Gap year, WWOOF, school transfer - CommonApp answers

Here is a description for a commonapp. Why did I transfer to another school and took a gap year.
Please make any suggestions

1. Change of schools.
Due to a restricted amount of funding, schools in Russia break up the classes that have less than 18 students and students are transferred to other schools. My class had only 16 students and was broken up by 9th grade. That's why after 9th grade I was transferred to another secondary school to finish my education.

2. Taking a gap year

There were a couple of significant reasons for me to take a gap year.

The first and probably the most important one was that my whole life I had dreamed of spending more than just a school holiday with my Dad, who lives in Siberia. I spent 4 months with him after my graduation, and returned to Moscow to take my remaining exams. I'm going to return to Siberia and spend another 6 months there after sending my applications.

The second reason was that the gap year gives me the opportunity to apply to colleges without being rushed. The 11th grade was extremely important, due to the fact that there are State Final Exams in Russia that are held in spring before graduation, and the curriculum is challenging and time-consuming. Because I've started preparing for college at the beginning of my senior class, it was practically impossible to combine schooling and college preparation, take 5 admission tests and meet the deadline. The gap year also allowed me to visit the US during the spring break and attend information sessions and campus tours to make a more informed decision.

My decision to take a year off also gives me the opportunity to get some real world work experience, where I will be able to apply some of the knowledge and skills that I have learned in school. I am also looking forward to visiting France over the summer, and perfecting my French by participating in the World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) program.

This answered the questions very well. Reading it i see no reason why the reasons you stated should not be accepted and in fact i think you should focus a little more and go into more detail about what you learned during the gap year. This will show that the gap year actually was very helpful. Overall it was a good response.

Good luck and if you could read and make comments on my common app essay it would be greatly appriciated.

Thank you Juliano! But what if my Gap year has just started?

I spent four months with him after my graduation and returned to Moscow to take my remaining exams.---I removed a comma, too.

I'm going to return to Siberia and spend another 6 six months there after sending my applications.

Because I started preparing for college at the beginning of my senior class, it was practically impossible to combine schooling and college preparation, take 5 five admission tests, and meet the deadline.

My decision to take a year off also gives me the opportunity to get some real world work experience at (say something specific about what you will do), where I will be able to...

:-)