As I’ve spoken to people on this “gap year,” a common point of confusion has been something like: wait, you’re on a gap year, but you also graduated high school at the end of January?

The answer is: Yes! My “gap year” is complicated! It’s more of a gap semester, really — but based on past experience, describing it as a “gap semester” has made people think I’m already currently enrolled/was enrolled last semester, which is not true; I’ve not started yet. I’ll be starting this fall.

I know that’s confusing, so this post is intended to briefly explain my timelines. Not the AI ones, but the how has my life unfolded up to this point ones.

Without further ado:

  1. I applied to Stanford as a junior, and received my offer of admission in junior year. I intended to graduate high school a year early and start Stanford in Fall 2025, but some things happened in between applying and being admitted, and I had to defer my enrollment to Fall 2026. To do this, I signed a gap year contract.
  2. In Fall 2025, instead of starting at Stanford, I went back to high school for my senior year. Initially, I didn’t have plans to graduate early, but I felt such an overwhelming sense of misery on the first day back at school that the next day, I went straight to my counselor’s office, had her switch some of my classes around, and committed to early graduation — hence why:
  3. I graduated high school in late January; one week later,
  4. I flew to the United Kingdom to start a research internship. And now I’m here! I’ll be here until March 27th, at which point I’ll be going home for about two days before flying to the bay area to
  5. Do Inkhaven (a writing residency in Berkeley) for all of April!

So yes, I call it a gap year. It’s imprecise, but it’s the least confusing option I’m aware of; it communicates that I’m on a pre-first-year gap. If you have a better suggestion for what to call it, I’d love to hear!