How to defer Great North Run Entry
How to Defer College Admission the Right Way
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all righty welcome everybody happy
Tuesday
this is our second time running the how
to defer your college admission the
right way I am joined today by Sarah and
Julia who Sarah actually worked with us
in our last on our last webinar Julia
this is her first one I my name is
Charlie tabby I am the CEO of Iran
we've run structured gappiya programs
for high school grads to help them
figure out more about themselves and
what they want to do or a three phase
program students volunteer abroad then
they learn some life skills in San
Francisco and then based on what they're
learning about themselves in our first
two phases they're going off into
internships they're getting jobs they
are building their portfolio and the
really cool thing about this is that
they're working with a coach one on one
and in the group for the entire time out
there with us today is supposed to be
super interactive so if you have
questions please feel free you'll see at
the top there's a chat box there's a Q&A
box we have our boundary corrector Cody
Marley who's behind the scenes today
he's going to make sure that we kind of
stay on track and you get all of your
questions answered but feel free during
it will kind of stop will call the
question out so everybody can everybody
can listen to what the answer is I want
to start off and invite Sarah and Julia
to introduce themselves and then we can
kick everything off so Sarah do you want
to start absolutely hello everyone um as
Charlie said my name is Sarah Smith and
I am the director of the global gap e'er
fellowship at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill I've been in the
position about three years our program
however started in 2011 and we have been
supporting seven students who've been
accepted to UNC Chapel Hill to defer
enrollment for one year and take a
service-based gap year abroad and we're
actually very excited this year we're
gonna be supporting fourteen students to
do that and I'm just happy to be here
and happy to answer any questions I will
say I kind of forgot this part last last
week but something kind of unique about
our fellowship is that we do offer full
funding for our students to make it more
accessible tradition we've been trying
to support students who are
underrepresented particularly in global
experiences
the students who may be first-generation
students from rural background students
from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and
students of color so that's just a
little bit about our program happy to
answer any questions about our program
but specifically about differing today
Thank You Juliet hi everybody I'm Julia
Rodgers I am the founder and lead
consultant for on root consulting which
is a boutique agency that works
individually with gap year students and
their families to formulate customized
gap year plans so I work with students
all over the country I work with about
50 a year and help them help really
isolate their goals for their gap time
and then match them with the appropriate
activities and programming to help them
really make the most of their gap time
and and I would say that of the
clientele that I work with a lot of them
are doing multiple things over the
courses or gap you're either a multi
pronged program like Iran that has
different components or different
programs in different places to kind of
get built a stockpile a variety of
different skill sets and experiences so
yeah happy to be here well well thanks
for thanks for joining us today you know
I think that we're we're in the season
right now and we were just talking about
how it's you know March is the month
where students find out whether or not
they've been accepted to their college
whether they've been wait-listed as
Julia was telling us about they might
also you know there's now this new
mechanism where it's an automatic
deferral where you've been accepted but
you are automatically deferred for a
year and like you know this has really
just come on the radar I think over the
past couple of years when Malia Obama
decided to take a gap year I think she
put the big actor space really on the
map and had a lot of families starting
to ask what is this and should this be
something that we're considering a lot
of people know gap years is a time
people in Europe that do them in
Australia that do them almost you know
it's like almost 15 to 20 percent of all
students are taking this time but in the
United States we're not quite there yet
there's about 1 percent of students that
are taking it but we're starting to get
a lot of momentum here and as Sarah
mentioned the the global gap your
fellowship it's you know trying to
double in size and what they're trying
to do and there's a lot of gap your
programs
also trying to push this space but a lot
of cultures are now starting to look at
this and to say what could what could
the process look like here if we had
students who were taking a gap year
before they before they come to our
College what would the benefits be and
how could they be better prepared and
there's been some articles that just
over the past few months that have come
out you know one of them was in The Wall
Street Journal at the end of last year
welcome to college now take a year off
and spoke about similar to UNC Duke has
a fellowship that they're starting this
year where one of their partners to
encourage students who have been
accepted to take a year to learn more
about themselves and what they want to
do and universities are also starting to
really invest in this unc was one of the
pioneers here there are other schools
that are saying how can we make a
freshman year first semester experience
really valuable for students and get it
so they are able to walk into college
prepared they know more about themselves
and then they can graduate you know in
the four years or the six years that
this curriculum is designed for them to
graduate in and I think that you know
with all this we really start to think
about okay well before we even get to
this point and you know that there's a
whole wait last month let's get your
exploration month we went through what
