A Sample Successful Deferral Letter (2025 Interim Student)

 

Dear Dean _____, 

While I am filled with gratitude for and excitement about attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I feel it would be beneficial and in my best interest to take a gap year before attending this fall. I am respectfully writing this letter to request to defer my admission and begin UNC in the fall semester of 2026.

Over the past year, I have realized that I am in a unique moment in my life, a time where I feel the need to explore the world more deeply, to engage with radically different ways of life and thinking and to truly expand my understanding of myself and others before entering college. I want to be able to arrive at UNC with full presence and a level of clarity and maturity about my future that a gap year would provide. I am working with Holly Bull, a gap year counselor with the Center for Interim Programs to help me develop a plan that is thoughtful, intentional and meaningful. 

If granted this request, in the fall I would participate in a 12-week intensive learning program based in Nepal. This gap year program would immerse me fully into Nepali life, with urban homestays, daily cultural exchanges, and independent study projects on topics related to society, history, and local traditions. I would be constantly engaging with a group of fellow students who shared my interest, as well as attending talks from guest speakers and learning directly from the communities in which I would be living. 

This experience would also include a trek through the Himalayas, where we would explore both the physical terrain and our internal worlds. Later in the program, we would spend time in rural villages and participate in a Buddhist meditation retreat that focused on mindfulness and presence. The intention is to explore and take more independent ownership over our journeys, followed by a final period of reflection to harmonize what we have experienced. 

After returning to the United States, I would look to round out my gap year with a combination of part-time work, golf academy training, and potentially yoga and meditation instruction to deepen the practice I will have developed abroad. During this second semester, I would specifically be interested in a yoga instructor training course, either abroad or in the U.S, a golf intensive, and perhaps a service trip to help in an after-school program in Africa with students in foster homes that combines teaching surfing, life coaching, and extra schoolwork. 

I believe that a gap year would give me important tools, both practical and personal, that I would carry into my time at UNC. I would arrive at UNC more grounded, more aware, and more prepared to engage in academic life with curiosity and purpose. 

Thank you for considering my deferral request. It has been a long-time dream to be a Tarheel and I am beyond grateful to be a part of the Carolina community. I am very hopeful to be a member of the class of 2030 and look forward to joining this community with a deeper perspective, clarity, self-awareness, and focus. 

Sincerely, 

Seeking College-Admissions Edge, More Students Take Gap Year

This Wall Street Journal article explains what's happening -- see some article excerpts below:

Rising rejections at highly selective colleges and hopes for better luck in a year are pushing more seniors to take a yearlong pause after high school. 

For the 2020-21 academic year, 130,000 students took gap years, according to the nonprofit Gap Year Association, with many of these early-pandemic gap-year students deferring enrollment to wait for the full college experience. That is up from between 40,000 and 60,000 students before the pandemic.

The following excerpt features Madison Kim who worked with Center for Interim Programs' president, Holly Bull. Madison took a gap year and reapplied to college halfway through her year. She was accepted into Cornell University after being on the wait list the first time around.

For Madison Kim, who says she received a score of 1510 on her SATs and played club soccer and lacrosse, last year’s admission season didn’t go the way she hoped. She was rejected from six schools, including her top choice, Yale University, and wait-listed at four others. She received two acceptances, but wasn’t enthusiastic about either, she says.
“I was pretty surprised and a little bit naive,” says Ms. Kim, 18, who lives with her family in California’s Napa Valley.
She worked with a gap-year counselor at the Center for Interim Programs, a consulting firm that helps students design independent gap years, and developed a plan. She would complete a marine-studies program over the summer and an off-the-grid hiking program in the fall while reapplying to colleges with a new major in mind: environmental science. 
“I ended up feeling a lot more like that my essay reflected my actual interest, whereas the first essay I wrote last year was maybe a little bit me trying to write what I thought they wanted to hear,” says Ms. Kim, who will enroll at Cornell University this fall. The school had wait-listed her in 2021.
What we have witnessed here at the Center for Interim Programs (after 42 years of doing nothing but gap year counseling with over 8,600 students) is that taking a gap year does not guarantee admission into college but it can't hurt and will only help, provided one puts thought and care into planning a year that truly matches core interests.

