10 Reasons To Take A Gap Year Before College & 10 Reasons Not To
10 Reasons To Take A Gap Year Before College & 10 Reasons Not To
Your Future: One Year Away Or One Year Closer?
To gap or not to gap? This is the age-old question of the average 18-year-old in the Western world. A gap year can be a valuable experience full of personal growth, self-discovery, and learning. However, it can also distract you from your goals, de-rail you from your academic momentum, and make you feel like you've been left in the dust. A year isn't a long time in the grand scheme of life, but this particular year and how you choose to spend it can make a huge impact on you going forward. You don't want to look back in ten years feeling as though you made the wrong call. To help you on your path, here are 10 reasons for taking a gap year before college, and 10 reasons not to.
1. Self Discovery
Taking a gap year will help you slow down, grow as your own person, separate from what you know, and discover things about yourself. This is especially useful if you don't have clarity yet on what path you want to take in life.
2. If Not Now, When?
Once you go to college, you'll want to get a job soon after. Then, suddenly, you're ten years into your career with a partner and a family, and you'll realize you never got to travel or just relax. Life happens quickly and if you don't seize the opportunity to travel while you're young, it might pass you by.
3. Prevent Burnout
Taking a gap year can help prevent academic burnout by providing a crucial pause before shifting environments from high school to college. After making that final sprint to the finish line in your high school career, it's normal to need a bit of a break to rest and recharge.
4. Save Money For College
Depending on how you spend your gap year, you can use it to save some funds for college. It can also give you some valuable work experience that you would otherwise miss out on if you just went straight to academics.
5. Experience New Cultures
Using your gap year to travel can give you valuable insight into other cultures, making you a more well-rounded individual. Being exposed to different cultures helps you become more tolerant and informed.
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6. Develop Street Skills
Traveling is full of challenges such as finding your way in a new city, navigating public transportation, and communicating with people who speak different languages. These are valuable life skills you don't learn in a classroom.
7. Become A More Well-Rounded Person
Whether you choose to travel or work, taking a gap year expands your worldview, helps you develop crucial skills, and enhances your independence. The practical, real-world experience you gain outside of the classroom increases your maturity and resilience.
8. See The World
Using your gap year to travel is a great way to see the world. You could arguably do this at any time in your life, but there will seldom be another opportunity where you have the level of freedom you do now.
9. Have More Clarity About Your Life Goals
Taking a gap year allows you to slow down and pull yourself away from the rat race. It's time for introspection and self-discovery that will help you have more clarity on what path you want to take if you don't already know.
10. Form Lasting Connections
The friends you meet at 18 are more likely to be friends for life than those you meet later in life because of the intense experiences you're likely to share. Because you're all finding your legs in your professional and academic world, you'll support each other and relate to each other on a deeper level.
Now that we've talked about the compelling reasons to take a gap year, let's go over some reasons not to.
1. May Divert Your Attention Too Much
If you already know what you want to do, a gap year may just divert you from your goals. If you take a gap year when you don't really need one, you risk confusing yourself and ending up on a path that takes you in the wrong direction.
2. Feeling Left Behind By Peers
If all your peers are getting on with their academic and professional lives while you take a pause, it can make you feel as though you've been left in the dust. Your major life stages like graduation and career strides may be delayed.
3. Loss Of Academic Momentum
The concern about losing steam after a successful final stretch of high school is a legitimate one. Many people find it's easier just to keep going than to take a break and hope that they can find the motivation again.
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4. Delayed Career Entry
Starting college one year later translates to graduating and starting your career one year later as well. While in the grand scheme of things one year shouldn't make a difference, it can pose challenges at first because of the work gap you may have on your resume.
5. Potential For Unforeseen Challenges
Life is full of curve balls. While you may assume you can easily return to academics after your gap year, many potential barriers could get in your way. You may end up having to work a menial job and never be able to pull yourself out of it and resume your academic career.
6. External Pressure
When they are readying to graduate from high school, many people receive a lot of pressure to go straight to university from their families, teachers, and counselors. The external pressure can make it difficult to even consider any alternative options.
7. Financial Strain
If you are hoping to use your gap year to travel, but don't have a lot of money saved up, good luck! You can always use it to work instead, but many might think that working a casual job is less valuable than going straight to college.
8. You Thrive On Routine
For those of us who thrive on routine, a gap year is a bad idea. It pulls you away from any semblance of a schedule and can totally throw you off of your right path.
9. Isolation Or Loneliness
You have to get used to the idea that while all your friends are starting college, graduating, and starting their careers on the same timeline, you will be doing all these things on a different schedule. For some, this can be isolating and cause loneliness.
10. Employers Will Question You For It
Depending on the industry, the gap on your resume may raise some eyebrows for some. You'll need to persuade potential employers that your gap year wasn't just time off but actually brought value in some way.
