Malia Obama isn’t the first to take a gap year

One, the process of getting into college is enormously stressful, and students have to juggle a full load of academic and extracurricular activities to differentiate themselves. Two, the year between high school and college is one of the only times in a person’s life when a gap year experience is possible. And three, if a student is not ready to take full advantage of the college experience or doesn’t know what they want to study, taking a gap year is a great way to gain perspective.

I last wrote about the practice late last year when when I told you about Claire Griffinin of Marietta. Read more about her story here.