A year off?

[wooldogg]

After undergrad I worked for a couple years, then I took a year off to travel. I volunteered for a small part of the year, but mostly I was just traveling. Since I returned I have been working again in a policy research position and plan to apply for MPP/MEM programs this fall.

How badly does the year off hurt my application? I think I'm pretty solid apart from this (good GPA, GRE, recommendations, experience). Does this knock me out of running for the very top programs? Does anyone know of examples where a year off has or hasn't hurt someone's app?

[sisepuede]

by the time i start this fall, i will have taken a year off twice since undergrad ( igraduated in 02). i think as long as you have other significant work when you weren't off, it shouldn't be that big a deal. however, if you had just graduated, and shilly shallied around as a lifeguard in malibu for a year and then applied, that would be a different story. but hey, even then, you could try to present yourself as an expert on coastal access policies.