Gap Year Requests During COVID

If you saw the recent Boston Globe article “At Harvard, other elite colleges, more students deferring their first year”, you may be left with many questions.

The big headline is that 20% of Harvard first-year students have opted to defer their admission for one year. This is most likely due to Harvard announcing all fall classes online. This would mean that the deferred students would enter Harvard in the fall of 2021.

However, we are seeing most colleges have lower numbers of first-year students requesting gap years.

For example, 8% for MIT and 10% for Williams of the freshmen class requesting defers.

The trends we are seeing most include:

  • Most state schools are not being impacted as much due to the cheaper tuition rates, being closer to home, more academic diversity, etc.
  • Most colleges offering on-campus living and either all in-person classes or hybrid class schedules are having fewer students defer.

Overall, we are seeing that most first-year students plan on going to college in order to create some normalcy in their lives or they are saying that since there are limited opportunities to do things outside of school during COVID that going to college is the most convenient choice.

In terms of what does this all mean, we are still waiting to see how this will all play out. Since this is an unprecedented situation for colleges, they are working through the answers as we speak. So much is still up in the air.

As a consumer, it is important to get your questions answered. Many colleges will not have the answers yet, but it can be worth reaching out or wait for a few months to let colleges develop their policies and strategies.

If you are attending college this year and you have concerns, it is worth reaching out to admissions or higher level administrators in order to learn more about their re-entry plans and how students will be supported during these times.

If you are a high school senior applying to colleges this fall, ask questions! Find out what colleges plan to do with the gap year deferred students and if the spaces for the class of 2021 will be reduced. They may not have the answers just yet.

We are trying to stay on top of the recent changes in admissions, so stay tuned, more to come!

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