For most students the progression from high school to college is fairly straightforward, with the two academic worlds separated by a mere three months of summer. But sophomore Danielle Wilson was surprised to find, following her acceptance to Hopkins, that she wanted to do something more than skip straight from one block of learning to the next.
"I was already registered," Wilson said. "I'd signed the paperwork - then I suddenly went, why not now? Why not spend an extra year living instead of just following the school assembly line?"
Wilson, a self-described "good, narrow-minded track student," changed all her plans. There has been a general upward trend in the number of students choosing to spend some time between high school and college discovering what life means to them.
Students choosing to take a gap year have two methods of arranging it. They can apply to colleges, select one and ask to defer admission for a year, or students can apply to college during their gap year. Most students, however, request deferral post-admission to a university.
According to John Latting, the dean of Admissions here at Johns Hopkins, five years ago only 15-20 students each year would choose to defer admission. In that span of time, however, the numbers have begun to rise dramatically, and have held steady for the past two years at 29 students requesting deferral of admission.
The admissions office must see each student who decides to defer as a loss for the freshman class, but the practice is becoming common enough that a deferral forecast is factored into the admissions rates each year.
Latting believes that the rise in the number of students taking gap years is representative of the growing sensibility among students that it isn't necessary to jump into college. More and more, students are deciding that taking a break, traveling, working or simply experiencing life can significantly contribute to the quality of their college careers afterwards.
Student experiences with gap years are often very positive, which is one reason why admissions is so willing to grant students deferred admission. "It's refreshing when students request a deferral," Latting said. "It shows they're examining the process of life and going to college and not just doing everything in lockstep."
Hopkins admissions, and most admissions programs around the country, generally want to agree to gap year requests - most students go into gap years with interesting plans and ideas that universities want to foster.
"We are impressed - we like to consider those requests, and we almost always say yes, go for it," Latting said.
Freshman Sharon Bukspan is one of these students. Bukspan decided to defer admission to Hopkins because she knew she wasn't ready for college, coming from a small, tight-knit school.
Furthermore, Bukspan said, "It's very common for Jewish kids to take a gap year."
Many such students spend the time in Israel alone, but through a program founded by a family friend, Bukspan spent October 2006 through June 2007 living in Israel while traveling to other countries every five weeks.
"We went to Russia, Lithuania, Spain, Morocco, India, Italy, the Czech Republic and Hungary," she said, and her program toured each country from both a secular and a religious perspective.
Of course there have always been cases in which deferral is a necessity rather than a choice. In the past, students have had to defer and take a gap year in order to enroll in mandatory national service, or due to family issues.
Heng, a Singaporean citizen, was one such student. Singaporean law requires that all able-bodied male citizens serve in the army for two years following their graduation from the Singaporean equivalent of high school.
After graduating high school in 2004, Heng deferred admission to Hopkins in order to complete his legal obligations. "I was working as a policy clerk in the Ministry of Defense, in a human resource policy think-tank," he said.
Heng also spent an additional eight months in Singapore following his military service. "I was working in research ... I investigated genetic abnormalities in childhood leukemia with cytogenetics and micoarrays," he said, adding that it gave him a chance to meet many top researchers in the field.
Now, however, many students defer for less pressing reasons, although they often choose to engage in such worthwhile activities as studying a language abroad, getting involved in community service or working on a kibbutz in Israel.
Pierce Delahunt, a member of the Hopkins class of 2011, decided to take a gap year after a rocky high school experience that involved switching schools and undergoing a serious change in his outlook on learning.
"I took about 23 courses my senior year," Pierce said. "In addition to that, I applied to 13 colleges ... As you can imagine, I was burnt out. I drove myself crazy. I needed a break."
Such sentiments are not uncommon following a student's senior year of high school, but unlike many people, Delahunt decided to do something about it. Over the course of a year, Delahunt traveled across America by Greyhound, getting involved in activities through the Center for Interim Programs.
"I went up and down the east coast, into Montreal, to Chicago, farmed elephants in Arkansas, dogsledded in outward bound [and] painted with a muralist in Mexico," Delahunt said.
He also toured Europe with friends, got a bartender's license, and, this past summer, helped out with a preservation program in Brazil.
Just as Delahunt called his gap year experience amazing, so too have other students come out of their break with an extremely positive outlook on the practice.
Despite the challenges of returning to school after a year in the real world, Bukspan said, "I would not have traded last year for anything ... I know I learned more from my experiences on last year's program than I would have in a year of school."
Bukspan also believes that the program succeeded in its goal of opening her eyes to the wider Jewish world and, in some ways, the world of secularism beyond the United States.
Heng, now working in a research position at Hopkins in addition to settling into school, said that even after the experiences of his time off, "I was pretty excited to come to Hopkins, and I still am now that I'm here. The campus is great, and I've met lots of great people."
As for Wilson, "I'm so glad I went to university with a real idea of what I wanted to get out of the experience."