gap years really are and how they can be
beneficial for a student and I if you
want to learn more about that please
feel free to visit us visit our website
we have that webinar that you can view
but today we really want to talk about
well before we even get to the gap here
students have to defer their college
admissions and I think that before we
even get into the nitty-gritty and the
nuts and bolts of what it means to defer
your admission we need to take a step
back and really understand what kind of
students are deciding to defer there's a
huge there's a huge population of
students that we have here in the United
States and they're all very very
different but truly actually put
together a really awesome graphic here
for us to show the types of students and
Julie could you kick us off and then
Sarah I would love for you to talk from
your perspective you know you're in
application season right now for the
global gap your fellowship
what kind of students are seeing Julia
you work with dozens of students a year
you've been doing this for a long time
what kind of students are even thinking
about deferring now that they are
starting to receive their college
acceptance letters sure well I think
that as people become more sophisticated
in understanding the gap year they
realized that a gap here is no
just for one kind of student and
typically I think that people tend to
associate gap time with whoever they
know who's taken a gap year so if you
know a student who was a really high
achiever and was burnt out and that's
the reason they took a gap year you
might think that that's what a gap year
is for or you know a student who didn't
know exactly if they were going to
college or doing something else after
high school and took a gap year and
ended up kind of doing a variety of
different things as they figured it out
you might think that like that's the
kind of student and really what the neat
thing about gap time is is that it's not
just for one type of learner there are
so many different types of student
profile that can really benefit from gap
time and that is because the the space
services different types of learners
with different activities and
opportunities for growth and engagement
depending on their needs so really you
know one of the things that we are
seeing are these students the worker you
know these students who are high
achievers high academic performers high
test scores high GPAs
applying for elite schools and they tend
to be pushing themselves to the brink
sometimes to their own you know
emotional and mental health detriment
and so these are students who are really
well qualified for gap time to simply
take a breath to reprioritize how their
self-care and to maybe get some more
perspective of actually what they enjoy
doing what they want to study in college
and that kind of thing um whereas
there's other there's another type of
student that's kind of related to that
the meaning seeker these are students
who are very bright but they you know
don't tend to do well in the classroom
environment they're more at their
tinkerers they like doing things
experientially and they may not have
been well served in the traditional like
classroom environment high school so
these students they may they're
typically college bound they want to go
to school but they're you know not super
excited about it because they they have
this idea from high school about what it
means to be in a classroom so these
students will typically do things on
their gap time that have to do with
figuring out what they want to do as far
as a career or a vocation and then
understanding that the path to that
career is a college education and then
they once they understand that and have
that perspective they're able to engage
more effectively with their college
education we also have again similarly
the pragmatist a student who may fit one
or more of these other roles but they
just simply want to get the most out of
their college education by understanding
more about their strengths what they
want to study and they do things on
their year that help give them clues as
to what they're good at and also a
career path or at least a college major
path that might suit them so that would
could be interning could be meaningful
volunteer work and other types of
activities I can give them that kind of
knowledge we also definitely see
students who you know have just had
learning differences or other mental
health issues that have prevented them
from fully embracing the college
environment whether they're going to be
college bound or not so these students
can be well served by you know hybrid
programs programs that are gap year with
a therapeutic focus gap year with a
focus on helping students with learning
differences get the skills they need to
succeed in college so there are these
kind of these specialized programs that
can really assist students who fall into
that category and then we also have
students that we kind of refer to as the
floaters these are students who we just
all know when we talk to them but they
are not ready for college these are the
students who may not show up for class
may not take it seriously may waste
their parents money may party too much
their freshman year and these students
really think kind of like meaning
seekers they need to get some
perspective about what what is so
valuable about college and understanding
why they're there and really have some
purpose to that next step so Sara
anything to add on those I think Julia
did a great job of covering the bases
you know with a program embedded in a
university we tend to have an emphasis
more on like the worker type so these
students are high achievers they've done
really well in school they have you know
quote unquote checked all the boxes to
get you know into the university they
want to you in a lot of ways they may be
undecided about what they want to do
with their career they may be a little
bit burned out and really benefit from
some time away from the classroom you
know and and that's really the type of
scene we see a lot of that we also see a
lot of students who would maybe fall in
the pragmatists category so they're
excited about going to college or
university but they may they feel like
they're they're being pulled in multiple
