Center for Interim Programs - Expert Gap Year Counselors

We cannot thank Holly Bull and her staff at the Center for Interim Programs enough for their help in designing a meaningful and world-expanding set of experiences for our daughter's gap year during the Covid pandemic. At a time when doors were closing everywhere, they helped open doors to safe and extraordinary programs and placements to ensure that our daughter's decision to take a gap year was not in vain.

We were truly impressed by our first 90-minute consultation with Holly, where she probed deeply to understand our daughter's interests, aspirations and concerns. Within a week, she sent us a detailed and comprehensive list of well-vetted and reputable programs that could align with our daughter's goals. Halfway through the year, we had to quickly pivot when Covid conditions in the country where our daughter had planned to do an internship made travel impossible. But Holly put us in touch with another internship placement service, which custom designed a highly unique and incredible internship experience for her in New York City that turned out to be life-changing.

Holly checked in with us frequently both before and during our daughter's gap year to be sure that all program providers were living up to their promises and that all was going smoothly. The fee CIP charges for their services was well worth the priceless opportunities they helped unlock for our daughter. We recommend them highly and without reservation.

The Center for Interim Programs was an enormous gift to my daughter for her gap year plans. Holly Bull was invaluable in her insight and guidance and is a very perceptive listener. She was able to identify optimal programs and experiences that matched my daughter's hopes and goals and I would not hesitate to recommend Interim to anyone seeking life enhancing experiences. My many thanks to Kate too for being a great pleasure to work with!

The Center for Interim Programs was invaluable in helping me plan my gap year in 2012-2013. I worked with gap year counselor, Holly Bull, who also runs the company, and she helped me zero in on core interests and places I wanted to visit to create a dream gap year. Through Interim's extensive vetting of a plethora of programs and opportunities and their many years of experience, I was able to craft my gap year with a variety of options that suited me perfectly: a language program in Italy, a yoga instructor course in the Caribbean, and a business internship in Ireland. Each of these three very different experiences was wonderful and all have continued to benefit me through the years. My gap year not only helped me navigate college, but when I interviewed for my first job out of college, my interviewer told me that it was my experience from my gap year that really got me the job. I recommend the Center for Interim Programs to anyone who wants to plan a diverse, rich, and individualized gap year.

My year abroad, designed by the Center for Interim Programs, quite literally shaped the woman I am today. I still refer to that time in my life regularly - a barometer of authenticity and happiness, of wonder and openness, of learning and engagement. I have sent so many people to Interim and am a champion of what they are all committed to.

We highly recommend Interim's team based on our family’s personal experience as well our awareness of numerous other gap year students they have successfully launched – and the enormous credibility they have throughout the gap year field.

It seems like yesterday that Holly was introduced to our son, Adam, for a free brainstorming session by phone. His eyes grew large and his face glowed as he learned that there were so many options for him to consider! The relatively modest investment in Interim’s services was a no-brainer as there was no way we could replicate the knowledge the team brought to designing a safe, personalized, and perfect series of gap year experiences. As often happens during a gap year, there were necessary adjustments made during Adam’s year and Holly and her team were there every step of the way. Adam’s experiences were transformational and threaded his life direction in ways unimaginable if he had taken a path directly to college from high school.

In doing research for two books on gap years, we’ve had the opportunity to survey and interview dozens of gap year alums who have benefited from their gap year counseling work with Interim. The comments have been universally positive, reinforcing our personal experience. We also were honored to be at the annual Gap Year Association Conference in 2019 when Holly received the well-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award.

We enthusiastically endorse Holly Bull and the Center for Interim Programs!

Karl Haigler & Rae Nelson Advance, North Carolina