Stepping Off The Conveyor Belt: Gap Year Effects on the First Year College Experience Author: Lori Ilene Tenser Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104364 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2015 Copyright is held by the author. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0). Boston College Lynch School of Education Department of Educational Leadership and Higher Education Program in Higher Education STEPPING OFF THE CONVEYOR BELT: GAP YEAR EFFECTS ON THE FIRST-YEAR COLLEGE EXPERIENCE Dissertation by LORI I. TENSER Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2015 © Copyright by Lori I. Tenser 2015 STEPPING OFF THE CONVEYOR BELT: GAP YEAR EFFECTS ON THE FIRST-YEAR COLLEGE EXPERIENCE by Lori I. Tenser Karen Arnold, Dissertation Chair ABSTRACT Taking a gap year between high school and college has become more common in the United States in recent years, yet little research attempts to describe or analyze the experience of the students who arrive on college campuses after such a year out. This qualitative study followed 12 first-year students attending highly-selective private institutions in the northeastern U.S. as they experienced the transitions from high school to gap year to college. With varying levels of family support and high levels of personal motivation, the students participated in a wide range of gap-year endeavors. The findings indicate that students were heavily influenced by their encounters during the gap year, leading to strong evidence of self-authorship among the participants, which in turn shaped the way students pursued their goals when they arrived at college. Particularly influential were encounters that involved independent problem-solving, participating in multigenerational relationships, and immersion in new cultural settings. The students’ transitions to college during the first year were marked by patterns of Sovereign Engagement with regard to learning, relationships, and decision-making. Commonly marked by internalized goals, authenticity in relationships, and greater individual agency, “Sovereign Engagement” captures the self-authored perspective that these students brought to their college experience. Contrary to suggestions in the popular media, not all gap-year students found the transition to be seamless; nor were they uniformly motivated to earn good grades. As a summary of the findings, the Gap Year Impact Model provides an important frame of reference for understanding the experiences, needs, and sovereign decision-making patterns of gap-year students. The results offer students, parents, colleges and universities an introduction to the lived experiences of gap-year students, who are arriving on campus in increasing numbers each year. <><><> ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A guitar pick. A jewelry box. A backpack. A prayer book. A bracelet. These are some of the precious objects students showed me; physical symbols of the lasting impact of their gap-year encounters. Their stories were rich with texture — sounds, sights, feelings, relationships, obstacles, and triumphs. Lena, Julie, Paulina, Peter, Mark, Daniel, Layla, Maria, Vinny, Jackie, Tessa, and Andy arrived on their respective college campuses in the Fall of 2013 after having taken a gap year. They graciously agreed to take part in this study, and to maintain connections with me during their first year of college. I could not be more thankful for their time, their energy, and their enormous capacity for reflection. This dissertation is the result of their kindness and generosity. I hope that I have done justice to their fascinating stories of growth and development. I have been privileged to work with an illustrious and supportive dissertation committee. The wise and wonderful Dr. Belle Liang, who provided context and connection between students’ relationships and their college experiences; the astute and compassionate Dr. Heather Rowan-Kenyon, whose own pivotal work on access to college informed the development of my research questions and who reminded me to be comfortable with ambiguity; and the astounding and indefatigable Dr. Karen Arnold, my chair, who possesses super powers that allow her to read 100 pages faster than a speeding bullet, clarify theoretical concepts more powerfully than a locomotive, and leap over immense hurdles of advisee self- doubt in a single bound. My journey through this program would have been far less rewarding without the kindness, clarity and companionship of my esteemed doctoral colleagues Amir Reza, Mark i Kenyon, Katie O’Dair, Kara Godwin, and Samantha Carney. I am inspired by each of you. Thank you for your friendship and brilliance, your warmth and humor. Annie Kelly began as a summer colleague and has become a trusted and dear friend, whose assistance during the homestretch made