directions or there aren't really really
positive what it is they want to do with
their career and with their time in
university so having the opportunity and
again with our program it is service
based to to volunteer in another
community and really build those skills
but also to develop a clear focus of
what they want to do so I would
highlight those not to say we don't see
students from all categories but in
particular we do see kind of more of the
worker type and the pragmatist that's
great and you know from the programs I
you know we serve a whole bunch of
different students I would say we
probably have all five of these in our
in our groups and what's really
interesting is how they interact with
one another just at the end of the day a
lot of them saying I just need a little
bit more support so they are raising
their hand and they know that hey listen
this is a time that I want to take for
mine for myself you know I wanna I want
to talk a little bit here before we
again get into these nuts and bolts
about how we can support students who
are considering deferring I think that
you know now that we know the types of
students that want to do this we
obviously have questions from parents we
have questions from counselors and also
from the university perspective Julia
can you start off you know how do we
even start to have this conversation
with people how do we support them as
they want to make this decision we've
gotten questions before that says you
know from counselors who say like you
said oh man that that person that we
just all know could use a little extra
time before they go into school but
they're really convinced that they
should just go into school like no no I
want to go I want to go I don't start to
have this conversation with both with
both stakeholders in this process which
is not only the student but the fans
definitely well I think that one of the
things to really be cognizant of as
you're talking about a gap year is to
make sure to frame it always as a
positive empowering choice there still
is a bit of a myth around again that who
takes a gap year and students tend to
think because they have been I think
they have been in indoctrinated sounds-
but they have been brought up to believe
that college is the path to success you
have to get there you have to get into
the best school and you have to go there
straightaway or else I don't know that
you fall into this nebulous vacuum and
ever succeed in life or something so I
think that there it we're still working
against the stigma that some students
even have against this path even if they
feel drawn to it and that's not that's
not I wouldn't say across the board but
I that's something that I definitely see
on the student side is even if the
parent knows that it's a good choice or
their counselor knows it's a good choice
they still feel this pull to going
straight into college and I think that
one of the ways that we can help D
stigmatize the gap year is by making
sure that it's it's presented as almost
a gift rather than like a stick you know
rather than oh we don't think you're
ready for college it has to be we really
think that this would be an amazing
thing to help you build on what's going
to be a successful college experience so
no matter what kind of profile the
student fits into you know presenting it
in a really positive way is a good tact
and then also I think making sure that
if you depending on how long you work
with a student I'm presenting it
alongside other options as early as
possible because usually a student needs
time to warm up to this idea we do see a
lot of students this time of year that
are kind of they just decide off the you
know right off the bat when they you
know get an automatic deferral or when
they kind of come to the realization
that that's not the right choice to go
straight to college but if you can plant
that seed early it will blossom on its
own and that's that helps them plan
ahead a little bit longer agreed and
Sarah I think that on that so we have
actually had a question here from Alex
Ellison who is a former panelist she
helped us with gap here expression1 hi
Alex thanks for joining us and Sarah
she's asking for students who don't get
into your gap year program do they
typically start at UNC in the fall or do
they do another gap year programs and I
think that with that question if you
could talk about you know you know we've
spoken a lot about how you know your
office in particular helps support
students who are considering this time
so maybe you know two for one there if
you could talk a little bit about that
so yeah students unfortunately you can't
support every student who applies
although we wish we could so one thing
that we do in our process is that we try
to give students as much information
about gap years as possible so if for
you know whatever reason they don't
progress in our process we send them
kind of a list of resources
often there programs that I may know so
Iran is on our list um so we inform them
that these are great programs that we
feel confident could be valuable to you
and especially for our students who do
have financial need these programs in
some way offer financial need or
financial need-based scholarships I'd
say in a given year this is just kind of
off the top of my head you know say this
year we had about 80 students apply
we're able to support 14 I may hear of
two or three who pursue a gap year
independently of us I wish I could say
it was higher but it tends to be you
know a pretty low number but there are a
few who do pursue a gap year elsewhere
who are just so determined to do it and
that's wonderful we also encourage them
you know we offer ourselves as resources
so even if they aren't in our program
you know there have been multiple times
where I've met with parents or students
just to talk about gap years in general
so when you try to be open minded and
supporting students even if they aren't
in our program so to speak so hopefully
that answers your question a little bit
I will say that we have because we've
seen a need where students maybe aren't
exactly ready between high school and
college that we've started a bridger
program where we support students to
take a year between their sophomore and
