Robert Clagett is a former dean of admissions at Middlebury College and former senior admissions officer at Harvard College.

As the cultural significance that Americans attach to the college admissions process gets ratcheted up year after year, it can frequently seem as if where we go to college has become more important than what we actually do with the opportunity once we get there.  For some, getting into the perfect college has become an end in itself, rather than a means to an end, and finally having the brass ring in hand can sometimes lead to a sense of letdown and even underachievement once they arrive on campus.

But there are a few positive trends happening out there that may help us refocus our attention on what should be the educational goals of going to college in the first place.  As was reported in September on The Choice, one of those is the burgeoning interest that some students are demonstrating in taking a gap year between high school and college, voluntarily removing themselves from the lock-step mentality that can too often characterize the high school experience.

It is by no means a new idea, and for university-bound students in some parts of the world, it is practically the norm.  But since the convention for most in this country is to graduate from high school in the spring, then head off to college the following fall, it has taken time for it to take root.

Gradually, however, this idea is catching on, and more and more students are stepping off the educational treadmill, pursuing interests, talents or jobs for reasons other than just helping them get into their college of choice, and reminding themselves in the process of what their education is really all about. 

There has also developed an industry of programs, books, gap year fairs, counseling services and sometimes even financial aid to help students pursue their passions during a year away from their formal education.

The reason for all of this interest is that much evidence has shown that students who take a gap year bring more to their college experiences and derive more from them as well.  What often happens is that students end up “reinventing” themselves during their gap year, discovering where their true interests and talents lie, and helping them bring a more mature outlook to their education in the future.

There is even good news on the academic performance front, with several studies showing that students who take a gap year end up doing better than their non-gap year classmates.  At Middlebury College in Vermont, for example, this was true even when controlling for the academic credentials that gap year students brought with them from their high schools.  On average, those students have shown a clear pattern of having higher G.P.A.’s than would otherwise have been predicted, and the positive effect lasts over all four years.

So here, for once, is a college admissions trend that is a win-win for everyone involved.  Most students who take a gap year still go through the college admissions process when they are seniors in high school, then request a deferral of their enrollment after they have decided where they would like to matriculate.  But as long as those students are proposing something worthwhile for their year off, most colleges are open to approving these requests, since they realize it can only lead to a more focused and mature student body.

And for many students, parents and colleges, that would be a welcome trend indeed.