Location
  • United States of America
    • Marlborough
Length
4 - 26 weeks
Program Tags
Adventure Travel College Credit Conservation Hands-On Learning Internships Post-High School Social Justice Wilderness

Program Details

Activities
Backpacking Canoeing Farming
Timeframe
Fall
Housing
Apartment Guesthouse Tent
Primary Language
English
Age Min.
17
Age Max
21

Pricing

Starting Price
13800
Price Details
Tuition covers all program expenses, including room, board, all activities, adjunct instructors, and expeditions. We have an additional $1750 course fee for optional college credit.
What's Included
Accommodation Activities Some Equipment Meals Park Fees Transportation
What's Included (Extra)

A beautiful farm ready to feed our Gappers, wilderness trip gear rental, shared bedrooms in a historic farmhouse.

What's Not Included
Airfare Some Equipment
What's Not Included (Extra)

There is an additional college credit fee.

Mar 12, 2024
Dec 18, 2023
16 travelers are looking at this program

About Program

Gap at Glen Brook is a place-based semester program for 18-21 year-olds, nestled on a working farm in rural New England. Our eleven weeks of outdoor, experiential learning focus on developing practical skills to create sustainable lives and communities. Live with a close-knit cohort of peers, work on a sustainable farm, journey through wild places, learn to preserve the fall harvest, and dive into handcrafts like fiber arts and woodworking. Join us for our fall semester and learn by doing!

Participants can receive up to eight transferrable credits through our accreditation by the Gap Year Association (GYA).

Video and Photos

Program Highlights

  • Learn to provide for your and your community’s needs by engaging with the daily and yearly rhythms of our sustainable working farm and with the care of the gardens and animals.
  • Experience connection with the natural world through wilderness trips and hands-on earth skills – canoeing, backpacking, foraging, natural history, and more.
  • Develop homesteading skills while practicing the crafts of food preservation, in-season cooking, forestry, carpentry, fiber arts, and beyond—helping us to harness and preserve the seasonal harvest.
  • Share space as a cohort of peers and practice skills that are crucial within an intentional community: self-governance, communication practices, and group processes.
  • Engage in self-inquiry—reflection and critical questioning of our stories and identities within our lives, our community, and our society; not in a vacuum, but alongside work and learning.

Popular Programs

Harvesting tomatoes in early fall.

Spend the fall building relationships with new friends, with the land and with your own values, feelings and purpose. Dig deeper on the farm, in the woodshop and the kitchen. Build comfort in the outdoors camping, backpacking and canoeing. Take part in ongoing workshops exploring personal identity, impact on the natural world and the challenges of our times.

Program Dates

Application Deadline
Program Dates
-

Program Reviews

4.87 Rating
based on 15 reviews
  • 5 rating 86.67%
  • 4 rating 13.33%
  • 3 rating 0%
  • 2 rating 0%
  • 1 rating 0%
  • Housing 4.9
  • Support 4.75
  • Fun 4.9
  • Value 4.9
  • Safety 4.9
Showing 1 - 8 of 15 reviews
Default avatar
Solana
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Everything I needed it to be

Glen Brook completely blew my expectations out of the water. I became so much more calm and confident through this program. I loved my cohort so much, and I learned a lot just by living alongside them. I felt like I learned about my place in the natural world, as well as communities of people. The community was rural, but I really liked it- it made me learn to appreciate things just as they are. I got a lot better at cooking, both alone and with others, during my time cooking for my community at Glen Brook. The large amount of time we spent outside also had a very positive effect on me. I'm truly so happy that I chose Glen Brook for my gap year.

What is your advice to future travelers on this program?
I didn't bring my phone, and I didn't regret it once. I'd advise others to follow in my footsteps, especially if you are addicted to technology, have been addicted to technology, or dislike the effect technology has on your life.
Pros
  • Access to nature
  • Calm environment for study
  • Kind people
Cons
  • Not many POC in program in my experience
18 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Ava
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

A Crazy Fun Semester

I was super nervous about spending my fall in New Hampshire, mainly because coming form LA I have never experienced a real cold season. Luckily it was incredibly worth it even if I got a little cold.

At Gap and Glen Brook I went on so many amazing and challenging trips, from Canoeing in Maine, to days of hiking the MSG. I learned so much about life on the farm and outdoor leadership. I was expecting many aspects to be less impactful because I went on a gap program in the middle of the Corona virus pandemic, but that was not so. I was able to create an amazing experience with some amazing people.

Life with my cohort was the highlight of the program for me, there were 13 from all over America, we got a chance to build incredible bonds over the three months and make some crazy memories together. Living in falcon camp together and moving to the warm hill-house felt incredibly rewarding, I got to live with the most amazing roommates.

I got sold on this program by reading the reviews on this website, so I hope to inspire others to do the same.

What is your advice to future travelers on this program?
But also things I wish someone had told me:
Bring plenty of warm clothes, long underwear really came in clutch, but also fun outfits for group activities.
Organize dance parties, music nights, and baking nights they are a blast.
Think of it like a college dorm, bring posters, pictures, fairy lights, anything you want to decorate with for when you live in the hill-house.
Prepare for a diet change, you’ll most likely be eating lots of vegetables from the garden.
Some people will probably leave the program early, it happens.
Take lots of pictures, but try to not use your phone often, there are so many other rewarding activities to do.
113 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Ethan
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Lo and Behold! A place to find yourself

It is the perfect place to escape from the clamor and congestion of the fast-paced, technological, material lifestyle. Although guided by many knowledgeable and down-to-earth staff members, it is YOU who decides how to use your time. Pushing your limits is a must! It is beneficial in order to know yourself better, and what better way to find that answer than meditating amongst beautiful nature. Make the most of your time here, it is a valuable gem. It is important to try living simplistically midst the plentiful world.

