Before and beyond college, Baret Scholars explores 7 regions of the world, their passions, and their purpose.
Baret Scholars is a global gap year program that brings together a cohort of 180 high school students from around the world to journey across 7 regions (North/South America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, India, and China/Asia), over 200 days, in a semi-structured and self-guided gap year experience.
This will be their best year yet.
Named after Jeanne Baret, the first woman to circumnavigate the globe, Baret Scholars provides students with a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the world, paving the way for years of fulfillment and achievement. The program serves as a foundation for their future, fostering cultural literacy, a global perspective, and a desire to create a better world.
The key elements of the Baret Scholars program are meticulously crafted to offer a sense of structure within a realm of freedom.
Morning Program: In every region, we will bring expert speakers, thinkers, performing artists, and leaders to inspire a nuanced understanding of the world they’re exploring and the lives they’re planning: like a traveling TED. Every month as students transition to a new region, the Morning Program will shift its focus, dedicating itself to unraveling the intricacies of that specific culture. From the rich history and traditions to contemporary advancements and challenges, it will be their intellectual compass, the spine of their gap year experience.
Independent Exploration: Students choose how to spend afternoons, evenings, and their long weekends. They can volunteer at a local NGO, teach or learn a language, assist a fellow with research, explore neighboring towns and cities, form interest groups, watch films about the region, or pick a book from our reading list. They will never be at a loose end. Nothing is forced - but everything is on the table. We make sure that our students will always have exciting, safe and well-researched options, enabling them to experientially engage with the city, its people, its problems, and people working to solve these problems.
Fellowships: In each region, students will choose how they spend their last 10 days. A panoply of opportunities will be given to them, all educationally themed and led by Fellows. In small groups of 12, they will go off-the beaten-path to pursue their interests, develop skills, and discover the region. Over the year, they might trek the Appalachians, examine the biodiversity of the Amazon, walk the pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago, discover the future of urban planning in Saudi Arabia, create art in Nigeria, help preserve the endangered world of India’s Royal Bengal Tiger, and engage with entrepreneurs in Shenzhen.
Advising Program: Traveling with the 180 Baret Scholars will be 15 full-time "Fellows" who come from all corners of the globe and are experts in all corners of life. Each Fellow will serve 12 students, meet them as a group everyday, and one-on-one every week. Modeled after the Oxford/Cambridge tutorial system, these sessions provide students with the guidance they need, life design techniques, and inspiration for their independent projects.
Tuition for Baret Scholars is similar to that of a year at a top-tier university in the US. For 2024–25, Baret Scholars tuition will be $64,500. Baret Scholars provides and arranges for all flights and transportation, plus 7-days-a-week room and dining for the entire Baret Scholars program year, for a total fee of $30,000. This includes for the fall term (from Sept 8, 2024 to December 15, 2025) and for the winter/spring term (from January 15 to May 22.) It also includes all Travel/Room/Dining Fees for both the Home Base cities and for the Fellowship cities.
We provide Full Scholarships in the amount of $105,000 each to 20 students, and Honor Scholarships in the amount of $10,000 each to 20 students.
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