Community Choice Awards 2023: Gap Year

When attempting to determine the best overall gap year providers, we looked at those who scored highly across every part of the gap year experience, from support and housing to fun, value, and safety

Planning a gap year in 2024? It's an exciting opportunity to take your whole future into your hands: you can decide where you want to go, and what you want to do. In that process, a gap year provider can be incredibly valuable. They can offer support, guidance, and even an itinerary to help give your gap year some structure while still helping you achieve your personal goals for taking a gap year in the first place.

Gap year providers are a great alternative for people who want to take a gap year but don't want to plan it all themselves. Here on Go Overseas, we have gap year resources and program listings -- but we also have reviews from past gap year takers (aka gappers) on what the experience was really like. We ask gappers to rate their gap year experience in five categories: Housing, Support, Fun, Value, and Safety. To determine the top gap year providers, we looked at these categories and the overall ratings of each provider to come up with this list.

Learn more about how we scored programs for this year's awards by clicking here.

h-mb3
 

Overall Top Gap Year Providers

A gap year is many things to many people. Actually, it's likely that every person who takes a gap year has a completely unique reason for taking the gap year and what they hope to get out of it. When attempting to determine the best overall gap year providers, we looked at those who scored highly across every part of the gap year experience, from support and housing to fun, value, and safety. The following gap year providers had the top overall scores in 2023:

h-mb3
 
  1. INTRO Travel

    INTRO Travel operate amazing and award winning group tours all over the world! Perfect for solo or...

    1st
  2. Seguinland Institute Logo

    Three-Time Winner of Award for Best Overall Gap Year Provider by GoOverseas (2020, 2022, 2023)! We...

    2nd
  3. Thumbnail

    Study art, architecture and European culture in Italy, France and London for a semester in the...

    3rd

Top Gap Year Providers: Housing

Whether a gap year means spending a year abroad in a single country living and working or a multi-country jaunt across one or more continents, housing is a pretty important part of the experience. We ask gap year alumni to rate the housing provided by their gap year provider; while there's some variance based on how many housing types they experience each year, the best providers offer quality, safe housing everywhere. The following providers had the top scores in the Housing category:

h-mb3
 
  1. Wanderlust Exchange Logo

    Wanderlust Exchange combines travel with educational exchange opportunities through several programs...

    1st
    1st
  2. VACorps logo

    The VACorps internship program creates tailored placements in Cape Town, South Africa. We...

    2nd
    2nd
    2nd
    2nd
  3. Where There Be Dragons

    Dragons has offered immersive and responsible Gap Year and Summer Abroad programs in Asia, Latin...

    3rd
    3rd

Top Gap Year Providers: Support

A gap year is a chance to really step outside the normal support structure you may know and feel comfortable with. That said, it's also a time where you still may need some support from time to time as you get your footing and take on the world. We ask gappers to rate the support they receive -- when they need it -- from their gap year program. The following programs had the top scores in the Support category:

h-mb3
 
  1. Global Work & Travel

    As the easy way to work & travel around the world, Global Work & Travel specialises in trips that...

    1st
    1st
  2. Warriors Academy Gap Year

    Warriors Academy is an internationally accredited Gap Year program that has been running in South...

    2nd
    2nd
  3. ARCC Programs logo

    ARCC has been offering summer and gap programs for young adults since 1983. We offer an opportunity...

    3rd

Top Gap Year Providers: Fun

We obviously think that taking a gap year should be a fun experience -- in fact, we ask every reviewer to tell us how much fun they had overseas, for almost every program they rate on our site. For gap year programs, we ask alumni to share what they rate the social scene for their gap year program. The following providers had the top scores in the Fun category:

h-mb3
 
  1. VACorps logo

    The VACorps internship program creates tailored placements in Cape Town, South Africa. We...

    1st
    1st
    1st
    1st
  2. Blue Corner Dive Bali, Indonesia

    Blue Corner Dive is a PADI 5 star Career Development Centre and PADI Freediver Centre and eco resort...

    2nd
    2nd
  3. Irish Gap Year

    Irish Gap Year operates semester length and short gap year programs in Ireland, Scandinavia and...

    3rd

Top Gap Year Providers: Value

Value is a tricky thing to score; everyone has a different idea of what they value and how much something is worth. Generally speaking, our goal in asking gappers to rate the value of a gap year program is for them to tell us whether they think the cost of their program translated into personal growth like they hoped it would. The following providers had top scores in the Value category:

h-mb3
 
  1. HMI Gap Logo

    The High Mountain Institute's (HMI) programs lie at the intersection of where nature and minds meet...

    1st
  2. Backpacking Tours

    Established in 2013, our multi-national team, based in Bangkok, Thailand, has been expertly...

    2nd
  3. Warriors Academy Gap Year

    Warriors Academy is an internationally accredited Gap Year program that has been running in South...

    3rd
    3rd

Top Gap Year Providers: Safety

Safety is one of the most important factors we ask reviewers to rate; almost every program on Go Overseas (even those that aren't in the gap year category) is rated on safety. In particular, we want to know how students felt about their level of safety throughout the gap year. The following providers had the top scores in the Safety category:

h-mb3
 
  1. Blue Corner Dive Bali, Indonesia

    Blue Corner Dive is a PADI 5 star Career Development Centre and PADI Freediver Centre and eco resort...

    1st
    1st
  2. Global Work & Travel

    As the easy way to work & travel around the world, Global Work & Travel specialises in trips that...

    2nd
    2nd
  3. Wanderlust Exchange Logo

    Wanderlust Exchange combines travel with educational exchange opportunities through several programs...

    3rd
    3rd