Reason number one is college performance. US News writes that "College admission officials have become more accepting of the gap year over the past several years. Some even encourage their admitted students to take one. For more than 30 years, Harvard's acceptance letters have included a suggestion that students take time off before enrolling."
Reason number two is that the Gap Year might help you decide what you want to do with your life or what you really do want to study in college. Academic Advising at the University of Oregon suggests that "Many students are undecided about their majors when they enter college - and many who are decided change their minds more than once before they graduate (an average of three times)." Think of all the time and tuition money you will save if you take a Gap Year and realize what you want to do before you start your first class.
Anyway, Suzy lists out eight more reasons to take a Gap Year in her post.
If anyone is interested, here are the top 10 destinations for Gap Years. We added the programs we operate in each of the countries, where applicable. A $ symbol indicates participants earn a salary or stipend during the program:
Thailand
Conversation Corps
Internship
Paid Teacher $
Summer Camp Counselor $
Australia
Au Pair $
New Zealand
Au Pair $