The Gap Experience at St. Norbert College: A unique blend of academics, service and adventure.

Not every St. Norbert student starts college on campus. Certain bold ones each year spend their first semester in the Gap Experience – a full-credit exercise in exploration and discovery that most find life-changing.

If you join their ranks, the Gap Experience will take you to some amazing places: the remote north shore of Lake Superior, for starters, and then the streets of Chicago. After that, the desert Southwest. And finally, the Latin American nation of Guatemala.

The Gap Experience will also take you to some amazing places within yourself, as you learn more about who you really are, what you’re capable of achieving, and how you fit into a complex world.

You’ll be immersed in an exhilarating blend of academics, service work, travel, challenge and adventure that you’ll never forget.

Because the Gap Experience earns you full credit, when you return to campus for spring semester, you’ll be in the same place your classmates are, credit-wise.

But in many other respects, you’ll be in a different place altogether.

Gap Experience Details

All Gap Experience costs (except travel) are included in your St. Norbert tuition, room and board. Scholarships, academic awards or financial aid you’ve received can be applied. Students participating in the program are responsible for their travel costs to the starting location, home and back on breaks, and to and from international locations.

Once you are admitted to St. Norbert, you'll complete a separate online application for the Gap Experience. A maximum of 20 students are admitted to the program each year.

You will earn full college credit, and these credits will satisfy core curriculum requirements at St. Norbert College.

Nationally ranked for everything from academics to food, lauded for its service programs and commended for its value, St. Norbert College has offered its students an exceptional educational experience since its founding in 1898. 

The campus, nestled on the banks of the Fox River, is one of the most beautiful in the Midwest. Alongside historic buildings stand state-of-the-art facilities including a stadium, a dining commons, a technology-rich library, a fitness & sports complex, and a $45 million science center that also houses the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Green Bay campus – all built within the last decade.

Academics are exceptional, with 30 majors, 40 areas of study, a 13-to-1 student-faculty ratio and professors fully engaged in the classroom. Research opportunities abound in a variety of fields. Students can participate in 80+ student organizations and 22 varsity sports, as well as a vast array of service-learning opportunities that have earned the college recognition from the John Templeton Foundation. Roughly 30 percent of students participate in study abroad in any of 29 countries.