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Recommended: Gap year advantages and disadvantages essay

With nearly half of college students never receiving their degree, taking a gap year could make a positive impact on any college bound students life (Borders, 2014). You may find yourself wondering exactly what a gap year is. A gap year is usually the time after high school and before college, where a person decides to take an amount of time to explore an area of interest. A gap year doesn’t have to be a full year long, or directly after high school. It is simply just time taken away from school. This idea was first made popular in Europe, but it is slowly making its way over to the United States. The numbers of things that you can do during your gap year are limitless, as long as you make use of your time, it can help you in a many ways.
When defining a gap year you may find yourself with a few more questions. Is it right for me? What can I gain from doing this? What do I do about college? Well, first off, a gap year can be helpful to anyone in some way. Every individual is different, but if you work hard enough at something, good will come from it. Gail Reardon, a gap year councilor said "The name implies that students are taking a gap in their education, when really the gap is to fill in what they haven't learned in school. A gap year is about what happens after school, how you make decisions, how you figure out who you are, where you want to go, and how you need to get there. It's about the skill set you need to live your life” (Kern, 2010). This quote shows that a gap year isn’t for those who are just plain lazy and tired of school. It’s for those who desire something they haven’t yet received in their life.
The common myth that those who take a gap year will end up not going to college is wrong. Out of all college bound...

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...ce all the time in your future.
With all of the things that you can do in your gap year, its no wonder more and more people are coming onto the idea of taking a gap year. Programs are getting more popularity, and can help answer questions and give advice to anyone. Also, colleges are getting on board with the idea. Some of the nicest universities in the United States, such as Princeton and Harvard, are building their own gap programs up so they know their future students are getting prepared. The transition, naturally, may be hard for anyone at first with a year off of school. However, if the individual is willing to work hard enough, and focus hard enough, they will succeed. A gap year may be scary, but there can be something nice about the unknown. It is an adventure with many benefits. Now could be a better time than ever to maturely grow with a gap year.

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