junior year or their second and third
year at UNC unfortunately we're only
able to support two at this time but
that program has got a lot of traction
and in fact some students who maybe
weren't selected for a gap program we're
seeing them apply for a bridge program
and and so that's been a kind of an
interesting process as well and then
Charlie remind me of the second half of
that question sorry about that
yeah no I think that you answer it today
just do they start at UNC or do they
start another gap year program and then
I would love you know it's just if you
could just dive a little bit more I find
the UNC mouth just be really interesting
and it's a little different but talk to
us a little bit about the global gap
year fellowship in it you know what are
students what are students doing okay
yeah absolutely so up until this point
our program has been completely self
designed so what that means is our
students work with
we lean heavily on resources at the
university so some of our professors
language area experts and then also
students who have done gap years or have
traveled previously and they yeah
basically get to decide where they go
obviously with a limited budget we have
to be very conscious of what's feasible
on making sure that the money last
they're awarded eight thousand dollars
to do our program and so you know a lot
of this is coaching on my end around
financial management and budgeting to
make that last for the year because we
do tell our students that they I mean
they can supplement but they're not by
no means required to do that um to make
their gap your happen and so our
students actually come to UNC over the
summer before they take their gap year
and we do a two-week summer Institute
where we do a deep dive into what is a
gap year what is ethical service how do
we really embed ourselves in the
community how do we you know make sure
that we're aware of our power and our
privilege going into these communities
and you know how do we hope to
ultimately tie that into our time at
Carolina and so we really value those
two weeks with those students help them
create their gap year and then they go
usually leave around August or September
we've had students go all over the place
you know are really our big restriction
is whatever the State Department says is
not safe for our students and I think
that's probably across the board so
aside from that you know students are
welcome to go almost anywhere and they
do have to do with least six months of
service abroad so you know I'll just
give you a few examples right now we've
got you know one young man who is in
Greece right now working with recently
resettled you know migrant populations
refugees we have a couple of people we
actually have one student who is
participating in Amigos which is a part
a third-party provider program in Latin
America she's in Ecuador so we really
you know we have students all over the
place doing really creative projects we
had them work on things like
conservation so
you know we had a couple of students but
in Madagascar moral conservation efforts
we've had students teaching English you
know in in a variety of school settings
doing after-school programming students
teaching music has been really
interesting really powerful for our
students so yeah it really kind of runs
the gamut as far as what our students do
I will say that our program does not
offer academic credit which is something
that's kind of interesting and emerging
more and more in the gap field we find
that our students and again because a
lot of our students are that the worker
type of student that it's nice for them
to have a break from from their
academics and to really immerse
themselves outside of the classroom
obviously that's unique to our program
and every program is different but that
is something that we find as important
something else that is important is that
we create a community for our students
and I think that's something that you
know most programs strive to do that
community is really powerful even though
our students typically travel
independently because they've gotten to
know each other so well over those two
weeks over the summer they are very you
know they're in touch over Skype
whatsapp some of them even travel
together and we find that that's really
powerful as well and it helps them feel
like they've got a landing pad when they
come back to college they already have
friends who have a shared experience
with them so that's a really important
piece I think of our program but also a
lot of programs so I know we're getting
a little bit of away from the deferral
conversation but when considering
programs I would definitely emphasize
looking for a community for your student
that can make a big difference and I
would also say you know you know first
of Julia's point about you know if you
are able to frame this as if it is a
gift and not use it as you know you must
because you're not ready for something I
mean just the amount of experiences that
you were able to talk about look you
know in the last two minutes I mean from
Madagascar all the way to doing a
service immersion program in Ecuador
like you know there are really awesome
opportunities for students abroad and I
think that to your point about
Sarah I'm sorry that I'm making you talk
a lot right now but you know why are the
universities getting on board with this
like why you know why are they saying
yes we should be using our brand equity
and telling students that this is what
they need we want to keep them where
they're at and make sure that they can
have these experiences that they can
take this time like you know why is that
you spoke a little bit about the
community piece I think that's important
but what else is in it like why are
universities saying like sure I'm gonna
defer your admission for a year
hopefully you come back so there's a
wide variety of reasons and I will say
that I'm very lucky to work at a
university that does value experiencial
education so I think what has happened
in the conversation over the past six
seven years has kind of changed but what
we've been able to prove is that one
retention students who take a gap here
are significantly I don't have the exact
number but are have a higher likelihood
