While there are many opportunities for a bridge year, we believe that Global Citizen Year stands out for several reasons:

UNIQUE PROGRAM CYCLE

• Training
  The entire GCY experience is designed to support Fellows’ learning and growth. You will receive intensive and comprehensive training before you travel, once you arrive in-country, and throughout the course of your apprenticeships and homestays.
• Long-term Apprenticeships
  Unlike traditional, short-term volunteer placements, you will instead work in partnership with communities through a customized apprenticeship. By living and working in a community for an extended period, you have the unique opportunity to learn a language, form lasting relationships and understand the issues that shape your hosts’ lives and experiences.
• Support
  Throughout your apprenticeship, you will receive support on the ground from your Team Leader and your cohort of Fellows. Carefully selected homestay families and project partners will also be guides and resources. You will receive weekly visits from your Team Leader, and your team of Fellows will come together once a month to process learning and share experiences with each other.
• Capstone Project
  When you return to the US after your international apprenticeship, GCY will help you share your experience with your home community. We will connect you to resources to implement a capstone project to help you bring your experience home, ensuring that you are not the only one benefiting from your Global Citizen Year.

NETWORK

Once you return home, you will become a part of the larger Global Citizen Year network by joining a dynamic alumni network.  This community will provide you with support and resources throughout college and beyond.

ACCESS

GCY believes it is important to ensure access to all students, regardless of your family’s ability to pay. To this end, we actively raise money from a variety of sources to help cover costs for students who might not otherwise be able to participate. In the 2009/10 program, 100% of our Fellows received some level of financial aid from GCY.

YOUR EDUCATION

• Learning through experience
• Learning about yourself – and what you’re really passionate about
• Learning – and using – new languages
• Learning about the complexities of the world’s most pressing issues
• Learning from experts of all stripes: locals, academics, business leaders, social entrepreneurs, development professionals, and so many more

YOUR PERSPECTIVE

• Challenging your assumptions
• Changing how you see your role in the world

YOUR WORLD

• Taking the road less traveled
• Experiencing other cultures
• Connecting with others who are passionate about the world and invested in changing it
• Understanding what role you will play to help make a better world

Well, you’re here in the first place, so chances are pretty good you’ve got something we’re looking for – you’re open to new experiences and thinking about taking the road less traveled.

GCY ADMISSIONS– NOTHING STANDARDIZED ABOUT IT:

• Global Citizen Year is a highly selective program, but it’s not about test scores or grades.
• We are looking for passionate, resourceful, resilient, curious, idealistic and principled candidates.
• We’re interested in how you see the world and your role in it, how willing you are to challenge your assumptions and change your perspectives, how much you believe a better world is possible and how committed you are to making it real.
• Want to know more? Take a look at our Selection Criteria.

We don’t think of it as a year OFF, and many colleges don’t either; on the contrary, you’ll arrive on campus with proficiency in a new language and a focus probably unmatched among your peers.  With many colleges, deferring for a year is very straightforward. Just ask the admissions office what you need to do.

Support is building for bridge year programs. Check out some of these articles.

• “Want to Get Into Harvard – Take a Year Off” – CBS MoneyWatch
• “Taking Time Off” – Harvard College Admissions
• “Princeton Plans for an Early Year Abroad” – New York Times
• “Advice for the College-bound: Wait”  – Washington Post
• “A Cure for College-Bound Blues” – New York Times

Let’s start with the obvious: While everyone else is learning how to cope with their roommate’s habits, you will be learning things like how to fertilize a macadamia farm, ethical issues to consider when photographing life in another country, how to dress for a Mayan wedding, and how best to roll down the side of a volcano.

Beyond the cultural adventures, you’ll gain tools for understanding and critiquing complex global issues, and you’ll have a wealth of experience under your belt when you get to campus. You’ll be empowered with a perspective, passion and sense of purpose that will set you apart in college and beyond.

• Because you’re not like everyone else.
• Because a Global Citizen Year is your opportunity to grow and see the world  in ways that no study abroad program offers.
• Because you’re ready to start growing now.
• Because you believe a better world is more than a cliché, but a real possibility worth working toward. You believe you have a role to play in shaping that world. You know you have a long way to go, but you know the journey doesn’t start until you take the first step. You’re ready to take that step now.
  

In the 2010-11 year, the GCY program cost is $26,300.  This total is all-inclusive and covers the entire 9-month program including:

• Program-related travel (domestic, international and in-country-from designated locations)
• Training (domestic and in-country)
• Educational components
• Enrichment activities
• Accommodations
• Meals
• Contributions to host communities and community projects
• Supplementary medical and evacuation insurance
• Visa and entry fees

GCY strongly believes that the ability to pay should not be a barrier to a student’s ability to participate. Applicants wishing to apply for funding assistance must have completed a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). We will use a sliding scale, based on your FAFSA Student Aid Report, to determine each Fellow’s program fee. Financial assistance decisions will be made prior to the deadline for Fellows to commit to the program.

In the 2009-10 program year, 100% of Fellows received some level of financial assistance from GCY.