it possible for me to focus on the substance of this work without becoming derailed by tiny details. Karen Stein Shanley’s design acumen helped my model come alive in graphic brilliance. What a tremendous amount of patience and support my family, friends and colleagues have shown me during this journey! My parents, Joan and Arthur Tenser, instilled in me a love of learning and a fundamental belief that a little tenacity and a lot of hard work go a long way. My siblings and their spouses, Caryl, Len, Jamie and Val, encouraged me with unrelenting optimism through the entire process. Sam and Charlotte nourished and supported and transported our family whenever our lives required gentle intervention. And the Red Mountain Gang, my dearest and most trusted friends and companions, fortified me with wisdom, love, tips for staying healthy and focused, and the inspiring promise of many more hikes together at our favorite magical place! My professional colleagues and students at Wellesley College have always believed in me, offering ongoing encouragement, patience and support. Thanks especially to the dream team of John, Joy, Susan, Jennifer, Ruth, Mary and Kelly, for reminding me to be a shark, unlimited by the partial view that is visible through the skylight! I extend my deepest love and gratitude to my children: Celia, Jeremy, and Reuben. My enormous pride in completing this dissertation is trivial compared to my profound pride in you. It is because of you that every available ounce of my energy propelled me forward! Thank you for Sundays at Panera, for musical interludes from Stravinsky to Sara Bareilles to ii Bruno Mars, and for reminding me about the things that truly matter. For you, this dissertation is free of unnecessary emoticons and the eight common allergens. I am humbly indebted, most of all, to Alan, the love of my life and the first doctor in our family, who never, ever, doubted me for a minute. Not. Once. This study explored the journeys of self-discovery taken by gap-year students. It became, as it should have, a similar journey for me. “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” — Ursula K. LeGuin iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments i List of Figures/Tables vii 1. Chapter One: Overview of the Study 1 a. Statement of the Problem 1 b. Purpose of the Study 3 c. Significance of the Study 5 d. Defining the Gap-Year Phenomenon 11 e. Postulated Gap-Year Outcomes 12 f. Overview of Research Design 15 g. Personal Experience with the Topic 16 h. Summary 17 2. Chapter Two: Review of the Literature 18 a. Overview 18 b. Looking at Delayed Student Entry to College 18 c. The Transition to College During the First Year 23 d. Cultural Capital and the Decision to Elect a Gap Year 32 e. Researching the Gap-Year Phenomenon 35 f. Conditions Supporting the Proliferation of Gap-Year Programs 40 g. Theoretical Framework 43 1. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecology Model 43 2. Baxter Magolda’s Theories of Self-Authorship 46 3. Relational Health 49 3. Chapter Three: Methodology 51 a. Overview 51 b. Data Collection and Timeline 53 • Table 3a: Sequence of Data Collection 54 • Table 3b: Data Collection Details 54 c. Institutional Sites 55 d. Participants 56 e. Research Design 60 1. Individual Interviews 62 iv 2. Focus Groups 63 3. Responses to Written Prompts 64 4. Uses of Technology 65 f. Anonymity vs. Confidentiality 66 g. Analysis and Reliability 69 • Figure 3: Codes to Clusters 74 4. Chapter Four: Sample, Model Overview, and Gap Year Antecedents 75 a. Introduction 75 b. Overview of the Findings 77 • Table 4a: Gap Year Study Participants 80 c. Study Participants 81 • Figure 4: Gap Year Impact Model 83 d. Overview of the Gap Year Impact Model 84 e. Gap Year Impact Model: Before the Gap Year Decision 87 1. Clear Family Expectations About College Attendance 89 2. Strong Record of High School Achievement 93 3. Viability of the Gap Year 95 f. Gap Year Decision Making 101 g. Conclusion 105 5. Chapter Five: Gap Year Encounters and Meaning Making 106 a. Introduction 106 b. Gap Year Impact Model: Encounter 106 • Figure 5: Participants’ Gap Year Encounters 107 c. Stories about Encounters 112 d. Encounters Lead to Meaning Making 117 e. Gap Year Impact Model: Accelerated Process of Meaning Making 117 f. Meaning Making: How They Changed 123 6. Chapter Six: Sovereign Engagement in College 127 a. Introduction 127 b. Evidence of Sovereign Engagement in College 127 1. Taking Responsibility for Academic Performance 130 2. Learning for the Sake of Learning 134 3. Viewing College as Short-Term and a Privilege 135 4. Letting Go of “FOMO” 137 5. Pursuit of Authentic relationships 141 i. Authenticity in Existing Relationships 143 ii. Authenticity in Relationships During the Gap Year 144 v iii. Authenticity in New Relationships 147 6. Sharing Their Stories 150 7.