Op/Ed: Is Taking A Gap Year The Best Decision For You?
By Libby Booth
Graduating from high school after twelve hard years of schooling is nothing to undermine. Getting your high school or GED diploma, however, can feel like a start to a completely new life. No longer living in the small home town you grew up in or seeing the same people year after year crowding the hallways. Some people know exactly what they want to do after high school, but others have no idea; both are completely fine. However, there has always been this overwhelming expectation of attending a college or university the following year directly after graduating. While this is the path most people do choose to follow, college isn't your only option. In fact, is attending college right after high school even your best option?
Picture via the-standard.org
Taking a gap year is something that I’ve always seen myself doing after high school, so I've taken the time to look further into it and hear what people who have actually taken a gap year have to say about it. My oldest sister, Maddi (Mads), actually took a gap year after graduating high school in 2016 and said that she thinks it was the best decision for her.
¨I didn't know what I wanted to do after school. I felt like while going through high school, I was so focused on getting my work done that I didn’t ever have the chance to think about life after graduating. Taking a gap year gave me the time to not only think about what I wanted to do, but work and make the funds to get started,¨ Mads explained.
She dove further into telling me about her personal experience and why it was the best choice for her.
¨This is a choice that should be personable to you. You have to look at your own situation and options and decide whether or not that YOU want to be doing this.¨ She said.
Mads spent her gap year working and looking at different colleges to find what was going to be perfect for her. She said that the number one thing she loved about taking a gap year was how much time she had to really find herself and find what makes her happy. It's easy to jump into a major at a college that you aren't in love with simply because you never had the time to truly think about what you want to do. Gap years give you that time that you might have never known was highly needed.
While taking a gap year is definitely something to consider, it's important to also look into the other side of choosing to take that year off of school. Yes, you get lots of time to think about your future and what you want to do with your life, but what happens when you get too comfortable with all of this time? A loss of motivation or even a discomfort in wanting to go back to school is something that you’re likely to encounter with taking a gap year. Along with that, you also lose most scholarships that were offered to you before taking a gap year. So if you’re someone wanting to compete in athletics or other things like that in college, a gap year probably isn't in your best interest.
Another flaw with taking a gap year is that you’re no longer synced up with other people your age. Though it’s something so small, it can easily feel like a much bigger deal having to go to school with a class you didn't graduate with.
All of this goes to show just how personal of a decision this is to make. Some people excel after taking a gap year and others find that it made their situations a lot harder.
Statistics chart on taking a gap year gapyearassociation.com
Looking through this statistics chart over taking a gap year shows the many ups and downs of how a gap year can affect you. A lot of people seem to agree to the fact that a gap year helped them find personal growth and discover more about themselves but in contradiction it made them feel that college was going to be harder to complete as well as made them feel a loss for motivation to go to college.
With looking at all of this data and communicating with people who have taken a gap year themselves, I’ve come to the conclusion that not only will I look into taking a gap year myself and seeing through my options but that I would encourage everyone else to consider theirs as well. A gap year can either be a tool or a torture depending on everyone's own personal situation. Why not figure out what it could do for you.