new customs and values that challenge them to reflect on their own cultural norms. This intercultural learning process develops in participants not only a deeper understanding of another culture but, perhaps most profoundly, a richer awareness of their own background.
What can the AFS Community Service Program offer you?
- A placement of four months to a year in one of more than twenty countries in Latin America, Europe, Africa, North America and Asia.
- An opportunity to volunteer abroad with an organization which address local needs. Projects vary by hosting country and participants interest. Projects can include working with street children, environmental issues, orphanages, community development programs, elementary schools and disabled care centers.
- A chance to learn a foreign language while living with a local host family.
- An intercultural learning experience while developing practical skills as a volunteer.
- An international support structure with offices in each country, language courses, pre-departure and arrival orientations, and a local AFS support network.
What does the fee cover and what can I expect? Round trip airfare, orientations, language training, health insurance. Check with your AFS representative for the fees for your preferred destination. Before you leave you will receive detailed information on your placement and host family and a pre-departure orientation that will help you adjust to your host country.
AFS Study Abroad www.usa.afs.org 1-800-AFS-INFO The School Year Program - runs for one academic year and begins in July/August/September or January/February /March depending on the country. AFS students live with a host family and attend a local secondary school as a full-time student. Candidates for AFS school based programs should be between 16 and 18 1/2 years old on the date of arrival in their host country. Age requirements vary country to country.
American Scandinavian Student Exchange (ASSE): www.asse.com
(800)733-2773 ASSE was established in 1976 as the
American Scandinavian Student Exchange by the Swedish Government to
organize student exchange programs between Sweden and the United States.
Soon Denmark, Norway and Finland elected to participate. Since then, the
program has grown to include: Germany, France, Spain, Holland, Great
Britain, Italy, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada (French and
English speaking), Mexico, Brazil, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovakia,
South Africa, Poland, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and
Mongolia.
To qualify, you must be no younger than 15 nor older than 18 1/2 years of age upon departure and be mature enough to adjust to the different values, lifestyle and attitudes of a foreign country. You must also be a student in good standing in the upper third of your class or have a B grade average (C for summer programs), be in good health and have excellent character references.
AIFS www.aifsabroad.com 1-800-727-2437
The opportunity and need for enhanced global understanding is greater now than
ever. AIFS is proud to serve this end through the programs described. Our
programs teach young people from all over the world to understand each other's
qualities, their similarities and differences. AIFS program participants learn
vital language skills as well as the ability to function indifferent cultures.
We provide our program participants with the educational edge they need to
succeed in a highly competitive, diverse and interdependent world.
Click on a country of your choice, and then go to Academics to find out what
programs are open to students that have graduated from high school.
Youth for Understanding (YFU): www.youthforunderstanding.org 1-800-teenage admissions@yfu.org American Overseas programs offer US high school students and recent graduates the opportunity to experience the world firsthand. By going abroad with YFU USA, you will live in a totally new culture - not as a tourist - but as a member of a family. Choose from over 100 programs in more than 30 countries to learn a new language and global perspective while on an academic year, academic semester, or summer program.
YFU Global Graduate Program 13th Year Abroad Experience the World... after high school. What are you doing next year? Learning the Russian language in Ukraine? Enjoying a music festival in Hungary? Kayaking off the coast of Denmark?
As a recent high school graduate, YFU invites you to spend a 13th year abroad. Bridge the gap to your future, discover the real you, and experience the world. Whether you've just graduated, deferred college admissions, or are deciding what's next, you can gain from an increased understanding of another culture, benefit from the unique strengths of academic institutions abroad, and become part of a global family.
It takes a special kind of person to consider living and studying abroad as a Youth For Understanding USA student – one who is both eager to travel and willing to take an active role in his or her own education.
Study abroad is a unique experience that is both challenging and extremely rewarding. Unlike most college and university options, a key component of YFU programs is the homestay experience. Living with a family in another culture opens your world and your life.
"I went on exchange between High School and University. An in between year, to discover sides of yourself that you've been ignoring and to learn to accept a new culture and respect its 'other' ways of doing things, provides an excellent foundation for further exploration within the academic framework. And there's no better way to get to know another culture than living with a host family."
- Flannery Denny
What Foreign Exchange Can Do for You:
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Gain fluency in a language If you are interested in learning a foreign language, now is the time to do it. Your brain is most flexible when you are young, so the earlier you master critical verbal and written skills the better!
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Enhance your Future Career Studying abroad may increase your competitiveness in the marketplace. Employers look favorably on job applicants that have gained second language skills, maturity, an understanding of diversity, and self initiative.
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Fulfill a Sense of Adventure Got the travel bug? Foreign exchange is a great way to see the world and get to know other cultures on a deeper level than you would by just visiting as a tourist.
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Have Fun! Build lasting friendships with people from other countries, eat great food, and visit beautiful sites. You can do it all in a foreign exchange program!
Additional Websites to check out!
www.studyabroad.com/highschool/
www.academicyear.org/outbound/
www.highschoolprogramsabroad.com/search.cfm
www.rotary.org/programs/youth_ex/
www.kidshealth.org/teen/school_jobs/school/abroad.html
The following are some organizations that provide year-long experiences to work and learn for high school graduates:
Americorps www.americorps.org or City Year/Seattle-A Member of Americorps www.cityyear.org
Put your idealism to work through AmeriCorps. Make a community safer. Help a kid get a real education. Protect the environment. Whatever your interest, there's an AmeriCorps program that needs your courage, your skills, and your dedication. AmeriCorps is a network of national service programs that engage more than 50,000 Americans each year in intensive service to meet critical needs in education, public safety, health, and the environment. AmeriCorps members serve through more than 2,100 nonprofits, public agencies, and faith-based organizations. They tutor and mentor youth, build affordable housing, teach computer skills, clean parks and streams, run after-school programs, and help communities respond to disasters. Created in 1993, AmeriCorps is part of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which also oversees Senior Corps and Learn and Serve America. Together these programs engage more than 2 million Americans of all ages and backgrounds in service each year.
Student Conservation Association www.thesca.org
Conservation Internships: For those 18 and older. Live and work with resource management professionals at natural and cultural sites nationwide. Internships available throughout the year in all fields; terms from three to twelve months. Expenses paid, plus living allowance, travel grant.
Conservation Corps: Also for those 18 and older. Trained and supervised by SCA staff, Corps of ten or more provide specialized conservation services in rustic, residential setting. Service terms similar to Conservation Interns.