of finishing University some inish is
three years depending on if they are
able to get college credit during their
time or maybe what they're coming in
with so our retention numbers are really
good too they feel at least that you can
see the conversation with admissions
office is that they feel that these
students add a lot to their class
they've had these experiences they've
been out to these different parts of the
world they've you know develop these
intercultural competencies that really
add to the Carolina community you know
they add to their language courses to
their cultural courses to their history
lessons they're able to incorporate
these experiences so that that's a value
add for them also our university and a
lot of universities had a commitment to
ours is service but also to supporting
students you know who may not have an
opportunity to go abroad elsewhere so we
have something called the global
guarantee and so programs like this help
us get those students abroad and help
them to have meaningful experiences so
universities are more and more becoming
aware of the need for programs like this
and and yeah so that's the those are
some of the reasons they
more but I would say definitely you know
retention rates universities are very
interested in keeping those rates up the
the value add to the classroom and to
the community and you know also just
being able to support more students to
have these global experiences for sure
and you know Julia you working with
students I think that we can kind of
start to talk a little bit about what
students are going to be joined before
they go but when you start working with
students now we're in the season again
they've gotten there they've gotten
their letter you know and it says you've
been accepted congratulations and maybe
you know you're not involved you're not
getting accepted to a college like UNC
that has this amazing program and you're
gonna go off and you're going to think
about what it is you want to do for your
year how do we start to have students
Toofer what we say you know is the right
way not the only way but how do we start
to how do we start to encourage students
to approach this sure well if they're if
they've been forward thinking about
their gap time they may have already
kind of looked and called their original
college list two programs that they are
university is in colleges that they know
are deferral friendly meaning they have
you know deferral policies in place that
make it relatively easy to defer
admission and if they're in a position
where they're just kind of coming to the
idea of taking a gap year that may not
be the case so I guess first things
first you kind of give yourself a pat on
the back for getting into college and
then you kind of take ownership over the
fact that now that you are chosen it is
your now gift to choose what you do and
that's a really cool kind of pivot
they've spent the past six months asking
to be chosen and now they get to choose
what happens next so it is I mean no
matter whether they're taking heed of
you or not it is a really empowering
moment in time for them these next
couple months as they're choosing where
they where's the best fit for them but
they do want to call the admit now that
the ball is in their court they're
accepted there's no fear or like having
to call the admissions office under a
pseudonym or something like that they
can call they can say what's your
deferral policy and that's the first
step is really calling emmissions asking
what their default deferral policy is
and typically that in with
deferral friendly colleges will ask for
deposit any letter of deferral and the
letter will include their ideas about
what they're going to why they're taking
a gap here first and foremost and what
they plan on doing to make it a
productive year out so that's that they
the students should be not only to sign
that they want to take a gap year but
really thinking critically about what
they're doing and what components
whether formal activities or you know
other kinds of experience elect ivities
are going to be the components of
building blocks of their gap year agreed
and Sarah you know last last week you
spoke a little bit about you know
there's a lot of pressure obviously once
you've been admitted to like Julie
saying you know you don't have to under
a pseudonym say hi this random person
let's take a gap year you know you've
been able to get through the door they
say sure like you can defer you send
everything in but there's a huge piece
of this that then is kind of forgotten
about it's the entire back end
once you have quote deferred talk to us
a little bit about that because from the
university perspective this is where
things you know I feel like why schools
sometimes say no you cannot defer is
actually because they're losing students
on the back end because they're not
following through with a lot of the
different aspects that they need to in
order to be able to smoothly integrate
themselves into either their you know
their incoming class or as a transfer
student when they get back on campus
yeah absolutely so something that's
really important it's not only you know
sitting in the letter getting the
approval all of that is staying in touch
and making sure that you are fully aware
of what's required of you during that
year away and every university is
different so from my perspective at UNC
Chapel Hill you know particularly if you
are a need-based you know you're you're
applying for financial aid you've got to
resubmit your FAFSA that's important and
sometimes students are quick to overlook
that and I believe you can start it as
early as November I'm not mistaken or
maybe even October so I would say go
ahead and get that done ASAP just to
make sure your your financial aid is is
you know being process and then your
being able you're being offered the best
package that you can get aside from that
you know most universities have a
checklist so there'll be things like
signing up for your orientation signing
up for housing all these other things
that are really important that you don't
forget about just because you happen to
be in a different continent so
definitely try to stay on top of those
things and you know if for some reason
you're unable to find them definitely
