Malia Obama to take a 'gap year' before college. Should everyone?
After months of speculation about which college Malia Obama will attend after graduating the elite Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. this year, the White House announced Sunday that the Obama family had picked Harvard University.
The 17-year-old Malia won鈥檛 embark on her college career until fall 2017, though, electing to take a 鈥済ap year鈥� between the two phases of her life.
Did the eldest of the Obama daughters decide to take a hiatus from school to expand her horizons by traveling the world, or to do humanitarian work, or maybe to get some under her belt? The White House didn鈥檛 say, but it's also possible that, more than anything else, the decision to delay college has to do with waiting out her father鈥檚 presidency to avoid the attention she would attract as a freshman.
Whatever she decides to do with her year off, Malia鈥檚 decision brings attention to a year of growth and development between high school and college that some educators and schools strongly endorse, especially since today鈥檚 students face more severe pressure to do well 鈥� and to participate in many more extracurricular activities 鈥� in high school than did previous generations.
鈥淲e shouldn鈥檛 rush this transition,鈥� Jeffrey J. Selingo, a professor at the University of Arizona and a former top editor at the Chronicle of Higher Education, told The New York Times.
In his new book, 鈥�: What Parents and Students Should Know About Navigating School to Prepare for the Jobs of Tomorrow,鈥� Prof. Selingo writes that a gap year often helps students process why they鈥檙e going to college and what they want to get out out of the experience.
鈥淲e are who aren鈥檛 ready or don鈥檛 know why they鈥檙e there,鈥� he told the Times.
According to the Times:
Students who take time off tend to do better academically and are more likely to be satisfied with their choices after graduation, and we鈥檝e written about how students who take time off may be able to make better choices about things like alcohol and sex and have a better understanding of what they want from college.
Even colleges are endorsing the hiatus. Harvard is among those, encouraging students accepted to the university to defer enrollment to travel, work on a special project, or do something else that鈥檚 meaningful. 聽
鈥淩egardless of why they took the year off or what they did, ,鈥� Harvard says on its admissions site. 鈥淢any speak of their year away as a 鈥榣ife-altering鈥� experience or a 鈥榯urning point,鈥� and most feel that its full value can never be measured and will pay dividends the rest of their lives.鈥�
Princeton University has a , and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has a聽, as The Washington Post聽.
There is little doubt that the president鈥檚 daughter will do something exceptional with her gap year. And when she鈥檚 ready to do school again, Malia will follow in the footsteps of her parents, both of whom attended Harvard Law School, and many other presidential children who studied at Harvard.
The university accepted 5.2 percent of applicants this year, which marked the most competitive admissions cycle in the school鈥檚 nearly four-century history, according to the Times.
Malia : Brown, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale, reports the Los Angeles Times. She also visited New York University, Tufts, Barnard College, and Wesleyan University.
