The Gap Year

As a senior in high school, did you ever stress about your future and making plans for college? A way to relieve this stress could be to take a gap year. The life of the average senior consists of planning for college. By taking a year off, you can manage and make money, relieve some stress, and have the opportunity to travel before settling down for college. This is not uncommon for many senior graduates. They see it as a way to relax and mentally prepare themselves for the future. The Gap Year is a year that high school graduates take off before beginning college. The reason for taking this time off is usually for traveling, work, study, volunteering, research, or other reasons prior to beginning college. It is shown that not many graduates go to college after taking the year off, and that is caused by a lack of motivation. They had time off to relax, and they do not want to go back to the stress. In high school, there are people rooting for you to advance in education and go on to college. After having a year off, you could lose that motivation. This is why there are a lot of negative reviews on this topic. People believe that this could cause a lack of education. I see this as a great way to recharge your mental battery before jumping back into the school life. We’ve been in school since we were about five or six years old. High school seniors are usually seventeen, eighteen, or even nineteen when they graduate and advance to college. That is about thirteen years of school with a three-month break in between each grade. I do not believe that is enough time for your brain to recharge, especially when transitioning into a completely new and advanced learning environment. It's proven that going into new environments can be stressful, and taking a gap year can help alleviate that stress. However, there are some downsides to taking a gap year. You could be the odd one out because you would be a year behind them. Universities usually accept people right out of high school, and you will have less of a chance to get accepted by taking the following year off prior to graduating. You could possibly be wasting your time by taking the year off. By the end of your gap year, you could still be unsure of what path you want to take for your studies and career. This is also a reason people doubt The Gap Year.
Works Cited:
Strutner, Suzy. "10 Reasons You Should Take A Gap Year." Huff Post TRAVEL. N.p., 30 Nov. 2013. Web.
Sutherland, Paige. "More Colleges Funding ‘Gap Years.'" The Ledger. N.p., 14 Mar. 2014. Web.
"Re: Why Take a Gap Year." Web log comment. Gap Advice. N.p., 26 Mar. 2014. Web.