108 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Lilly
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Gap At Glen Brook

My experience as a part of Glen Brook's 2019 fall semester cohort was a truly life-changing one, it is a safe place for all young people, whether you are looking to take some time to venture into the world before starting college, looking for direction in your next step of life, or just want to experience nature and grow your understanding of yourself in relation to the rest of the earth. It is a fantastic environment to grow, adventure, and get out of your comfort zone while also learning valuable life skills such as communication and community building, as well as cooking, gardening/farming, time management, planning skills, and so much more. It wasn't easy, this program pushed to think differently and challenged me mentally, emotionally, and physically in a way I hadn't experienced in a very long time, but it's because of those struggles that I left Glen Brook happier and more self-confident than ever. I spent my semester experiencing beautiful New England fall foliage, exploring nearby towns and farmers markets on weekends, and making life long friends and connections.

What was the most nerve-racking moment and how did you overcome it?
I think that the scariest part of starting anything new is just starting, walking into Glen Brook that first day by myself, it didn't matter how much I had read about it or how much I had prepared myself, it was still a big unknown and you just have to jump in anyways. Only after you do it will you realize there are people to catch you, and everyone else is nervous too, but you're all in it together, and knowing you aren't alone makes everything less scary.
105 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Jack
4/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Glen Brook, and why it works

Glen Brook was great because what it does, is help you find yourself. That may sound cliché, but it's 100% true. It helped me to figure out what was happening in my life, what was going wrong, and what the ways were that best for me to use to fix things. I came from three lackluster semesters of college, not sure what to do with my life and where to go, to finding all the right tools to use to help myself keep moving forward. I learned about myself, and a I learned so much about the people around me as well, and how really, we're not all different as one might think.

If you did this all over again, what's one thing you would change?
I'd make sure the phones have much less of a presence. I don't know if I'd go for outlawing them, but make sure they're much more regulated.
120 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Bella
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

My Gap at Glen Brook Experience

It is often times difficult for me to express how much I adore Glen Brook. I've been spending the past 8 summers there as a camper and CIT and it's a place I now consider my second home. This organic farm overlooking Mt. Monadnock is truly beautiful and filled with the most intelligent, kind hearted and mindful individuals that I'm grateful I've gotten to know and learn from. The lessons I had learned and the ways in which I had grown were already abundant from spending each summer there yet the gap program helped me grow in a new way. The connection I had with the Earth around me became even deeper and the ways in which I matured were pronounced. Stepping into an environment with little to no technology and distractive media truly helped me reflect on the world in which I inhabit. Learning to plant, grow and harvest our own vegetables to then directly cook for dinner with the other gapers gave me an immense amount of gratitude like no other. Similarly, using the wood from a fallen tree to carve a spoon instilled that same idea. It inspired a sense of personal responsibility as an individual living on this planet to act as I can to leave a positive footprint. Not to mention, this program has a wonderful balance of outdoor adventure trips, workshops, apprenticeships and meaningful activities. I learned an abundance of new skills, like cooking new dishes and creating a one match fire, as well as had the experience of living in a house with 10 other gapers. I am so grateful I had the opportunity to attend Gap at Glen Brook!

What was the most surprising thing you saw or did?
As we paddled along the Moose River in Maine on our 5 day canoe trip, we often joked about seeing a moose as the name implied. After a few days, and no sighting of a moose, our hopefulness of seeing one was dulled. However, as we began our journey home on the bus, we saw not one but two moose! It was an exciting end to a challenging yet beautiful trip.
109 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Dan
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Gap at Glen Brook

Gap at Glen Brook was the best three months of my life so far. It included lots of new experiences, like sleeping in a tent, talking (and singing) about Warhammer 40,000, and playing Dungeons and Dragons, and also new skills, such as baking bread, building fires, and making a canoe paddle.
The most important part of Gap at Glen Brook for me, however, was the introspection, the time spent talking about what kind of people we were, whether AIs should take over the world (they will eventually, so we might as well make sure they're good AIs), and what our fundamental moral values are. I'd highly recommend Gap at Glen Brook for anyone interested in both personal growth and understanding themselves better.

116 people found this review helpful.
Jeremy
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Absolutely worth it!

"Interdependent", adjective (of two or more people or things) dependent on each other. This, I think is the key word to describe both this program's goals, and to describe my experience here. While there is a chance to gain a better sense of self through the self-reflection opportunities presented by the writing workshops, the solitude from the wilderness experiences, and the chance to create something that both represents you, and simultaneously will give back to the community you've joined and helped create, I think the bigger focus is on the community you create, and the experiences you share. You learn people's habits, strengths and weaknesses, and subsequently try to change your own and compromise in order to keep things in a state that is beneficial for everyone. You suffer through hardships together, and tell stories and jokes about it afterward together. You learn together, and teach together. You work hard together, and and you relax afterwards together. 10/10 would be a WOLVERINE! again.

What was the most nerve-racking moment and how did you overcome it?
On one of our wilderness expeditions, a five day canoe trip across three lakes on the border of New Hampshire and Maine, we got caught out in an unexpected rain storm one evening. It was uncomfortable and a stressful experience for me, but I overcame it by remembering that this was something the whole group was experiencing and that together, we could make the best of it that we could, and it certainly made for a good story afterward.
107 people found this review helpful.

Questions & Answers