A gap year is a year off of academics, which provides time to explore interests and help determine career choices, containing both positive and negative aspects to consider. A gap year can be spent in a several ways from internships, working, volunteering, or traveling and exploring interests. It can provide students with life impacting traits that can provide a better future and greater outlook on life. If taken seriously, a gap year can have many positive effects on education and the motivation to continue school. Although gap years can be very expensive, it can overall be an opportunity of a lifetime, to create clear academic goals. Although a gap year is most often taken between high school and college, some students decide to take one after under-graduate school and before graduate school or entering the workforce.
If a gap year is planned properly, it can help a students take school and life more seriously impacting their entire life. In the UK and similarly in Australia, 11% of university bound students take a gap year (MacDonald 1). Meaning, that almost one in ten students, in the UK and Australia, whom already were planning on attending a university, take part in a gap year. One reason gap years have become popular is that parents have noticed that students are going to college because it is expected of them or for the social aspect, not because they have clear education or career goals in mind (Bull 77). This causes some parents to rethink the idea of a gap year, because college tuition is increasing every year and they do not want to send their child to school if they are not going for the right reasons. Most ‘gappers’ choose to take a gap year because they want adventure, independence, or they want something more that...
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...ons of College and Experiences of Stress Prior to and Through the College Career.” College Student Journal 47.4 (2013): 635-643. OmniFile. Web. 19 March 2014.
MacDonald, G. Jeffery. “Gap Year ‘Before College Gives Grads Valuable Life Experiences.‘” USA Today 18 June 2008: 1-3. USAToday.com. Web. 14 March 2014.
O’Shea, Joseph. “Delaying the Academy: A Gap Year Education.” Teaching in Higher Education 16.5 (2011). 565-577. Web. 16 March 2014.
Sarouhan, Jane and Sarouhan, Jason. “Your Goals, Your Life, Your Gap Year.” CollegeXPress Magazine (2013): 22-25. OmniFile. Web. 14 March 2014.
Sutherland, Paige. “College Offers to Pay Students to Take Time Off.” APFinancial News (2014): 1-2. Newswires. Web. 14 March 2014.
Torpey, Elka Maria. “Gap year: Time Off with A Plan.” Occupational Outlook Quarterly 53.3 (2009): 26-31. Business Source Complete. Web. 14 March 2014.
In the essay “College Pressures” by William Zinsser, Zinsser speaks about the pressures and anxiety that plague college students, all the while wishing that they had “a chance to savor each segment of their education as an experience in itself and not as a grim preparation for the next step.” Referring to the 1979 generation of college students as “panicky to succeed”, he lists four of the following stressors for college students.
Self-discovery, preparation for life, effective education—this does not happen in college, insists Liz Addison in her work, Two Years Are Better Than Four. The best years of character growth essential in the transition to post-secondary education commonly take the form of college in the eye of the public; however, Addison believes this misconception is a result of community college not receiving fair consideration. Building a foundation for life begins most successfully at American community college, and as Addison puts it, “the philosophy of the community college, and I have been to two of them, is one that unconditionally allows its students to begin. Just begin” (212). In other words, a successful
The Economics of Paid and Unpaid Leave. Issue Brief. Northwest, Washington DC: The Council of Economic Advisers, 2014.
4 Giancola, J.K., Grawitch, M.J., and Borchert, D. (2009). Dealing with the stress of college: A
Stress is an important problem faced by many college students, especially first year students, and it can have a large impact on college freshmen. For example, according to Hirsch and Keniston (1970), about half of first year students do not graduate from college due to dropping out (p. 1-20). Also, David Leonhardt (2009) agrees that the United States excels at putting “teenagers in college, but only half of students who enroll end up with a bachelor’s degree” (p. 1). In addition, the level of stress seems to increase each year. For instance, the National Health Ministries (2006) claim that many college students have become “more overwhelmed and stressed” than the student generation of the last fifteen years (p. 2).
Dear Editor, even though there are many perks to finishing high school and completing Year 12 exams, some students feel ready to leave school before the end of Year 12. They feel confident enough that they will survive in the economy but, they`re all wrong. There is a low chance that those students will have a bright future.
You’re coming back from a well needed break from school and you feel invigorated and ready to start. The first few weeks are the hardest to adjust to because your brain hasn’t been used throughout the break. The dilemma with breaks, such as summer break, is that one loses valuable information from past academic courses that are essential to ones progress towards higher education. Imagine a whole year without learning and then coming back to intense rigorous classes at a University. Seniors at high schools over the nation have the opportunity of taking a year off before committing to a college. This is known as a Gap Year; instead of directly enrolling into a University many students feel the need to take a break before starting their education towards their future career. Yes, a Gap Year does sound pleasing and beneficial, but in the long run it can be damaging towards ones future. Students should be aware of the ramification a Gap Year brings, such as, the possibility for enrolling in a graduate school is lower, academic growth is reduced, and social obstacles become present.
A gap year is a time for teens to take off between high school and college. A gap year is used to travel, work, volunteer or study. In general, a gap year has many advantages. This year out of a school is a good time for students to explore the world and gain valuable life skills and experience while learning to be independent. Teens in the U.S. should adopt the British custom of taking a gap year between high school and college in order to gain perspective on personal values and career goals as well as gaining needed life experiences without the pressure and expectations of a school environment. A gap year is a time for students to become independent and learn a sense of responsibility before entering into university life.
Driscoll, Emily. “Stress in College: What Causes it and How to Combat it.” Online posting. 31
Now looking at both these arguments, it is indeed an important decision to make whether students should take a gap year or they shouldn’t. Thus I’m conducting the research on this ...
A gap year is a period, typically one academic year, taken by a student as a break between secondary school and higher education. Many students consider taking a gap year because they are longing to get work experience and be sure of a career path before they make the decision to head off to college. During those one or two years off before heading to college, students have the opportunity to travel the world, work, experience different jobs, or simply take a break from school. Some parents do not agree with their young adults taking a break from school because they worry that their child will not do something productive with their free time. Although students taking a gap year run the risk of becoming inattentive or accustomed to making some quick cash, and not returning to school, there are numerous benefits for a young adults. young adults to take a gap year off before heading to college; for instance, many colleges want students that are mature and have some work experience.
Colleges and universities such as Harvard encourage students by suggesting students to take time off before they start school (Kern, 2010). The current President’s daughter Malia Obama is taking a gap year before Harvard and more students have been encouraged from this. Taking a gap year differs in the student. If one does not plan thoroughly and prepares for the gap year, the results could be devastating, but if planning is done right, students excel
And they develop a fuller sense of themselves, undefined by their friends, family, or culture.Gap year is, basically, a half-step out into the world and offers students an opportunity to understand that they can handle it just fine. It makes the later post college change from one thing to another less scarring. The gap year gives a student the opportunity to find out what they want to do do in life and gives them time to think about the major of their choices some students leave high school with one major and then take a gap year and come back with a different major. Gap Year graduates report that through the summary of their new experiences they were better able to identify universities that fit their personalities and career desires to do great things. Finally, while we don 't suggest this as a first or more important, many students do report that taking a Gap Year enabled them to get into better
the transition period from education to the work force after the completion of year 12.
Having spent twelve years of my school life in just one small red brick building, the years tend to fade into each other. But the year I remember most clearly and significantly is my senior year of high school, where I finally began to appreciate what this institution offered to any student who stopped to look. Before, school had been a chore, many times I simply did not feel motivated toward a subject enough to do the homework well, and seeing the same familiar faces around ever since I was 5 years old grew very tiring soon enough. But I began to see things from a different angle once I became a senior.