A Cure for the College-Bound Blues - New York Times

The transition from high school to college is not what it used to be. Freshmen show up on campus with stress from the admissions chase and parents hovering a text-message away. For them, the gap year is a way to reclaim what has been lost. Mindful of those strains, schools are promoting gap years more aggressively. Last month, Princeton unveiled plans to send at least a 10th of its incoming students abroad for a year of social service before starting at the university. High schools now hold gap-year fairs to teach students about the option, and companies and consultants that place students in gap-year programs (guitar-building in England or caring for injured sled dogs in Canada) are proliferating.