Reasons Students Should Have a Gap Year before College - Essay Example

?Reasons Should Have a Gap Year Before College We often hear of the European who take a gap year before college to go off exploringand learning about themselves before they buckle down to college studies. There is an air of mystery and excitement about that year taken off from college that leaves a high school senior, whose parents have allowed him to take a gap year, quacking in anticipation of the blessed year off. Aside from allowing a student time to recharge his batteries before diving headlong into a college career, there are other benefits that can be had by a high school senior taking a gap year. In fact, some education professionals recommend it for most students. The reasons for which will be discussed in this paper. However, prior to discussing these privileges, I will first present the possible drawbacks of a college gap year that was not properly planned and thought out by the parents and student. Yes, even for all the perceived benefits of the gap year, there are also negative effects or reasons for doing so. Let's put it this way, Hollywood has produced one too many movies about teenage high school graduates who go backpacking through Europe for all the wrong reasons. Taking a gap year does not mean that a high school graduate should party up a storm and insist in spending it in Europe when the parental units may not be able to afford it. This is not a movie like Eurotrip. Spending a year in Europe just to party is not an economical thing to do. The plane ticket is expensive enough without parents having to shoulder the cost of the child “exploring” the wrong side of Europe through parties that make the kid stay up late and sleep all day. Nothing remotely related to learning can be gained from that. Some kids also opt to take a year off from school when he is not accepted into his chosen university. The excuse becomes that the gap year is necessary in order to help him prepare to try and gain acceptance into the same university or college next year. A college application rejection is not the end of the world that one should wallow in for a whole year. There is no discounting the fact that getting rejected by any school one submitted an application to is quite upsetting. But the point of getting into college is just that. One learns to deal with rejection and go on with life. By opting to take a year out of the educational system, the student only makes matter worse for himself. Taking a year off will not guarantee that there will be an admission in his future. However, opting to attend a “safety school” will at least guarantee that the student can try to get a transfer application accepted the next semester or the next year, depending upon how the grades look for that student. Finally, the biggest mistake a student can make is considering a gap year simply because it will look good on his resume. Just because your college resume might look a little thin on the experience and volunteer side does not mean that there is nothing in it for a decent school board to consider. Those are not the defining moments of your high school career. Instead, what college boards really look for are the good grades and passing marks relevant to the application you put in. The most important question is if a student, without a gap year experience to include in his resume, still has the credentials to make the grade for the college department of his choice (Katz, Gillian “3 Great Reasons to Take a Gap Year and 3 Bad Reasons to take a Gap Year”). Now, taking into consideration all of the wrong reasons for a student and parents to give in to the lure of a gap year. There must be some truly good benefits from taking all 365 days off from school. Otherwise it would not be a very big deal for the others who have already successfully taken and used their gap year to advantageous results. Remember that the high school senior year is the most grueling of all high school years. The senior year is the academic year that concentrates on the general college subjects that are per-requisites to any college major. So it is not unusual for a high school graduate to feel burned out after the school year is over. It is the culmination of at least 12 years of previous study that has by now, taken its physical and mental toll on the student. The gap year will serve as the recharging period for the student, long burned out from his elementary and high school studies. Parents may worry about the effect of the gap year on the student, making them too lazy to return to school the next term or the like, but normally, nothing of the sort happens. (Pro's and Con's of Gap Year”). Instead, the period of rest will also help the student become more mentally mature and capable of handling the pressures of college life. Provided that the activities that the student will undertake during the gap time will be leading up to exactly that (Katz, Gillian “3 Great Reasons to Take a Gap Year and 3 Bad Reasons to take a Gap Year”). That is why it is important that a student and his parents carefully plan out the gap year of the child. A gap year is not meant to be a brainless activity year for the student. It must be used productively in order to gain any actual benefits from it. Therefore, a solid and do-able plan is of the utmost importance. After all, we do not want the student to regret his decision once all his friends are off to school and he has those pockets of time when he is doing nothing at home. Teenagers also learn the value of the hard earned dollar and hard work during their gap years. That is because during this time, parents are not financially obligated to answer for all of the child's financial needs. Turning the gap year into a growing experience for the child who then has to take on part time or full time work