Everything You Need to Know About Taking a Gap Year

Most students take gap years to reinvent or rediscover themselves and get more clarity on what they want to pursue. Usually, students get jobs, volunteer, and travel during their gap year.

Contrary to what people assume, gap years do not necessarily last 12 months. They could be longer or shorter. They are becoming increasingly popular among students, and there is a need to build awareness around it so that students get the most from the breaks.

Generally, there are no rules as to when you can take a gap year, but the most common time is after graduating high school and college.

If you are considering taking a gap year and wondering if it is right for you, reading about the pros and cons can bring clarity. In addition, it will help you understand how you can benefit from a gap year and the possible sacrifices you would be making by taking one.

Here are the advantages and disadvantages of taking a gap year according to the top academic writer from EssayService, a professional paper writing service for students.

Advantages of Taking a Gap Year

Gap years come with several benefits when students are intentional about them.

1. Recharging

Many students can get overwhelmed by the academic load and pressure, making it hard to maintain good grades. That is where gap years come in. A break from school can be a great way to recharge and stay on top of your studies.

Taking a gap year after high school and before jumping into years of college can be refreshing. You get time to relax and restore your energy.

Once you get back to studying, you will be looking forward to working on your assignments, collaborating and learning from professional paper writers from essay writing services, and immersing yourself fully in the academic experience.

A healthy balance of recharging and relaxing before entering the next academic commitment is key to a healthy body and mind and successful academic life.

2. Work Experience

Many students take gap years to get jobs. It is a great opportunity to gain work experience and set a foundation for your career. When you are in school, it is challenging to juggle academics and a career. So it makes sense to take a break and serve one master.

The work experience can help you gain more clarity on the career path you want to take and help you choose the correct major to build a solid foundation for it.

3. Earning Money

Apart from gaining work experience, the gap year allows you to make extra money, which you could use to make your college life more comfortable, pay for tuition, and cater for other college expenses.

If you are strapped for cash, taking a gap year to make money before joining college can help lift the burden of doing a part-time job while studying. But, of course, this is if you are good at saving.

4. An Opportunity to Pursue Other Interests

The break presents you with an opportunity to pursue other passions that could shape your future. If you have hobbies and interests you feel you may have neglected, this is the time to revisit them.

In the process of pursuing your passions, you may be surprised to find that you want to follow a different path after all.

5. It Could Be Good for Your CV

If you take a gap year and volunteer or get a job, you could build skills that can hugely impress future employers. You may have an easier time getting an internship or even a job when you complete college, thanks to the experience.

6. Positive Changes

Taking a gap year, especially if it includes traveling, is a great way to meet new people and broaden your perspective. By visiting different places, you are bound to meet and interact with people from different walks of life. Such experiences will help you learn more about others and their worldviews and about yourself. You will inevitably start looking at things from a different angle, and your whole world outlook might undergo significant changes.

Disadvantages of Taking a Gap Year

Here are some of the drawbacks of taking a gap year.

1. Going Back to School Can Be Challenging

Transitioning back to school after a gap year has some challenges. Your learning habits may slack, which can take you some time to get back in the grove of your studies. If you are not very passionate about school, it is also very easy to get swayed into other interests like hobbies and forget about school.

2. There Is a Potential Risk of Wasting Time

If you are not very intentional about using your time productively, you could waste a lot of it. For instance, staying at home to relax during the whole break is counterintuitive. However, if you use part of the gap year to volunteer or take a job, it will benefit you in the future.

Set goals before taking a gap year not to lose track of time.

3. You Might Get Homesick

If you decide to go abroad during your gap year, you might get homesick. Homesickness is a sort of emotional pain you feel when you stay away from your family, friends, and home for long periods of time. The feeling is natural and rather common among most travelers, but you might get it worse since it will most likely be your first time going away alone.

4. It Can Be Expensive

If you don’t sign up for a gap year program or choose to volunteer instead of working, the whole experience can turn out to be rather costly, even more so if you decide to go traveling. That is why it is better to plan everything in advance. Make sure you consider your budget and try to map out all possible expenses.

Conclusion

A gap year can benefit or hurt your progress, depending on what you choose to do during it. Being intentional with the move is critical to ensure that it not only benefits your mind and body but also boosts your CV and enriches your academic journey.