Interim Gap Year Student, Jon, Musing Over His Gap Time From 2000-2001

I recall sitting in the office of Cornelius Bull, the founder of the Center for Interim Programs, when he asked me his favorite question, “if you could wave a magic wand, where would you go?” I was only vaguely prepared for this question. I knew I wanted an adventure but frankly it was hard to narrow down my thoughts on the spot. The conversation took many twists and turns, but Mr. Bull was able to suss out exactly what I needed. And it turned out I was looking for what a lot of us are looking for, a bit of adventure, a bit of change of pace, and a whole lot of new scenery. So, the following June, a few weeks after my high school graduation, I got on an airplane alone and for the first time I traveled to a country that was literally the furthest away from where I grew up that I could possibly get. 

My year off took me to many places, and I remember them all quite fondly. But the first place is the memory I revisit the most. After roughly 3 full days of travel from my limited universe in Lexington, Kentucky, I arrived in a small town in the middle of the Australian outback, called Fitzroy Crossing. Here, my boss for the next few months picked me up and drove us the dusty, 1.5-hour drive back to the cattle station, Quanbun Downs. During my time on this cattle station, I worked harder than I’d ever worked in my life. I saw things I never imagined, and I lived a completely different existence. My adventures here included running cattle, working the stock yards, and the age-old cowboy tradition of fixing fences. We worked from before sunup to sundown. It was long and hard work, and it was extremely rewarding. I suppose it sounds like quite a simple life, and it was to a degree. But our tasks changed each day and, I assure you, running a cattle station is anything but simple.

I picked up a lot of Australian slang while I was there, some I had heard before, many I’ve never heard since, but one phrase lingers with me to this day. It has become my mantra of sorts. As an American I would use language familiar to me; I would use the phrase “I’ll try” when someone asked me to complete a task I’d never done before. But to a stockman “try” isn’t the right word. To “try” is not nearly good enough. To a stockman, “trying” might include some effort, or it might not. What they wanted to hear me say was “I’ll give it a go”, which means something completely different. To “give it a go” means to jump in feet first and throw your back into it. To “give it a go” is the right phrase when a hard job must get done but you have no idea how to do it. It’s what you say to your boss when he asks you to help him hold down a bull while he makes it a steer. I took that phrase with me the rest of the year and, well, even up until now in my life. It has served me well. My time at Quanbun Downs supplied numerous memories that I return to often. Some of them are difficult to put into words but in turn are some of the strongest memories, a sight, a sound, or a smell. At night, as I would walk back from the main house to the bunkhouse where I slept, I would stop and take a moment to breathe and look around. The station house ran on solar power and had no batteries, so there was no light pollution for literally a hundred miles. I would stand there and marvel at the stars of the southern hemisphere - truly a sight to behold. I remember that if I listened closely, I would notice a slight humming sound that wasn’t there during the day. As though the desert would come alive at night. Perhaps it was the insects going about their nightly business, I’m not sure. But it was there and very real.  And I remember the sweet smell in the evening. At night as the air cooled, the humidity would drop to the dusty ground and create a strange, sweet smell. It was, and still is, my favorite smell. These memories have taken root in my mind, and I’m grateful for them.

         I had many other adventures and experiences that year. Personally, what I needed was hard work, so I sought that out. I worked as a station hand on a sheep station, was a member of a crew for a conservation trust, I worked among the redwoods in northern California as a member of the state park grounds crew, I worked in the island of Kauai on the state park trail crew. Now here I am, some 20 odd years on and I seem to have made a life of adventures and experiences. I went back to college with a new-found motivation and did quite well, and after a brief, successful stint in the military I am now happily progressing through a career in private industry. But probably my most exciting adventure is that of being a father. Four years ago, we brought our daughter into the world and as any parent will tell you we had no idea what we were doing. But as I told my wife, “I’ll give it a go.”

A Podcast Interview with Holly Bull

Holly Bull, President of the Center for Interim Programs, was recently interviewed by a college resource:

Lisa Marker Robbins at Flourish Coaching

Enjoy this informal conversation about gap year benefits, stories, process, and more... 

