A gap year suits a variety of reasons: it's great for students who want to take time to learn more about their academic and career interests through taking an online course or a couple of classes at a community college, or gaining professional work experience; it's also great for students who simply desire a break after the intensity of high school, and so choose to take a year to volunteer and/or travel. Whatever the reason, you want to make sure your gap year has purpose and direction. Plan to take a course, volunteer abroad, learn a new skill, or a combination of these.
Gap Years can be one of the most sensible ways to spend your first year after TASIS. There are a number of reasons why you should consider one:
1. Your results will be out, meaning that you can apply to universities with confidence.
2. You can visit and talk to friends about their experiences in their first year to help inform your decision.
3. You will have a gap between two intense periods of academic work.
4. You will have space away from your subjects to consider what you miss studying.
5. You have the opportunity to earn money, develop new skills and become more independent
International Citizen Service - Funded by the UK government but with eligibility criteria that includes the UK, EU and EEA citizens the ICS enables interested young people from 18-25 to volunteer in over twenty countries worldwide.
Career Services University of Pennsylvania - This is a list of Gap Year/Service Year Programs recommended by UPenn.
Global Citizen Year - This program selects talented, broadly diverse students, and equips them with empathy, agency and a global network of mentors and peers that will help them drive impact today, and throughout their lives. Through Take Action Lab, students spend an immersive semester in South Africa, gaining lifelong skills while apprenticing with experienced human rights advocates working to advance social justice. Together with a diverse cohort of like-minded peers from around the world, students collaborate and contribute to local solutions for global challenges, thereby broadening their perspective of what’s possible – for themselves and the world – to help fuel a future of positive impact.