Will my college allow me to defer my admission to take an Interim Year program?
Most colleges are amenable to deferring admission for students taking a Gap year abroad or Interim year program, and a number of highly selective colleges actually recommend that students consider a year off before starting classes as a means to mature emotionally and intellectually.
My parents are concerned that I'll lose interest in going to college if I take an Interim year.
For most students who have participated in CIEE's Gap Year Abroad Programs, the opposite actually occurs. Gap year abroad students return from this experience with new visions of themselves and their course of study. The Gap year abroad experience enables students to put academic goals into perspective and gives them a better defined purpose.
I'm worried about being a year older than the others when I get to college.
These days students matriculate at different ages. You'll find that there will be many students taking a year out. Soon, students who go directly to college will be the odd ones out.
I'm interested in Gap year travel. Will I be able to travel during my CIEE Gap Year Abroad Program?
Backpacking through a country may be enticing if you are only interested in tourism. But to understand a community you must spend time in it. Living and working alongside the people in your host country will maximize the richness of your international experience. CIEE's Gap year opportunities, including the Gap year volunteer work provide the chance to get to know a country, its people, and challenges, in a way that is otherwise difficult to come by. Gap year travel is part of your experience during weekends and other self-directed trips.
What kind of gap year opportunities can I expect?
During your gap year abroad, you will have a wide range of opportunities, some large, some small. For example, you will experience first hand what are considered common behaviors in a different country. An example of a small opportunity - did you know that Chileans are more likely than North Americans to refer to a person by a physical attribute. You will often hear hear the equivalent of "Hey skinny," or "Hey fatso" as you walk around Valparaiso. An example of a large opportunity - living in Valparaiso you would have the opportunity to hike in one of the tallest mountain ranges in the world, the Andes Mountains, or la Cordillera as it is know in Chile.
What are some real-life gap year volunteer work or gap year projects examples?
Here are a few of the many examples. In Seville, Spain you might work for Amnesty International, or the Red Cross. In Valparaiso, Chile you might work for a local public health organization. In the Dominican Republic you would very likely spend at least a week at a rural worksite run by the Peace Corps. In Shanghai, China you would be teaching English to the "floating migrant children" at a state run elementary school. The actual gap year volunteer work that you do will depend on a varianty of factors, including your personal interests, language ability, and seasonal availability of local volunteer partners.
What is a language immersion program?
Have you ever heard someone say "I can understand Spanish fine, I just can't speak it?" A language immersion program is usually designed to ensure that you can both speak and understand a foreign language. By forcing you to use whatever level of foreign language skills that you might possess - even if it is only one word - a language immersion program will surround you with a foreign language. You will use that language for everything, from discussing literature to finding the men's restroom. You might be tired at the end of a day of language immersion, but you will definitely be speaking more fluently than when you started.
