Did you take a gap year?

A lot of my friends who tried that ended up not going to school altogether. I am not saying it is a bad choice or that people don’t do it and succeed, but I have found evidence against it.

I did six of them. My lack of parents didn’t provide me whit a straight path to University. So I got a shit job and at 24 got a full ride through FAFSA. Having a horrible job made me appreciate school so much more.

It depends on the individual.

Depending on which statistics you believe, 25% – 50% of students who enter baccalaureate programs, immediately after high school, don’t receive a degrees within 7 years. For some of those students, a gap year – complete with an full-time job that teaches grownup responsibilities – might be a good thing. Other people will take a gap but never return to school.

Of course, college isn’t for everyone, and there’s nothing wrong with that. If someone isn’t suited to post-secondary education, a gap year really makes no difference.

I needed and wanted a gap year. I was just 17-year-old when I started college, and I knew that I wasn’t ready for it. I was 100% willing to get a job, work hard, and save some money during that year. I just needed time to mature and decide which school and what to study.

My idiot parents refused. They told me that I had a choice of (1) going to college immediately or (2) being cut-off, finding my own home, and fully supporting myself forever.

So, I went to college that September. I didn’t have the maturity or discipline to show up for classes or study, so my grades were dismal. I became a very different, responsible person as I grew older. A gap year would have been so beneficial.

Over here the uncommon thing is not taking a gap year. But the school system is different.

I live in the US.

I half did one. I was 16 turning 17 when I finished high school. I had all my credit mid senior year and left. I immediately started going to community college part time and worked. I went to community college for a year and a half and somehow wound up at a 4 year university. I am so so glad I went away to a big university. I lived it. If I had been a few years older I would have been out of sync with most of the student body and would have missed one of the best times in my life. Community college and commuting to college is nothing like living on campus and really experiencing college life.

I do think a lot of teens are not necessarily ready to go away to school right after high school. It is too scary for them I think, they don’t feel ready. A year off might help. But, I think there is an argument to push them and make them go.

People like me who really disliked high school I think sometimes don’t want to go to college because they just are tired of school. I think taking a year off is dangerous in that case.

It really is so individual, each person is different. I think it matters what the teen is going to be doing in lieu of school during the gap year.

@tups what do they do during the gap year? Travel? Work? What age is the gap year? 16? 18?

I wouldn’t call it a gap year, but I did 4 years active duty in the military then attached to the schools ROTC program and got my education.

@tups I’m still in school. I’m 19. I’ll be 20 and 21 during my gap year. I know people who have taken several gap years too.

@tups You won’t be finished with high school/secondary school until you are 20?

@JLeslie Nope, that is the common thing. Gymnasium consists of three years. People are normally between 16–18 when they begin. It’s not a mandatory school.

@tups What is gymnasium?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymnasium_(Denmark)

No. I started college the Fall after graduating high school. I took that next Spring semester off, though, because I was waiting on my start date for the nursing program. I took those few months to work full time and earn some money. I haven’t taken a semester off since then and I’m graduating next semester. Thankfully, not from nursing school.

I don’t think it’s a great idea to take a year off, in general.

I went straight on to college from high school, but I took three years off in between college and graduate school. During those three years, I worked two different jobs and kept up with my intellectual interests on my own time. I made the decision for two reasons: so I could support my wife while she finished her degree, and to see what life was like without school being a part of it (having not experienced such a thing since I was five years old). The second reason also served as a bit of a test of whether I was dedicated enough to the idea of graduate school to go back even after some time off. It turns out I was.

Whether or not it is a good idea to take a gap year in between high school and college, then, in part depends on one’s situation. For some people, financial pressures make it a necessity. Assuming that is not the case, however, there is the question of whether or not someone knows what they want to do. Not everyone needs a standard university education. Vocational schools and community colleges are perfectly respectable options for many, and a gap year may help people who don’t know what they want to study in college realize that what they want to study doesn’t require college.

This isn’t to say that it is a good idea for anyone to just jump into vocational training and never learn anything outside of their direct interests ever again. Education is good for its own sake, as well as for what it can get you in the marketplace. But education does not necessarily require college. There are ways to satisfy the natural curiosity that comes with being human that do not involve classrooms and teachers. Still, there can be great benefits to having someone to help you along the path to learning. And this is why I recommend to everyone who is able that they pursue at least some kind of tertiary education.

After graduating high school, I immediately started on my BA. Upon completing my BA, I immediately started my MA. I am now applying for a PhD program, but this is my first gap year in my entire life. I find that this is in the minority. Most people aren’t in the mindset to study for such a long time, but I am a student at heart. I love studying, reading, writing critical papers, and attending conferences. I can’t imagine not being in academics.

Would I recommend such a course for everyone? No, not even close. However, I do think that if someone intends to take a gap year right after graduating high school, they should have some sort of plan in mind. What are you going to do during that year? What do you plan to study when you do go back to school? Where do you want that education to get you?

I would also strongly encourage high school graduates to consider community college before attending a four-year university if they are unsure about what major they want to commit to or what career they eventually wish to seek. Many community colleges are designed so that you can transition to a four-year-university and have bridge programs set up for you to get your GE out of the way. It’s typically less expensive, though overcrowded. However, for someone who eventually wishes to gain a higher education but still has reservations, I think this is a better option than spending a year out of school.

While I was in High School, I took my first College course. After HS graduation, I took several courses during the summer. I never took time off.
I also didn’t finish college. I got burned out.

Sort of. During my junior year of college I took at semester off to intern in Disney World. It was an amazing experience, but it also made me appreciate school so much more. To this day, it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made (especially because that experience paved the way for me to get a full-time job with the company and I intend on making a lifelong career out of it).

I didn’t, but my son did. After a semester of Wesleyan U.study abroad in Paris, he knocked around for another several months, earning a scant living and working on his Italian and French. Then he returned to the US, drove west and set up a tent in Yosemite valley. He spent three months there doing the really big climbs (four days up El Capitan, roped in and sleeping on narrow ledges every night). A really happy man

He returned again to the states, made up the missing semester at the Dartmouth summer program and graduated only 6 months late. Then he went on for a MA in comparative literature and a career in academia…teaching, writing, editing.

He was always a serious four-season high altitude climber and mountaineer as well as reading Thucydides for pleasure.

I

This is late, but thank you all for your answers!

I have been debating whether to take a gap year (I would need money for college), but everyone in my family has been telling me otherwise. They tell me that I would never go back to school and that I would be stuck in some dead end job that only required a high school diploma.