Taking a break: How a Gap Year Can be Beneficial

How many high school students have said that they can’t wait to graduate and leave school? By the time students graduate high school, they have been focusing on their formal education for over a decade and are burnt out from the typical classroom structure. The route that young adults take after high school may vary, from university to going straight to work, but many students tend to forget that there’s another option they have failed to consider: that’s right, I’m talking about a gap year. A gap year, by definition, is typically a semester to a year-long break that students will take either before or after going to college. They use this time to engage in various educational and developmental activities, such as traveling or some form of work. Taking a gap year can provide the ability to become more independent, travel somewhere, and emerge students out of their comfort zone. 

According to the National Alumni survey conducted in 2015 by the American Gap Association, students who were planning to take a gap year gave their top motivations for doing so, and 92 percent said that they were wanting to gain life experiences and grow personally. Eighty five percent said that they wanted to travel and immerse in other cultures and 82 percent said that they just wanted a break from an academic track.