in order to cover for his personal expenses. Provided arrangements are made before hand, the gap year can be the time when the parents take control of the child's real life education by making him responsible financially either for the rent of his room or simply sharing with the household expenses. At the end of the year, the child will have gained enough understanding of how the economics of life works and thus become a more responsible college student (Ma, Alexandra “6 Reasons Every Student Should Consider Taking a Gap Year”). While working during the gap year and experiencing life, a college bound student who at first had no idea about what he wished to major in once he enters college could actually be influenced by the experience of the gap year when finally choosing his major. Due to the freedom that he has during this period of time to experiment with various life activities, he may just find the calling that he seeks in terms of a college major. With the option to attend short term classes at the community college or even on-line, the world of opportunities presents itself to the gap year student (Ten Reasons to Take a Gap Year”). The collated experiences will result in a more confident college student who has life experiences backing up his academic education rather than purely theoretical understanding of his classes. According to sources , there is a higher benefit to be had from allowing students a year off from school before they set out on the higher level of education : While there are no formal studies on the number of students who never end up making their way to college post-gap, anecdotal evidence from admissions officers across the country says very few actually drop off the college radar. Taking a gap year can actually make kids more focused and ready for the rigors of academic life. In fact, Harvard, arguably the most competitive university in the country, believes so much in the gap year that they encourage every student they admit to consider a year off before matriculation. And Princeton has just announced a new program called the “bridge year” that will allow newly admitted students to spend a year performing public service abroad before beginning their freshman year. (Wood, Daniellele “Should Your Child Have a 'Gap Year' Before College?”). The reason that there is a noticeable rate of college drop outs is because most of these kids pack up for college even though they are uncertain about many things at that point in their life, and they are burned out from the rigors of grade school and high school education. 3 out of 5 students will not graduate at this rate and 30 % will not see their sophomore year in college(Wood, Daniellele “Should Your Child Have a 'Gap Year' Before College?”). In other words, if a student is attending college undecided about his future, then he will most likely not have a future. College is not the place to figure out your dreams and aspirations. College is the place where you are taught to make those dreams and aspirations a reality. Living during a gap year, even if it is only in another state as a volunteer if the family cannot afford to send the student abroad means that the child will still have a chance to learn about a different culture and how to handle various types of people. It is important to remember that although the country is called the United States, it is still peopled by different cultures and traditions. It is rich in these kinds of experiences that will definitely serve as a fantastic people skills builder for the incoming college freshman. The time spent away from the parents ensures that the child learns how to handle himself as an individual and stand up for the decisions that he makes. This time, without the parents to catch him in case he fails, he will have to own up to his mistakes and take the consequences of his wrong actions. While also feeling proud of himself once he makes the right decision that results in something positive for himself or those around him. In the case of students who are not financially capable of affording college straight out of high school, the gap year will offer them a financial opportunity to work and save up for his college fees (“10 Reasons Why You Should Consider a Gap Year Before College”). Parents of lower income families usually have money set aside for the college fund of their children but depending upon the chosen major of the child, the money saved may not suffice for the first year's fees. Allowing the student a gap year will give him a chance to work towards attending not only the major of his choice, but also the college of his choosing. Without the gap year, that will not be possible for most students. The reservations some parents and educators have about the gap year does not carry weight because their apprehensions veer on the side of caution about the child losing interest in attending college. Parents do not even need to worry about being financially responsible for their children during the period because the gap year is supposed to be an earning opportunity for the child. Most importantly, the gap year helps the child to build his personality, abilities, and self-reliance. Works Cited Katz, Gillian. “3 Great Reasons to Take a Gap Year and 3 Bad Reasons to Take a Gap Year”. Her Campus. hercampus.com. 5 Jul. 2013. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. Ma, Alexandra. “6 Reasons Every Student Should Consider Taking a Gap Year”. PolicyMic. policymic.com. 27 Oct. 2013. Web. 5 Dec. 2013. “Pros and Cons of Gap Year”. College Confidential. collegeconfidentialcom. n.d. Web. 4 Dec. 2013. “Ten Reasons to Take a Gap Year”. Campus Explorer. campusexplorer.com. 28 Jun. 2013. Web. 5 Dec. 2013. Wood, Daniellele. “Should Your Child Have a 'Gap Year' Before College?”. Today. today.com. 22 Apr. 2008. Web. 5 Dec. 2013. Read More