just communicate with your admissions um
you know team so if you have accounts
are assigned to you just stay in contact
with that person and ask you know what
it what am I missing and what do I need
to make sure I do and what's the
timeline for that because it's really
important and then also you know we want
you to be as ethical as possible do you
know if you have committed to this
university it you should go back to that
university obviously things happen but
it's really important that you know if
they're willing to give you this this
year away that that are real it's your
on that you do go back to that
University our students are required to
they have to go to Carolina for at least
one years or they're required to pay
back their fellowship but you know it is
important to just to do this ethically
and and if you say that you are
committing to the school that you are
doing that great and you know we're
going to talk a little bit I think that
there's this now we're kind of getting
into what universities look for in the
deferral request letter and I'll have
Sarah and Julia talk about that from
their experience for us Wilson Dale
Wilson this resource out in the
follow-up comes to all of you we created
a quick tool for students or you know
we've had actually a lot of counselors
write in to help their students but
resources year on calm such referral we
will automatically populate the deferral
letter or you tell us the university
that you're looking for and we'll do all
the groundwork of finding the admissions
dean and their email and you're gonna
send that into to make it as simple as
possible I think a big part of this is
the process is very opaque right now
students aren't sure how they would even
go about this and the idea of after
going through you know what really feels
like a battle of getting all of their
stuff in for the common app and all
their documents together to be able to
submit to college everything from
letters of recommendation to transcripts
the idea of having to do another step to
do something I think can be very taxing
and obviously you know we're speak we
have a lot of counselors
that are on this call we've had a lot of
parents as well and if you're not
working with the counselor and you are
looking for the support this could this
is a good template that you can start
that you can start to use so I'm gonna
just walk through this really quickly
and then Sarah and Julia you can
obviously talk to what you know you all
have used for what you've seen in your
deferral letters so for us you know when
we created this we've done this now
we've run over 250 students we've seen a
lot of people go through this and ask us
about their defer a letter a big thing
is obviously finding that right point
person you can do that just by calling
up every once in a while and I can't
find them online I just give the
University of missions office a call
sometimes it's not the Dean sometimes
the operations person that's dealing
with all the backend logistics that need
to happen to be able to allow you to
transfer but getting that right point of
contact and then making sure that you're
clearly stating who you are you have you
know your applicant number your student
ID number is really important do that
and the clear statement of intent like
like Sarah said you know I want to go to
this University and I do think that it's
my best choice at the same time I would
like to take this time to make sure that
I better prepare and then a real
detailed explanation about what we're
gonna do you know the reason why we call
it Iran is because if gap here with us
is not a year off we think that all
students if you're taking a gap year it
should be productive time for you it
should be a time you're really thinking
about who you are and what you want to
do and there's a reason why if you do
this the right way it is contributing in
the way that was mentioned earlier that
there you know you do have higher
retention rates you are gonna graduate
hopefully in four years we've seen these
longitudinal studies done that prove
this so kind of what are you going to do
and then what those next steps are you
know I'm still going to deposit and I'm
still happy to join you know the class
of right now we're in 2023 so this is
how we structure it it doesn't mean you
know it's not one size fits all but you
know Julia talked to us the students
that you've worked with does this is
there anything that you would add in
here is there you know any other ways
that you would think about structuring a
letter like this yeah I love that you
have kind of the anatomy pulled apart
because I think that it does I think
that the statement of intent is really
important that you're excited to go to
that particular school but first you
want to do XY and Z I think that the
I think I would add to this is that from
what I've from what I've gathered from
speaking with it admissions people they
understand that if things change
throughout the year this is not a
binding letter so I mean obviously
you're on as a special case because
that's a year-long program probably
things won't change while they're on it
but if a student is doing three or four
different things their plans often
involve as they learn more about
themselves as they make money or spend
too much money or whatever the case may
be so I think that it's important for
you to know for your students sake that
that you know counselors in the
admissions offices don't consider these
these binding statements of intent it's
just supposed to give them a you know a
clear sense that it's going to be a
purposeful year and you know that kind
of thing so for sure Sarah I know that
you work closely with the admissions
office so it's a little bit different
but anything - anything to add on that
no I actually think this is a wonderful
example we are fortunate because we do
work with our admissions team so closely
that we're really you know the students
just kind of send them a message and say
this is who I am this is my
identification number and I'm part of
this program but for anyone else in
communication with their admissions
office the more information you can
provide and and being clear about your
intent to coming back the following year
