Check Out the New GoAbroad.com Gap Year Directory

GoAbroad is thrilled to share the publication of their latest meaningful travel directory dedicated to the GAP YEAR! Now, we’re not talking about your grandma’s gap year—not that we don’t give her credit, she did survive abroad without Google maps—but the gap year movement has gotten a serious makeover in the last few years.

Why? Because the stigma around the gap year… of taking a year off to travel, ask yourself questions, be introspective, and gain more clarity around your life goals… is waning. Rapidly. (As it should!).

More and more students are using the gap year as a rite of passage, not only between high school and college, but also between years of college, between colleges (transfer students FTW), before jumping into the workforce, or in the middle of their early professional years. Colleges are jumping on board (like Princeton’s Bridge Year!) and more organizations are improving the rigorousness of their courses (thanks in large part to initiatives like the Gap Year Association).

All this to say GoAbroad is thrilled to support young adventurers in their meaningful waywardness through the possibility of a gap year. Check out all of these ooey-gooey awesome resources for yourself, then hop on the gap year train because it’s moving full-speed ahead! 

• GoAbroad’s Guide to Taking a Gap Year
• GoAbroad’s Collection of Articles on Gap Years

   Rich media resources:

o    DOWNLOADABLE EBOOK: How to Kick Butt on Your Gap Year Before College

o    WATCH: Gap Year Options We Can’t Get Enough Of

o    INFOGRAPHIC: The 5 Best Gap Year Destinations Right Now

Join us in making like Malia and supporting the gap year movement!

Note:  I receive no compensation for this post.  I do receive some hats on occassion from GoAbroad.com but that's because I like hats and like to take pictures around the world with them.  I just like what GoAbroad.com is doing in the field and want to support their efforts!

Make The Gap Year Experience An Accepted and Popular Practice In The U.S…

…is the argument being made by Rita Golden Gelman in a post entitled “Drop Kids, Not Bombs” on Travel Writers News. I hope to have more IHEC Blog posts on the Gap Year and in the future and I’ll let this one start off this (and continued) dialogue.

Rita Golden Gelman describes herself as a modern-day nomad, with no permanent address or possessions other than what she carries and she rarely knows where she’ll be six months from now. She’s been living this way since 1986! You can read more about Rita and her online diary/blog on her website here.

Note: Any IHEC Blog readers with (or who have had) young children will enjoy knowing that Rita is the author of More Spaghetti, I Say! and several other children’s books which are all listed here.

Students See World During 'Gap Year'

I came across an interesting article and audio (4:40 min.) on NPR on the growth of U.S. high school graduates taking a year off on a 'Gap Year' before starting college. The article correctly identifies that hard data on the numbers of young americans pursuing some sort of "Gap Year'. I'm also witnessing an increased interest in 'Gap Year' activities amoung the students I work with at The University of Chicago. In particular, I talk to a significant number of students who want to pursue an international activity, primarily on a Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant, for a year or two after they gradaute from college and before they join the work force or enter gradaute school.

Additional information and articles on "Gap Years" can be found at comunityhigh.org our of Ann Arbor, Michigan at <http://chigh.org/counseling/Resources/gap-year-a-year-on-not-a-year-off>.