Gap Year?

What would be different between a gap year and missing a year with an injury? Except the injury makes the missed year even more of a challenge.

None, I guess. It's a question of what the gatekeepers say.  For example, I'm told that Harvard recommends a gap year to all admits, and that most private schools are on board with the idea.  My nephew's ivy admittance was contingent on him taking a gap year.  But if you're admitted to UCLA or Cal that's for next fall only.  I guess it would be the same for a coach -- if you're admitted to his school does he want you on his team next fall, or is he willing to wait a year?  I'm sure it varies.

2012 did a gap year due to his very young age.  In the context of baseball, there were zero issues from coaches.  They looked at him as a 2012 not a 2011.

Ditto for all the colleges.  Typically a student would apply for the year they want to be admitted, so the schools look at you for that year only. 

It's certainly possible to apply for a given year, have a change of plans, and ask for a deferment to do a gap year.  That scenario is up to the school of course.

If you have a bottomless well of money look at IMG in Florida as a gap year alternative.

We definitely don't, and I think that would be for a kid looking for a postgrad year to get himself ready to play, not a kid looking for a gap year to get himself ready to do well in school.  But no question there can be value in the former for the right kid.

There are unlimited paths to get to where you want to go, and the reasons you've provided make sense to me.  I wouldn't expect a college coach to have any issues whatsoever.

FWIW.....Harvard had seriously recruited oldest son.  There was no mention of a "gap year recommendation" during the recruiting process, field interview, or campus interview.  Is this a recent development?  I'm not so certain I believe the "Harvard recommends this to everyone" statement or that it is a good thing for everyone especially in STEM job markets with low supply / high demand.  If Harvard is on a short list of schools recruiting you or being considered you're a pretty driven person who is constantly learning, and enjoys challenges.  I can understand the gap year for an individual but not for everyone.  JMO.

Not really relating to baseball here, I have no knowledge about that, HOWEVER, I caution a gap year for anyone.  Having done the straight to college from high school thing myself I saw several people try to take a year off, only 1 actually went to college.

With that "gap year" comes huge emotional growth and in short, adult life.  Several of my friends got trapped into not being able to go to college because in that year they wanted a decent car, or to live on their own, or they wanted money to just live..., which meant a job, which then set them in motion to remain employed and unable to just pick up and go off to school the following year.

I know thousands of employed people go back to college, maybe some night classes...etc...and it can be done.  But once you start into "real life" it's hard to get back into the full time student thing.  Just my 2 cents :-)

This is a great question. I have talked to players and parents of players who were taking a gap year in the hopes of improving the colleges at which they could play baseball. They were either not recruited at all, lightly recruited, were recruited only by schools they didn't want to go to academically, or were recruited only by schools they didn't want to go to athletically. The most recent player with whom I spoke is attending a junior college but taking only 11 units a semester and is only working out on his own so that his eligibility clock does not start running. What I have been wondering is whether anyone here knows of any players who have taken a gap year (or the 11 units or fewer approach) and have succeeded at playing at a better college than they could have gone to out of high school or receiving more scholarship money than they would have received out of high school. I also wonder how players stay on college coaches' recruiting radars during a gap year.

Fenway, I was going on hearsay on that so I Googled it and found this page:  https://college.harvard.edu/ad...e/should-i-take-time

Interesting read:  it's a biting commentary on the chase for the Ivy League brass ring written by the  heads of the brass ring acquisition commission.  And yeah, turns out that Harvard has recommended that students consider taking a gap year right on the admittance letter for the past 40 years.  

CaCOGirl, you're absolutely right; that's a risk.  I'm not too concerned about it with my 2015 because a) he has none of the kind of  non-academic passions like cars or music that tend to sidetrack people and  b) he has a substantial college fund and he knows that we'd fold that back into our retirement accounts if he didn't use it.  OTOH, if he took a gap year and found a passion for carpentry or whatever, and decided to continue delaying college, well, good for him.  Loving what you do is more important than college.

JCG - Thanks for the link.   I think it is very interesting H offers it.  As I mentioned, this was never brought up to my son (or his parents) and we got pretty far down the road with H a few years ago.  The number of gap year takers is pretty small.  The article mentioned 80-110 takers per year, and H enrolls about 2500+ undergrads a year....so about a little less half of 1%.  I can only offer my experiences, and both my oldest sons wanted to start college immediately...they like to study, build stuff, blow it up or take it apart and rebuild it.  They wanted to get started on that path immediately!

You've tweaked my interest in possibly considering a gap year with my youngest son who has far different passions and goals than my oldest sons.  At the very least it is something to consider (another option) when looking at admissions information

To the OP, if you want to research this more, look at  www.americangap.org

There are also gap year fairs across the country.

There are such great ways to spend that year. Some expensive and exotic, some just working, volunteering, job shadowing, and maybe taking some community college classes to get a few Gen Eds done. (Taking classes is not a bad idea!  But verify how that might affect your future status as a true freshman vs as a transfer. )  There are programs that are very outdoorsy aka, outward bound or NOLS type programs that really foster independence and leadership.

It comes up fairly often in my neck of woods. But I don't claim to know much about the baseball implications, I guess he would have to find a way to play during his gap year to keep advancing (or at least maintaining) his baseball chops. 

There are many ways to do a gap year but the primary advice I have is to be sure you have a place in a college freshman class, in case you change your mind, and/or to be sure you have a home for the following year!  So, go ahead and apply to college as a senior.  Get in to some of them (hopefully!) and go ahead and confirm a spot in a class at the one you like the most, THEN ask for a deferral. In that way you have a seat in a class so that you are completely starting fresh in your college plans as a 'gapper.'

(not sure that is a word!)

Why Harvard has been saying this for years is to try to get kids to chill a little bit I think. So while the number of kids who get IN to Harvard but DO take a year off are slim, the message is out there. If it is OK with Harvard then maybe my mom and dad will let me do it ....  As I understand it, when Harvard admissions staffers speak at schools, they tend to bring this up, to help encourage kids at that high-pressure level to consider taking a break before they have a breakdown. 

Will, it wouldn't have come up with a recruiting situation because they WANTED your boy that year!

Thanks for jumping into this conversation, BBallmoman.   It's good to hear your viewpoint.

Like I said, the idea of the gap year is something we're very actively discussing with our 2015, who is not a player. My player is a 2017, and I'll be surprised if he goes that way. But kids do change, so we'll see.

You're right - there are some very interesting things to do. It's really become an industry. And it's bizarre how much you can pay to have your kid "volunteer" to count fish or tag turtles in an exotic locale. But you can also do tough work in pretty rough places.  The nephew I mentioned did both. As a kid from a privileged background he says it made him understand just how fortunate he is for the first time in his life, and he started college ready to take advantage of that.

Thanks for the advice on how to approach admissions - that's very much in line with our thinking.

A friend of mine's son did his own 'gap' --- He took community college classes, volunteered with his church, did informational interviews and job shadowing in a few health and human services settings and some business settings, figured out what he wants to major in, and is now a freshman one year later, with a great focus and motivation that he just didn't have at the end of HS.  

We sometimes push to hard to send our kids right into college when not everyone is really ready for it.

But yes, paying gobs of money to tag turtles is kind of silly in my opinion! 

I know it's also common with law schools. In fact, Northwestern, if I remember right, used to REQUIRE a gap year before law school.

Don't count on that offset to be 1:1.

If you already have college money set aside as you say, and make an ok living wage, you may qualify for a higher loan amount.