Princeton University has announced that they will be offering a program to eventually send a tenth of their newly admitted students to a year of social service work in a foreign country before arriving on campus as freshmen. More colleges are seeing the value of this maturing experience, but this will be the first time it has been formalized as part of the admission process. Many admissions offices extol the value of the gap year, as they see students who have deferred for this reason arriving on campus more focused, mature and ready to study. In fact, Williams Fitzsimmons, Dean of Admission at Harvard College has posted an article on the Harvard admissions website that highlights the benefit of taking time off before college. For more reading on this topic, take a look at these articles in the Columbia Chronicle and the Harvard Crimson.
Some universities including NYU have been offering a freshman year abroad at their programs in England and Italy with much success, and students who are mature enough to take advantage of these programs have benefited greatly. In addition, many students who were initially disappointed by being offered a spring semester "late start" to freshman year tell me that it was the best thing that ever happened to them, as they arrived with more direction, focus and enthusiasm.