Taming the High Cost of College (Podcast)

Holly Bull, President of the Center for Interim Programs and Gap Year Counselor for over 30 years, was recently interviewed by Brad Baldridge in this podcast from October, 2021 covering the gap year and gap time.

Successful 2020-21 Gap Experiences in the Face of COVID-19

   

Despite virus restrictions and concerns this year, Interim students have successfully stepped into hands-on programs with peers this past fall, as well as currently this winter/spring. As illustrated by some recent student photos above, they have engaged in cultural study, outdoor adventure, and service experiences in Hawaii, the mainland US, Europe, the Caribbean, Israel, and Central America. The small size of gap programs allows for easier quarantining of students, and the ability to monitor health and safety throughout a program. Gap year program providers deserve huge kudos for continuing to offer options to students in the face of the unknown and responsibilities involved. 

Feedback from students and parents has been consistently positive with many expressing relief  and gratitude over an in-person social life and no more sitting in front of a computer.

We here at Interim have been involved in the gap year field for over forty years and it's remarkable to witness how well it has continued to work in the face of a pandemic. Even with a more limited array of options compared to a normal gap year, the benefits of taking this kind of time are evident: resting and rejuvenating, garnering independent living skills, exploring potential interests for a college major or career, building a resume, and having the flexibility to adjust plans as needed. Rolling with change is a definite skill and we are all getting fine training in it this year!

For the coming gap year, we envision even more options available for students as vaccines take effect. There is no reason why students can't continue to explore their interests and the benefits of a half-step into the world, before heading on to college or other plans they may have in mind. One thing is certain, gap time allows students to practice being independent and proactive about their lives beyond traditional school settings.

Three Separate Gaps Since 2002: Trevor Kluckman's Journey

Interim Programs has been integral in my working through three separate stuck points over the course of my adult life. 

The first came about when I was 20 years old. I had dropped out of my second college in as many years, and struggled to feel my path forward after growing up an intelligent student in a small town. My mother heard about Interim Programs in a newspaper article, and we went by car to Princeton and sat down one on one with Holly. I remember questions about what would happen if I could wave a magic wand…I wanted to feel self-confidence. On the other side of this conversation I had 2, separate 3-month-long plans laid out: first, to go to Australia. Second, to go to Europe. I began working in a warehouse and saving for my journey. An unexpectedly long layover in Singapore produced a memory when I’d misread my (paper!) ticket as having a connection 12 hours sooner than my actual flight. I did as much as you could do in 8 hours in Singapore. Landing in Cairns, Australia, I began a 3-month stint that included volunteer conservation work. I helped install an irrigation system and experienced 47 degrees Celsius (HOT) for the first time in my life. I also worked on farms in exchange for housing and food, including a stop at a guy’s place in the bush who rehabilitated local kangaroos that had been hit by cars. I learned to drive a tractor on a coffee plantation. I even helped install a pool at the home of a couple who were nudists. All the while eating mangoes every chance I got. I re-centered and began submitting applications to colleges in the US. I stopped home for the holidays and to audition for theatre programs at the schools I was applying to, and then I was off to France. My time there included a stint assisting an American artist in Paris. She had a beautiful studio and half a century’s residence in the city. My Eurail pass took me to the most beautiful bike ride in the Swiss Alps, the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam, whistle stops through Venice, Brussels, Berlin, and more. I spent 10 days at a Buddhist meditation center, and a few weeks in Scotland visiting family. I was introduced to budget airline travel, toilets of different stripes, and friendly hosts. I remember quiet exhilaration when I ordered a pastry in German at a train station. Apart from getting taken by a guy in a shell game on the street in Nice, I got the hang of traveling through Europe by myself and returned to the US and a new college refreshed, motivated, and refocused. 

 The next Interim chapter for me came after I graduated in 2006. The death of a close friend and the end of a relationship had devastated me. Thankfully, Interim had just the place for me to go. I quit my job as a NYC bartender and headed to Project Vote Smart in Montana. I did non-partisan political information gathering from an office uniquely situated on a ranch in the Rockies. It was absolutely beautiful. Big Sky lives up to the slogan. What a place. I met, bunked, and worked with a great group of fellow 20-somethings, as well as a cadre of retirees visiting from across this great land. We all worked Monday-Friday gathering voting records, fundraising details, and more about elected officials and candidates to be dispensed to anybody who wanted ‘em. On the weekends I visited stunning Glacier National Park, got real good at foosball, and learned a little bit of Thai from a new friend who would go on to host me in Bangkok a year and a half later. 

