Students walking with local villagers from the Kumaon region of the Indian Himalaya.

NOLS Expeditions

Gap Year

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NOLS Expeditions Semester and Year Video

Take Time for Your Future

You’re ready to take the lead and take time for your future. To connect to the outdoors and yourself. To stand out from your peers and make the most of your gap year. The extended and immersive lessons of a NOLS gap year are life-changing. Wherever in the world you travel with NOLS, you will emerge with confidence, competence, direction, courage, and perspective.

Accredited Gap Year Association Program Seal

Why Choose NOLS for a Gap Year

Develop Leadership Skills

Leadership is taught every day through real-life experience: Navigating a glacier becomes a lesson in communication; canoeing a rapid teaches teamwork; and rock climbing reveals a strength you didn’t know you had. Finish with leadership skills valuable for college, careers, and beyond.
A Scandinavian wearing traditional clothing.

Gain Global Perspective

A NOLS gap year can take you from the Himalaya to Kilimanjaro, from the shores of the Pacific Ocean to the waterways of the Adirondacks. Many locations include options for homestays, cultural engagement, and service learning that will broaden and deepen your perspective.

Explore the Wilderness

Outdoor skills, ranging from backpacking to sea kayaking to mountaineering, form the foundation of every expedition. You will have the opportunity to progress, master, and test a variety of newfound skills with experienced and supportive instructors. While you explore, form a connection to nature and learn to appreciate living simply.

Learn from the Best

NOLS sets the standard for instructor excellence. Our instructors are wilderness experts and compassionate mentors committed to student well-being and success.

Worldwide Locations

Explore our worldwide campuses

NOLS East Africa

NOLS India

NOLS New Zealand

NOLS Patagonia

NOLS Alaska

NOLS Mexico

NOLS Pacific Northwest

NOLS River Base

NOLS Rocky Mountain

NOLS Southwest

NOLS Three Peaks Ranch

NOLS Wyss Campus

Wilderness Skills

Skills to travel in the backcountry

Students hiking through a rocky field in New Zealand.

Backpacking

Two students paddle a canoe across a glassy waterway in the Yukon with soaring peaks reflected in the water.

Canoeing

Canyoneering

Caving

Students walking with local villagers from the Kumaon region of the Indian Himalaya.

Cultural

Horse packing student rides across a stretch of Wyoming's Red Desert.

Horsepacking

Mountaineering

Students have fun in the rapids while whitewater rafting in India.

Rafting

An instructor smiles as they reach the top of a pitch while rock climbing in the Southwest.

Rock Climbing

Sailing

A smiling student sea kayaking along the coast of Nordland, Norway (Scandinavia).

Sea Kayaking

Three participants move tumbleweed in a NOLS Earth Day clean-up in Sinks Canyon State Park, Lander, WY.

Service

A student smiles as they carve their way down a snowy backcountry slope in Idaho's Teton Valley.

Skiing

A student sends up a spray of powder in front of snow laden trees while backcountry splitboarding in the Idaho backcountry.

Snowboarding

Whitewater

Wilderness Medicine

Financial Aid

NOLS offers nearly $1.9 million in scholarships each year. You can also use 529 savings plans, consortium agreements for federal financial aid, veterans’ benefits, and AmeriCorps awards to help fund your gap year.

Financial Aid Options
Student enjoying full sails and clear skies while sailing.

Academic Credit

Earn up to 27 credit hours in a variety of fields, including Cultural Studies, Leadership Techniques, Environmental Studies, and Risk Management.

Academic Credit Options

Featured Gap Year Expeditions

A student uses oars while out on a sailboat in Baja California, Mexico.

Fall Semester in Baja

A student rock climbs near snow dusted peaks in Patagonia.

Year in Patagonia

Students take in a sweeping view while mountaineering past craggy spires in Patagonia.

Fall Semester in Patagonia

A course participant whitewater canoeing rapids on the Yampa River.

Spring Semester in the Rockies

Course participants sit on a grassy ridge above the clouds in Kahurangi National Park.

Spring Semester in New Zealand

Blog: Stories from the Wild

A NOLS Diploma

NOLS Diploma

A Recognized Credential

A NOLS diploma represents your cumulative course accomplishments to universities, employers, and others. Some expeditions offer additional industry-recognized certifications and certificates of completion:

Certifications

  • Wilderness First Aid
  • Wilderness First Responder
  • Wilderness EMT

NOLS Certificates of Completion

  • Leave No Trace Trainer
  • Leave No Trace Master Educator
  • Level 1 Avalanche Training
  • Avalanche Awareness
  • Rock Climbing Training
  • Rock Rescue Training
  • Swiftwater Rescue Training