Gap Year Counselors
Everything students, parents, and educators need to know about working with the best gap year counselors to help plan your dream gap year.
Everything students, parents, and educators need to know about working with the best gap year counselors to help plan your dream gap year.
Planning an intentional gap year can be overwhelming, but knowing that there are gap year experts out there who are happy to help can make a world of difference! From helping you narrow down gap year program options to crafting a more independent gap year comprised of solo travel or work exchange experiences, expert gap year counselors can play integral roles in shaping a gap year experience for the better. Read on for FAQs, credentials, and contact information for some of the top US-based gap year counselors who are keynote speakers at the annual USA Gap Year Fairs events.
Holly Bull has placed over 3,000 individuals, including her daughters, in vetted programs in the 30+ years she has been counseling students and adults through the gap-year process. She took her own two gap years before and during college. Founded in 1980, her company, the Center for Interim Programs, is the first and longest-running independent gap year counseling service in the US.
Julia Rogers is a traveler, writer, speaker, and professional accredited gap year counselor. She has circled the globe a few times over, always in search of the most inspiring adventures to recommend to gap year students. She believes in the power of intentional travel to transform how we define higher education. Her favorite destinations are Morocco, New Zealand, Laos, and Nepal. When not planning her next adventure, she enjoys playing in the mountains of Stowe, Vermont, where she calls home.
Jason Sarouhan has offered 20+ years of his professional career supporting students pursuing experiential education opportunities all over the world. Together, he and his wife Jane, co-founder of J2Guides, are the only GYA Professionally accredited gap year counselors that have: taken, led, designed, coordinated and directed gap year programs.
Jane traveled around the world when she was a junior in college, taking her anthropology studies from books to reality in England, India, Thailand, Malaysia, New Zealand and Colombia. While the countries and cultures were astounding, it was her faculty, and their leadership, that had an even greater impact. While she finished her degree in anthropology, Jane quickly started looking for opportunities to similarly guide students.
Hailing from Boulder, Colorado, Marion Taylor is owner of Taylor The Gap LLC and the only GYA accredited gap year advisor between Chicago and California. Prior to founding Taylor The Gap LLC in 2011, Marion worked in Social Work for over 35 years focused on families, women, and children both domestically and abroad. Distinct from other counselors, she offers a unique parenting perspective with all four of her children having participated in a structured and or independent gap experience.