EnRoute Consulting: Full Service Gap Year Planning

It's natural for a 17-20-year-old to want to make decisions independently, which can present challenges to a parent who is invested in ensuring the most valuable experience for a gap year. As parents, we know where our children need to mature and grow but we also know they need respect and independence. Julia was such a wonderful bridge between the needs of our daughter from her perspective and from ours. She took the time to get to know all of us and presented options that were within our budget and would meet our daughter's goals. Julia allowed us to take a backseat and let our daughter lead the process, but with the confidence that the outcome would be just right for her.

She just completed two vastly different semester programs with travel and work in between and we are blown away by the change in her confidence as she heads off to college. Everyone who asks her about her experience gets to see her huge smile and she always leads with "This has been the best year of my life!"

As the parent of a student taking a gap semester, I could not have been happier with our experience with Enroute Consulting. Julia was extremely attentive and responsive. She took the time to get to know my child and suggest programs that would engage him and help him grow. My child decided late in the fall semester to take a gap semester in the spring due to COVID restrictions at his college. Under an extremely tight deadline, Julia found a wide variety of amazing programs for the spring and we felt extremely comfortable knowing the programs were well vetted by Enroute.

Julia Rogers of EnRoute Consulting was everything we could have hoped for in a gap year advisor: diligent, creative, attentive, and responsive. She had so much specific knowledge and experience about many great programs we could not have found on our own. She provided a lot of options and was a great listener and advisor. Moreover, we would not have considered VACorps in South Africa (the internship program our son is currently loving), but her knowledge and experience gave us confidence to proceed and everything has been safe and fantastic. We would highly recommend using Julia as a gap year advisor.

I'm attending one program currently that Julia connected me too and I love it I learned so much through the program I'm in and I'm learning independence. Julia checks on me and makes sure everything is running smoothly and I love that. I don't feel like I go on this journey alone, I have the best support and I'm about to do a summer program overseas now that Julia connected me too. She really listens to your goals and wants and find the best program for you. I'm forever grateful to Julia thank you so much I would recommend having Julia help you on your gap year journey and she helps us find programs that create memories that last a lifetime. Thank you so much for EVERYTHING Julia.

I've always had an interest but decided to explore taking a GAP year in June 2020 more seriously. Julia could get to know me, discern my interest, and help cultivate a shortlist of my GAP year goals to keep it focused and effective. Based on my individual needs (time, money, goals), she curated a list of accredited programs that she would personally recommend. Julia worked with my parents as well to ensure that we were all aligned throughout the process. During any downtime between programs, she provided toolkits with exciting courses and volunteer opportunities to keep me busy.

Her service was beneficial during a pandemic. I had little travel experience, and Julia was able to be a sounding board as we made decisions based on what was going on in the world at the time. We always had several plans to pivot to in case the climate changed.

The first semester I spent on an experiential service-learning program, which traveled across the Pacific Northwest for 70 days with a group of 15 people. Part of the program included getting our Wilderness First Aid Certification and Scuba Certification. I had never camped before but spent most of the trip sleeping in a tent. I learned a lot about myself. I can cook sweet potatoes and tacos over a fire. I can teach football to a group of people who, for some reason, don't know anything about the sport. The partners of the program were incredible. I met a man who survived falling into a volcano and another man who had been the Head Ranger of Yellowstone National park.

In the second semester, I will go to Cape Town, South Africa, for a Commerical Real Estate Internship. I am very excited about the opportunity to work within International Business. During the downtime, I am taking a virtual course that included life skills building and goal setting.

I appreciate what Julia has done for me and look forward to working with her for the rest of my GAP year.

My incredible gap year experience would not have been possible without Julia's thoughtful advising and diligent research. She listened intently to my ideas, considered what I wanted out of my year, and matched me with some excellent programs. I didn't really know exactly what I wanted but looking back I wouldn't have done anything else. She broadened my opportunities by connecting me with a wider range of programs than I could have ever found on my own. Couldn't recommend her or Enroute highly enough!