Experiencing a Gap Year: Perceptions from Students in the United State

In the United States, going straight to college upon completing high school continues to be the generally accepted practice, but an increasing number of high school graduates are opting instead to take some time off from academics before going to college. This time off is known as a "gap year" where the "gap" is understood to be the time between high school graduation and college entrance. This study explored the lived experiences of high school graduates from the United States who elected to take time off before college. Using the qualitative approach of descriptive phenomenological analysis, seven individuals who experienced a gap between high school and college were interviewed to gain a deeper understanding of what it meant to experience a gap year. The participants discussed their high school experiences leading up to their choice to take a gap year and provided detailed accounts of their lives, particularly the activities, relationships, thoughts, and feelings they experienced during their gap year. Using Amedeo Giorgi's (1985) psychological phenomenological method, the data collected were analyzed with the frame of a constructive-developmental theory to look closer at themes as they related to the students' personal development and evolution of consciousness. The general structure that emerged was characterized by a relationship among seven constituents which included: (a) Making a conscious decision to postpone college, (b) Coming up with a plan, (c) Experiencing new feelings evoked by new environments, (d) Reflecting on the lives of others to gain focus on life-course, (e) College as the next step in life, (f) The absence of goals, and (g) Changes in the self. With regards to how the students felt changed, the stories revealed four sub-themes: (a) Self-confidence, (b) Self-reliance and responsibility, (c) New perspectives and greater appreciation, and (d) Life-course discovery.