Mai said:
@Rayne
You 1000% need a car so I can’t imagine it’s financially feasible.
Not in most cities, though. At least not Chicago. Chicago has pretty cheap public transportation. Every weekend is $5 one day pass/$15 three day pass, $20 7 day pass for unlimited bus rides.
@Micah
You can’t spend a year in Chicago lol. That would defeat the entire point in coming to the US.
Mai said:
@Micah
You can’t spend a year in Chicago lol. That would defeat the entire point in coming to the US.
I never said that. I just said most major cities have good public transportation in the US.
Even the term ‘gap year’ is uncommon in the US.
Some students take a gap year, but they will miss out on direct scholarships by doing this. Every school in the country decreases their scholarship tables for direct versus indirect students.
Cass said:
Some students take a gap year, but they will miss out on direct scholarships by doing this. Every school in the country decreases their scholarship tables for direct versus indirect students.
Can you explain this a little more? Is this for merit as well as financial aid?
This means if you decide on a gap year then schools won’t be as generous for merit scholarships?
@Taylor
Correct. Your financial aid from the FAFSA won’t be affected, however merit scholarships will be reduced since you are no longer considered a direct student (coming straight out of high school). Even sitting out the fall semester after high school will cause you to be considered an indirect student. The scholarship tables are totally different for each consideration.
If you’re rich, sure.
I graduated high school in 2012, and college in 2017, for context…in California.
I would’ve loved to take a gap year! I’ve always been passionate about traveling, and having new experiences. In hindsight, there’s no way I would’ve been able to afford a particularly enriching gap year. Maybe if someone in my life had been able to help me financially, it would’ve been more feasible; or I could’ve found some fun seasonal work somehow, to help. But the pressure to take the traditional ‘high school, then college’ path was very high at the time. I guess gap years have always been a thing, but they just recently blew up in popularity, I’d say. My sister graduated high school three years after me; and knew a few people who took gap years. I didn’t know anyone from my graduating class who took one.
The main argument always used to be against gap years, when I was a student. Some percentage of students who take gap year breaks, never return to school. Seems obvious, right? People find all kinds of different paths beyond school. But when education and the culture of higher education is pushed upon so hard, the gap year folks become the black sheep. It was seen as easy enough, after 12 years of consistent classes, to just keep going for another four.
Not common. Requires money. In US you usually go to college or get a job or both.
Not very. I wish it was more common.
Oh lol, just re-read this. I wouldn’t recommend coming here if you are worried about medical expenses or cost of living. I would go somewhere more affordable.
Not super common but it happens. If you do, I hope you can find something meaningful to do, some unique experience or pick up a new language/skill. Please don’t bum around trying to figure out what’s next. That’s just called procrastination. Good luck.
Rich people thing.
Not common. Here in America you go to school until you are under crushing debt you can’t understand because you aren’t taught finance. This debt is used to put you through college so that you can then get a job and work for the next 50 years. Then you are given permission to take all the money you saved up and return it to the rich through long term care and other medical expenses commonly incurred in the elderly, which you now are.
Then you can die and your family can spend $20k or more on a funeral.
Probably more common for athlete kids to take an extra year of high school by “reclassifying” for extra physical and academic strength.
One of Obama’s daughters did. But it’s rare. One doesn’t have much money right out of high school.
Uncommon but I did it.
Uncommon.
Very uncommon.
High schools in U.S. push kids hard to go directly to university. Even elite, private high schools serving very wealthy families push this outcome.
I think the issue - either with US kids taking a gap year and working abroad, OR with other folks taking their gap year here, is the availability and accessibility of such visas.
When I was a camp counselor there were always a handful of foreign staff - usually European - who were spending a summer working summer camp. And US students might study abroad for a semester or two, usually their junior year.