 Third Interim go-around was in summer 2018. I’d drifted from my pursuits in show business, and had some time free before my well-paid yet unfulfilling job working banquets was to pick up for the season. I was in the market for something that was altogether different from anywhere I’d been before. My lack of Spanish had kept Latin America perpetually out of consideration up to that point in my life. Holly told me about a unique place in Guatemala where a former Peace Corps volunteer had undertaken to build a school from entirely recycled materials. This was as necessary as much as it was do-gooder: the community in Comalapa had no waste management system or facilities. I was privileged to encounter a beautiful campus glittering with the sunlight that cast through green, blue, and brown colored glass bottles recycled to let natural light stream through walls I got to help make with mud, hay, and manure (“cob”). My Spanish improved a little everyday I worked alongside my fellows, and as I began taking 1-hour lessons in town after work. The spectacular highlight of the 10 days I spent in Guatemala was my weekend trip to Antigua (“Old Guatemala”). I hiked through hot sun and freezing hail in a single day of climbing up the dormant volcano, Acatenango. Camping that night 1,000 feet shy of the 13,000+ foot summit, my mind was blown when Fuego – the adjacent volcano – erupted and spewed lava down its front and sides right in front of me. I have been fortunate to continue my Spanish lessons with Angélica, my teacher, via Facebook video to this day. Presently, I intend to use those lessons as a model to do my own tutoring in French via an app. My time in Guatemala also has given me the confidence to take on the challenge of moving to Italy, where my current course-heading is set.

Despite COVID-19 Gap Year Students are Enjoying Fall Experiences

 

We just received this great photo from one of our students currently finishing quarantine with a group of fellow gappers on a Welsh farm before heading to Italy. What is gratifying to know as we hear from students and program staff this fall, is that quarantines are working even if socially challenging, and our students are enjoying on site experiences in the company of fellow students in Ireland, Europe, Israel, Hawaii, the mainland US, and soon Costa Rica. 

There have been several positive tests but these cases have been mild and the students have been able to heal on site with support from staff and rejoin their program activities. The gap year program providers have done a truly extraordinary job of preparing for this anomaly of a year and supporting students, parents, and fellow staff  members. 

Gap years are all about facing new experiences and challenges and learning how to roll with change. Our hats are off to our many students and parents who are engaging in this especially intense process, despite the fears and concerns of this particular year. Based on what we currently know, we feel confident that our students will be able to continue exploring interests, hands on, into the winter and spring.

“The Benefits of Taking a Gap Year at Any Age”

In this article that came out in the Princeton Packet as well as centraljersey.com, Pam Hersh interviews Center for Interim Programs gap year counselors, Holly Bull and Kate Warren, about the benefits of taking gap time. Whether as student or older adult, the idea is invariably compelling for people of all ages.

The Gap Year Edge

A gap year is most typically taken between high school and college, or during college, to explore one’s interests in a dynamic hands-on fashion. Students can combine an array of experiences from group programs focused on cultural immersion and service, to skill-based options such as learning film making or how to run a recording studio, to gaining certifications, e.g. Wilderness EMT. Worldwide internships and volunteer work can also be included in the mix. Gap year options can span a weekend, a month, three months, on up to full year programs. Costs range widely with some placements providing housing and food for labor and others involving fees/tuition.