I think is really important yes I think
this is a great example and a great
resource well so we have a few minutes
left here I think that there are some
important questions that we start to
touch on but Julia bring us through a
little bit you know money is a big
consideration here we you know UNC they
have a fellowship that they're
supporting students again other schools
are trying to work with credit we're
trying to work with schools to help them
with their financial aid to allow us to
be accessible for the students who are
saying hey this is something that I want
to do and I know that I need to do it
before I walk into university what do
they really need to keep top of mind as
they're walking stick out here in terms
of their merit-based scholarships and
their need-based grants and scholarships
right so um I would just say like
briefly that also when you're thinking
about the larger financial picture of
gap time plus college we should also be
thinking about there
an investment of the college experience
post gap time so when we're thinking
about the college experience plus a gap
year as a 5-year kind of package deal
it's also good to keep in mind that like
students who do this time and invest in
their own gap year both in the timewise
and any financial ways they're going to
be probably getting that benefit back in
a higher quality educational experience
for themselves later on but when it
comes to the nuts and bolts of the
college process um they do most
merit-based scholarships well actually
let me back up a lot of this is
case-by-case and a lot of stuff you're
gonna hear in the next couple slides is
very much case-by-case so it's always
people have to do their own checks
either you or the student or the family
have to make double-check and
triple-check some of this stuff because
there is no rhyme or reason sometimes
with with some of the private stuff so
merit-based scholarships typically they
will defer or they can be you know
reallocated the following year so that
is typically how that goes with with
need-based grants and scholarships and
FAFSA that needs to be reached so it's
on its due regard to apply for FAFSA
senior of high school no matter whether
or not you're taking a gap year to get
that baseline and then you reapply the
following year ahead of of actually
heading out to school and and sometimes
that something just to keep in mind is
that sometimes the financial picture can
change over the course of that year and
if it doesn't typically you know unless
there's some real upheaval the amounts
tend to be relatively similar but
sometimes one thing that I always like
to mention is that if they're siblings
involved if a sibling either leaves the
college environment or enters in the
college environment alongside the gap
year student that can change that FAFSA
picture to the benefit or detriment of
the family so that's something to keep
in mind if that makes sense do you want
me to is that is that clear charlie or
so you know I think I do think yeah you
guys all know why good to keep in mind
and what about you know and I like you
said this is case by case a lot of
parents asked us about 529 plans
that can you a bunch 529 plans to
culture get here yes you can if in
certain cases with certain organizations
that are accredited by by colleges you
can apply that five to nine money
towards that program so programs like
outward-bound Knowles
carpe diem programs that have an
affiliation with a credit bearing
institution will often allow those five
to nine funds to fund all through so
that can really be a huge benefit to to
families and also students sometimes if
they are saving money on their gap year
may contribute themselves to the five to
nine money to avoid any big changes to
their financial picture for the
following year as well so that's
something that people sometimes do so we
got this question last time and I think
it's an important one you know we spoke
a little bit about the ethical
implications putting a deposit down
there's also the other side of this and
I think we're seeing more and more
students actually take this this path
they're saying I think that I want to go
to college but I'm not quite sure and I
want to take a gap year to figure out
where to even apply and we actually we
actually got a question from Stephanie
who I think this piggy backs off a
little bit and she asked how often does
assume decide they want to attend a
different college or choose a different
plan of study during or after their gap
year so you know we talk about a lot of
a lot of big concerns that we have
sometimes with what a lot of parents
have concerns that their students gonna
take a gap year and then just not go to
school it's just like oh this is it I've
tasted freedom and I'm gonna just be out
of here it's really not true 9 out of 10
students go back to school after they
take a gap year but I think that there's
this they're these questions here you
know learning about who you are on what
you want to do if you're going in before
school Stephanie I think that a lot of
students are going to wind up changing I
think that that does depend on the type
of program that they're in for us a year
on work portfolio based so students are
exploring what they want to actually
study so we get a lot of students who
come in and they're like I'm gonna go
into business and we say okay what kind
of business they're like marketing okay
what kind of marketing and then they get
into marketing for a little while
they're like this is not but they heard
from someone somewhere that marketing
was fun and
that's what they wanted to do so I think
that it actually happens quite often if
they're doing that reflective work and
that's again goes back to why we say
that this should be a year on year off
but let's talk a little bit about
applying to college during the gap year
do we recommend this you know we get
this question a lot Julia do you want to
just kind of go ahead and just talk us
through what it's like for a student who
decides senior year I'm not going to
apply to college I'm gonna apply during
my gap year sure well sometimes for
whatever reason that happens and and and
like like you said charlie most students
do not get enamored with the real world
on their gabi earth anything the reverse
