Talk:Gap year

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UK gap year

There's a bit of confusion in the UK section, which defines the origins of the gap year in the 1970s as "an interim period of 7 or 8 months between completing secondary education and starting university": readers may wonder how that worked in practice. In fact, most students took their A-levels and left school at the end of the academic year in July; and entered university at the beginning of the academic year in September - either the September immediately following (without a gap year), or the September after that (with a gap year). So in those cases the "gap year" would actually last about 14 months. However, candidates for Oxford and Cambridge, in addition to A-levels, had to pass a separate Oxbridge entrance exam, which was held in December. They therefore stayed on at school an extra term, and then had some time off before starting university the following September: that's what the "7 or 8 months" refers to. The Oxbridge entrance exam was abandoned in the mid-1980s. I don't have sources for any of this. GrindtXX (talk) 12:00, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

Update reference to "American Gap Association"

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The United States section currently cites the "American Gap Association" with a link to americangap.org. This organization has since been renamed the Gap Year Association (GYA), and the americangap.org domain now redirects/is defunct. This is independently confirmed by GuideStar's nonprofit database, which lists the organization's current legal name as "Gap Year Association" with "American Gap Association" noted as a former name, sharing the same EIN (46-0781800): https://www.guidestar.org/profile/46-0781800

For context: the Gap Year Association is recognized as the Standards Development Organization for gap year education in the U.S. by the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission, and is the only national nonprofit membership association focused on the gap year sector.

I'd suggest updating the text to read "...according to statistics compiled by the Gap Year Association (formerly known as the American Gap Association)" and updating the citation link accordingly.

Specific change requested:

Change: the American Gap Association

To: the Gap Year Association (formerly known as the American Gap Association)

Disclosure: I am an employee of the Gap Year Association, so I'm proposing this change here rather than editing the article directly.

Gap Year Association (GYA) (talk) 13:51, 17 September 2026 (UTC)

 Not done. Please write in your own words (without machine assistance), and see the instructions at WP:COI. –Deacon Vorbis (carbon • videos) 16:14, 17 September 2026 (UTC)

I'm writing to request that the the wording of American Gap Association be changed to Gap Year Association (GYA) and for link that is attached to be updated to https://www.gapyearassociation.org/. I'm also writing to request that a brief description of the GYA be added such as: The Gap Year Association (GYA) is a member-led 501(c)3 charitable nonprofit and currently holds the Standard Development Organization (SDO) title for gap year education in the United States as recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission. GYA offers gap year planning resources, professional development, advocacy and more.

I am a currently employee of the Gap Year Association. Gap Year Association (GYA) (talk) 17:02, 17 September 2026 (UTC)

Request to update name and description of American Gap Year Association on this page

I'm writing to request that the the wording of American Gap Association be changed to Gap Year Association (GYA) and for link that is attached to be updated to https://www.gapyearassociation.org/. I'm also writing to request that a brief description of the GYA be added such as: The Gap Year Association (GYA) is a member-led 501(c)3 charitable nonprofit and currently holds the Standard Development Organization (SDO) title for gap year education in the United States as recognized by the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission. GYA offers gap year planning resources, professional development, advocacy and more.

I am a currently employee of the Gap Year Association. Gap Year Association (GYA)

Emma at Gap Year Association (GYA) (talk) 15:09, 21 September 2026 (UTC)