The benefits of taking gap time are varied and numerous:

• A chance to choose, create, and own one’s life at an early age
• The opportunity to relate classroom learning to the world
• Time to rest/rejuvenate from the onerous aspects of schooling (the gap year is particularly effective for students with learning differences who often thrive outside a formal classroom setting)
• Exploring an interest in a particular field before pursuing it as a major or career
• Increased clarity and focus in college resulting in a saving of time and money (the average number of college years is 5-6, not 4, with students changing majors or school in their effort to determine a passion; gap year students are invariably more efficient, finishing college in a shorter period of time than their non-gap year peers
• Building a resume and gaining practical skills before college or the work world
• Increased self-confidence from handling new situations away from home
• Greater financial awareness through having to focus on a budget
• Smoother transitions into college and the work world post college

There are those who may assume that taking a gap year is now a fairly simple task with the aid of the internet and various books and articles referencing this option for students. The reality is that it is not so easy to do on one’s own. Potential pitfalls include poorly run programs (where safety or insufficient activity for students can be an issue), too much down time at home due to lack of sufficient planning or structure, or socially isolated placements which can negatively color the whole experience.

Founded in 1980, the Center for Interim Programs has been doing gap year counseling work longer than anyone in the US and we are highly practiced at assisting students and parents through the gap year process. We have visited numerous programs in site, know most program directors well, and can offer program feedback from our over 8,000 alumni.

We offer anyone who is interested a free 90-minute brainstorming session where we map out a potential gap year based on a student’s interest. For those on a tight budget, we provide scholarships for our fee and recommend vetted, low cost placements so that the year itself does not have to be financially prohibitive. Even for those who have the means, there is no need to spend a lot of money on a gap year.

Most adults recognize that it is harder to take time later in one’s life to explore interests in this way. The reality is that this is a jewel of a period of time in which to gain personal clarity and power. If students can learn this early on, it will stand them in very good stead no matter what they choose to do in college and beyond.

A recent quote from one of our alumni mothers illustrates the practical effects of taking gap time for her daughter:

She gained much from her semester period in London, and all the courses/workshops she took in film making led to her new career—production first for a topflight advertising agency...where she interned  and then worked her way through the post-production department in both creative and technical roles...she is now head of production at a major production house...a position she recently achieved. She seems to thrive on the responsibility and challenge.

This hands on learning is invaluable and a perfect complement to formal academics.

Holly Bull, Center for Interim Programs President, Interview About "Filling the Gap"

Time Out for Students

Holly Bull was recently asked to speak at the South Orange-Maplewood Adult School in NJ about the "Gap Year Advantage": the many benefits of taking time gap time before (or during) college.

Local journalist, Rose Bennett Gilbert, interviewed Holly who pointed out that in the past young women and men who took time away from school were thought to be "indecisive or uncommitted to their educations," which is no longer the case. The reality is that gap time is "a great option for anyone who is trying to figure out who they are and what they really want."

Another benefit counteracting the effects of our current stressful academic culture, is how gap time leads to more rested and focused students who are typically more excited about their studies following some time to decompress, explore the world, and choose experiences that light them up.

Additional advice Holly offers to parents and students:

• Do your due diligence on possible gap programs
• Plan carefully so you don't have too many gaps during your gap year
• Include some hands-on practical experience

Read more gap year insights in Ms. Gilbert's article on the Adult School website.

Interim alumna Bathsheba Demuth comments on her 1999 gap year

Bathsheba Demuth engaged in one of the most unusual and interesting experiences Interim had to offer during her gap year in 1999. At 18, she headed off to the town of Old Crow in the Yukon to help train sled dogs, some to compete in the Yukon Quest, a 1,000 mile international sled dog race across Alaska and Canada. Her writing about this experience was fascinating as she noted the combination of old and new within the Gwich'in community where she lived: seeing people wearing Calvin Klein jeans and moccasins, or eating caribou meat with Tater Tots. She went on to attend Brown University and is currently an Assistant Professor of History and Environment & Society at Brown with a new book just out called Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait. She is working on another book drawn from her experience in the Yukon.

Of her gap year she noted, "I can honestly say my gap year experience set the course for the rest of my adult life - from what I studied in college to my choices in graduate school to what I research and write about now, as faculty. I wouldn't be the same person now without it!"

Given College Costs, Can You Afford Not To Take a Gap Year? NYT Slide Show on Paying College Tuition

This recent NYT Opinion piece, filled with comments of College Graduates and Parents, highlights the potentially debilitating costs of college and college loans. The fact that students often take more than four years to finish college adds to the debt issue. According to the U.S. Department of Education, students take 5.7 to 6.4 years on average to complete degrees.

