Georgetown University is catching some flack for their handling of gap year requests from members of the Class of 2024 and 2025. In a Business Insider piece, one in which Ivy Coach is cited, Juliana Kaplan describes how Georgetown initially included language on its gap year application that stated “I don’t want to be in an online university” as an unacceptable answer to why students wished to take a gap year rather than potentially begin virtual coursework in the fall. But apparently the application language was changed. And while Business Insider wasn’t able to confirm the prior language on the original form, it all sounds a bit fishy to us.

Why Many Elite College Students Opted For Gap Years During the Pandemic

To back up, let’s include some context to this decision. During the pandemic, many students at elite colleges opted to take gap years as opposed to signing up for a year of courses taken online, away from campus. These students, quite understandably, did not see the value in paying tuition without the ability to engage with the many resources and opportunities that, under normal circumstances, would be at their fingertips on their college campuses. In this case, the students who tried to opt out of Georgetown’s “online university” recognized that much of the value of a college education is the people and activities one is put in touch with on a thriving, bustling college campus.

Is Avoiding “Online University” an Appropriate Justification for a Gap Year?

Naturally, it seems some incoming Georgetown first-year students are a bit frustrated. As Kaplan writes, “On May 1, the class of 2024 group sent an open letter, asking that the [gap year request] deadline be postponed until after Georgetown makes its decision on what the fall will look like, as Moira Ritter and Liana Hardy first reported for The Hoya. But the deadline to submit a deferral request was May 1 – the same day students had to confirm their offer of admission. Seven of the students behind the letter told Business Insider that it has been received by administrators, and policy suggestions from the letter on the agenda for discussion by Georgetown University Student Association…The Georgetown letter goes into greater detail, calling for 2020 commencement to be postponed, as well as requesting that on-campus housing be provided to ’vulnerable student groups’ and that staff and faculty continue to be paid.”

Is Taking a Gap Year Still Worth It After the Pandemic?

We’re not so sure why incoming first-year Georgetown students believe it their right to request the postponement of 2020 commencement — they’ve got some chutzpah! — but we support the spirit of their other requests. As we at Ivy Coach have long pointed out, one of the primary values of an elite education at a place like Georgetown is the culture of healthy competition and achievement fostered by a community of singularly-talented individuals. It’s only by observing the work ethic and drive of other students that some first-year students are inspired to take up the reigns themselves and get to work pursuing their dreams on their college campus. Without exposure to other students, much less the campus itself, this isn’t possible. Hence was the vogue for gap years during the pandemic.

But is a gap year worth it under normal circumstances, A.K.A. now that the pandemic is in our rearview?

Taking a Gap Year Before College Disrupts Your Admissions Odds

As we at Ivy Coach are happy to point out, taking a gap year before you’ve earned college admission is a foolhardy decision. Admissions officers see that gap in your resume and assume the worst, that you’ve spent that time goofing off and losing academic steam such that you won’t be able to keep up if you earn admission. We don’t recommend students take this course of action unless extreme extenuating circumstances, such as a family emergency, necessitate it.

Taking a gap year during your college years is another story. It’s up to you whether you believe taking a break from the bustle of campus life is worth it. But let this Georgetown scandal from the pandemic serve as a warning. If you don’t have a good enough reason to take a gap year (especially now that there’s not a global health crisis to use as an excuse), your plea for one may go unheard by your college’s administration.