A Gap Year — or semester or summer — after high school is within the reach of all
U.S. students. If you are motivated, we want to help make your dream a reality.
Here are some suggested steps—click on them to find more information and
supporting pages:

1. Apply to colleges

8. Set out on the educational adventure of a lifetime

1. Apply to colleges during your senior year while you have the support of your school.

2. Search through Gap Programs to see what interests you, while waiting on college acceptance letters. You can search by country or by type of program — volunteer, study, work, teaching, farming etc. There are other sites out there that also have programs listed. Check out Gap Year, Planet Gap Year, Asian Gap Year, Projects Abroad, and Volunteer International.

3. Look for a part time job or develop a fundraising plan for how you will pay for your travel. Several sites have great fundraising ideas and guides. Students from England, New Zealand and Australia have been doing this for a long time so they have become quite creative when competing with lots of other students in their local area for Gap Year money. In the US, many of their ideas will be unique and will really stand out. Here are a couple of places to look for some of those ideas:

••••• • Fundraising Guide on the World Teach site.
••••• • Plan Your Trip Fundraising Ideas on the Gap Year site.

4. Talk to your parents. If you haven’t already, now is the time to get them involved. Give your parents the facts (see Talking with Parents page). Let them know that this will help you to become more mature, learn new skills, get more clear on your life’s passion, and make the most of your/their college dollars. We’ve also included facts about what the business world says about Gap Year. Then show them the program you have come up with and how you plan to pay for it. You might even share some letters from the Gapper parents.

5. Get your family and friends involved in your fundraising efforts…they may have contacts at newspapers, radio stations, service clubs (Rotary, Lions, etc.) where you can write articles or give presentations about what you are doing.

6. Look into a college deferral. We know of many colleges offering deferrals and our list is growing daily. Once you have your college acceptance, call the admissions office, tell them about your plan (you need a plan to get a deferral), and ask if you can defer your start date. We have given you some important questions to ask the colleges on our college deferral page.

7. Start planning your trip. Your program provider should have lots of information for you about passports, visas, any shots required, health issues, packing, spending money, internet access, in-country support etc. We cover some of this in the Frequently Asked Questions FAQs page. But do your own homework, too ….there are lots of sites out there ready to help you. The Gap Year site has a section on Travel Money which includes What Things Cost, Managing Your Money on the Road, and How to Save Money for Your Travels. The denomination is in pounds but it is easy to convert to dollars. They also have great Message Boards where you can ask questions by topic.

8. Set out on the educational adventure of a lifetime! We would love it if you would keep us posted on how you are planning your trip and then blog with us while you are “on the road”. You can be an inspiration to others.