happens they become even more excited to
start their college experience because
they've witnessed their friends at
college and they they want to be a part
of that environment too but they they do
take they do draw from their their gap
your experiences to inform what they
want out of their college so that's why
this applying on their doctor can be
really valuable well what I think is one
of the most important and and you know
value adds that can happen on a gap year
is to do something in the beginning part
of your gap year that if you're applying
in that fall period you have something
to write about in your personal
statement so typically what we want to
see is a student gather all of that
stuff that's not going to change there
are transcripts from high school teacher
recommendations that kind of stuff
there's the summer before they're taking
their gap time so that stuff is all kind
of stagnated and then do something in
that late summer early fall period a
structured program or start a program
that they can have something to write
about or you know and basically anything
except for being completely disconnected
from reality or from from modern
technology if they need to be you know
attending Skype interviews or something
like that or in-person interviews during
the fall but aside from that they could
be doing something really exciting that
they can write about that will give them
that little bit of edge and that's
something that I have seen is colleges
will they don't advertise it but they
tend to see that that that separation
that happens from the gap your student
versus the traditional student and it
does come across in those personal
statements yeah I think going back you
know to Sarah when you originally spoke
about this you were saying how you know
from the university perspective why
they're getting on board with this
I mean what what Julie just said I mean
is that a plus one from you is there
anything to add there I would say that
anecdotally obviously our students just
because the requirements of our program
have already been accepted to UNC and
and are coming but I do work with other
gap year students that I meet once they
come to Carolina and there's at least
one student that I met that said you
know what I was wait-listed from UNC I
think wandering school I went did a gap
year a reapplied and got in and so that
that gap your experience if you're able
to articulate it as a year on and as you
know you've been able to learn in these
ways can really like push you over you
know over the edge and and get off the
waitlist in into your university of
choice so yeah I would just add that
little anecdote but yeah I think Toria
covered it well yeah and I think that
it's really important I think you know
in light of this whole admissions
scandal that we've all read about over
the past week
you know everybody's talking about how
it's it's oh man for parents watching
your kid get rejected is the worst thing
and you know we see that we also think
that it's important to learn how to deal
with rejection it's not gonna be the
first time that these young people deal
with it in their lives and I think that
there's a way to frame this Julie I
really like what you said about framing
is almost a gift and how can we look at
this in an optimistic way and say what
can we learn from the situation so you
can be better on the other side and you
know for us here we teach a rejection
therapy workshop and it's like one of
our highest-rated workshops with
students I mean this is not this is this
whole process I think is extremely
daunting applying to college if you do
if you do get waitlist if you do get
rejected but how can you turn that into
a learning experience then go back to
that school and show how you have
differentiated yourself how you've
learned that experience and how you can
grow and I mean you've never ejected
again but it could not mean and I think
that that's what's really important to
really start to teach students we said
that we were gonna be 45 minutes we're
at the 45 minute mark I do want to thank
everybody for coming today
Julia Sarah closing thoughts thanks for
being with us
um I would say you know you're
definitely I'm assuming we have mostly
parents and guidance counselor's because
we are in the school day but you know I
think you're taking a really great next
step by being you know attending these
webinars and really getting all the
information that you can and definitely
really encourage you to to empower your
young you know your student to consider
a gap year and to really look at all the
great options out there it's much more
accessible than people realize it is so
yeah thank you so much for attending and
feel free to reach out if you have any
further questions
yeah I'd echo that I think that I mean
we're all pretty biased in this space
because we've seen just the amazing
outcomes I was actually I just had a
voicemail from a dad on my phone before
this this webinar and he was talking
about how his daughter is just finishing
up a internship in Dublin where she was
working with the Special Olympics and
she got this amazing experience that
she's having the time of her life not
only living life I'm in a foreign city
but also getting this amazingly valuable
professional experience before she even
starts college so we have to I think
just again ask ourselves what kinds of
adults were trying to build and what
kinds of experiences can help with that
scaffolding of building the next
generation of hat you know tabby and
successful people in in whatever ways
mean you know meaningful for them agreed
well thank you two for coming today and
thank you everybody for joining us we'll
send this webinar out afterwards so if
you want to forward it to any any
parents or students feel free to do so
and like Sarah Julia and Julia said if
you have any questions feel free to
reach out to us we'll put in our contact
information into email that we send and
if there are students that we can
support with the deferral o'toole feel
free to send it out to them and even if
they want to do it multiple times we can
help them we can help them out with that
but thank you everybody we'll be in
touch for for our April webinars but
until then everybody be we'll see you
soon
