By Maria Minsker, Cornell University, nextgenjournal

With high school graduation around the corner, seniors around the country are preparing to enter the world of (semi-) adulthood. But for an increasing number of students, college isn’t going to be part of the picture… yet.

According to a recent survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, 300,000 first-time freshmen at four-year colleges and universities found that 1.2 percent take a gap-year after graduation to study, volunteer, travel, or simply take some time off.

While gap-year programs are popular in England, they are less common in the U.S. Some colleges like Amherst College, Princeton University, MIT, Middlebury and Harvard are implementing official deferment policies to give accepted freshmen the opportunity to take a year off before beginning their studies at the school. Public colleges like the University of North Carolina even offer a Gap Year scholarship so that students can pursue academics and service abroad.

Many students often opt to plan their own travels, jobs, or other endeavors. Students that need a little more guidance typically turn to “Gap fairs,” which have been on the rise in the past few years. Gap fairs introduce students to various programs and opportunities to pursue during their gap years, and as many as 30 are held nationwide every year.

Reasons for choosing this option are as different as the students that take them, though feeling burnt out after 12 years of school is often listed as one of the top reasons.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Casey Santi, 18, of Winnetka, Ill., has been studying French and history, traveling and doing community service in Europe and Africa since she began a gap-year program last June.

Santi said that stress during her senior year in high school forced her to “regain herself and get back on track.”

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