Adam Goodman | Minding the gap

'Wow," my brother said, as he walked into my high-rise apartment last Friday morning. "This is really nice."

"What?" I asked, as I searched his face for some hint of sarcasm or imminent laughter. "Are you serious?"

But Jonathan, who got into Penn early decision last December, wasn't joking. His visit reminded me of what it was like to be a wide-eyed pre-frosh - eager to be a Quaker, and not yet jaded by the bureaucracy, criminal professors and the daily grind which characterize our school.

But despite his keen enthusiasm for all things Penn, Jonathan won't be joining me next year. He's planning to defer his acceptance in order to take a year off - a gap year - which he'll spend exploring Israel and studying Judaism.

Think back to your first semester freshman year. Were you really ready for college? Did you know what you wanted to get out of your college experience and how to shape it to guide the rest of your life? Do you now?

For many of you (at least for myself), the answers to those questions are no. A gap year in between high school and college gives incoming freshmen the opportunity to not only mature, but to gain a better understanding of who they are and where they're going.

"I learned to live on my own, six thousand miles away from my parents, something that most people in college never do," said Zach Roseman, a freshman in the College, in an e-mail interview. Roseman deferred his acceptance to take courses at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and work on a kibbutz.

"It provided me with insights and perspectives that enabled me to succeed this year at Penn," Roseman said.

The Ivy League mentality that many of us are cursed with has us racing from one stage of life to the next, hell-bent on getting ahead of the curve and seizing any shortcuts available. That ambition is why we've succeeded thus far, but it's also why taking a gap year is rarely a consideration for most incoming freshmen to Penn.

That is, if they even know about the option in the first place.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of high-school students probably don't have a clue that the deferral option exists. That might have something to do with the fact that the University seemingly makes no mention of the option to take a gap year in any of its literature. I couldn't even find any relevant information on Penn's Web site.

Of course, this isn't unique to Penn. But the University could at least make incoming freshmen aware of the option and inform them of the potential benefits. That would be a fine start, not to mention an excellent opportunity for Penn to separate itself from other elite institutions.

Now, for those of you who are convinced you made a horrible mistake, all is not lost. Taking a year off before embarking on your career path or entering grad school is as worthy an option (if not more so) than taking one off after high school.

Just as in high school, after four years of tests, papers and living off mommy and daddy's dime, we're more than ready to get out in to the real world and make our own way (or at least go to graduate school, which is that much closer to getting out into the real world).

Resist the temptation.

Whether the year takes the form of aimless travel, teaching at an inner-city school or volunteering for the Peace Corps, taking a gap year can be a tremendously valuable life experience. It gives you the opportunity to give something back to the world, to immerse yourself in a foreign culture and to acquire skills which simply can't be taught in an academic setting no matter how prestigious the institution.

"Students sometimes are afraid of a gap year because they think they might be irrelevant, but they're not," said Peggy Curchack, the senior associate director of Career Services for the College. "I would say personally that life experience matters and that we don't need to be so linear in our planning, because I think we learn from experience."

And while Curchack warned that a gap year not seem merely like a vacation, she also noted that a year off done right can certainly "add value" to a resume and turn an applicant into a more attractive candidate.

Unlike Penn Admissions, the Career Services Web site offers ample information and advice on how, why and when to take a gap year and provides access to a plethora of volunteer and community service opportunities.

Take a look; maybe we can learn something from lowly pre-frosh after all.

Adam Goodman is a College sophomore from La Jolla, Calif. His e-mail address is goodman@dailypennsylvanian.com. A Damn Good Man appears on Wednesdays.

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