In comparison, Gap Year student research reveals that gap year students typically finish their degrees in four, or fewer, years. And their interests are more focused when they land on campus and they are more prepared to step into the work world post college after experiencing a half step into the world during a gap year.

Note the following potential savings when comparing 4 years of college costs to the 6 year average.

q

Public College Out of State:  

4 years = $149,720 versus 6 years = $224,580  

$74,860 extra cost 

§Private College:

4 years = $194,040 versus 6 years = $291,060

o$97,020 extra cost

It is also important to note that the cost of a typical gap year rarely comes close to a year of college tuition.

Feel free to contact us to learn how gap year options can save you time and money.

Professor Howard Gardner's Latest Research at Harvard Graduate School of Education

Professor Howard Gardner and colleague Wendy Fischman 

Holly Bull, President of the Center for Interim Programs, was fortunate enough to attend one of Howard Gardner's classes during her graduate work at Harvard Graduate School of Education and recently came across some of his latest research. When Gardner began this research in 2012 his intention was to review what he and his team believed "Liberal Arts and Sciences in the 21st Century" to be. As a champion of the liberal arts who believed his vision of a liberal arts education was widely shared, he noticed that the common view of education had begun to shift to a more career focused direction.  It was this shift which led him to research the views of higher education and the concerns among students and their aims.

As the research progressed, he found surprisingly convergent concerns among students at different types of schools. And he found that these views were not at all aligned with his own understanding of what a liberal-arts education meant. The students thought of "liberal" in a political sense to mean “anything goes” or soft courses they had to take for their degree, and not necessarily positive. Further, the focus of much of the students' concerns in their higher education appeared to be "belonging" and "mental health".

Based on students’ own narratives about the reasons they were attending college, Gardner and his team came up with four types of undergraduates:

1. Inertial (autopilot mode from high school to college)
2. Transactional (you do what you have to to get a degree and then on to work or graduate school)
3. Exploratory (you go to college for a one-time opportunity to try something new or to "dabble" in a new field)
4. Transformational (you go to college to examine your fundamental beliefs and values)

What we witness at Interim with our gap year students, is an immediate and profound shift in Inertial students in particular who cannot rely on autopilot when they have to think more consciously about their interests and plan what they want to do during their gap year. For Transactional students, the gap year can clarify a college major and potential work or graduate focus. For Exploratory students, a gap year offers a unique opportunity and far wider hands-on scope to try something new or "dabble" in a new field. And for Transformational students, a gap year away from that which has defined them thus far - family, friends, culture - is an ideal arena in which to discover and review fundamental beliefs and values. Each type of undergraduate outlined by Gardner and his research team, can benefit immensely from what a gap year has to offer.

Gap Year's gaining popularity for NJ high school grads

Holly Bull, Center for Interim Programs President, speaks with New Jersey 101.5's David Matthau about the benefits of the gap year and the wide range of options available.

Here's the link to the talk.

Gap Year Exploration Month!

February is Gap Year Exploration Month, a shared initiative of educators, experiential education experts, program providers, industry groups, and others to spotlight and promote the benefits of gap years. 

Top Colleges are Embracing, Encouraging, and Even Contributing to a Gap Year

Gap Years, once thought to be options only for students from well-to-do families, are now growing more popular for students of modest means who want to pause before jumping into college. As Duke Undergraduate Admissions Dean, Christoph Guttentag, tells us in this article by Melissa Korn that appeared in the Wall Street Journal on Christmas Day, the gap year allows hard-charging, academically focused students "to reflect, to grow, to mature, to develop".

Not only are there many low cost Gap Year options open to all, but incoming freshmen at schools such as Tufts University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Florida State University, and Princeton University, can get financial support to defer their enrollment for a year to travel, volunteer, or pursue other passions. Generous donors are also beginning to support Gap Year participants and some colleges are forming Gap Year partnerships.

Holly Bull, President of Center for Interim Programs, Describes the Gap Year Option

In this short and insightful video presentation, Holly describes taking gap time and how it can assist the participant in developing and expanding his or her views.  

Holly will be speaking at the USA Gap Year Fairs taking place across the US this coming January and February.