Gap Year Newsletter: Increase in Gap Year Deferrals

The numbers are in and Gap Years are up

The data is in – more students are opting for Gap Years this year. While this may come as no surprise due to the uncertainty that COVID has presented higher education, it is interesting to see the numbers. In a normal year, for example, 7% of Harvard’s first-year students defer their admission. This year, 21% of Harvard’s incoming students deferred to take a Gap Year.

Although Harvard doesn’t reflect the entire higher education pool, it is a good place to start. We are also seeing it elsewhere – while we don’t know how many Stanford students normally take a Gap Year, this year it is 22%. Bates College is at 10% compared to 4% last year. MIT is up to 8% from 1% previously. 15% of Williams College freshmen deferred this year, compared to 5%. U Penn has seen its number go from 50 to 200. 

Overall college enrollment statistics provide another data source to estimate Gap Years. Harvard’s first year class would have declined by 14% without its ability to fill spaces from its waitlist (which it undoubtedly did). Non-elite schools do not usually have the luxury of a deep waitlist to backfill for students who take Gap Years or for lower than expected yield. Author Jeff Selingo explained in a recent article that colleges in 42 states saw declines in their enrollment. The number of college first years declined 16% nationwide compared to last fall. Overall, we believe that the number of high school graduates electing to take a Gap Year has tripled to 7-8% this year.

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Upcoming Gap Year Webinars

Why Gap Years Matter More Than Ever!
Hosted by Concord Free Public Library, Concord, MA.
December 3rd at 7:00PM ET. 
Register here.

Gap Year in the Arts
USA Gap Year Fairs virtual series.
December 4th at 1:00PM ET.
Register here.


Check out the Gap Year Solutions events page for information about all upcoming webinars.