The Gap Year: Would You Do It?

June 8, 2012 in Current Affairs, Lifestyle, News, People, Self, Travel

Could you pack up all your bags and leave?

After I finished school, almost ten years ago now, I took a gap year between starting university and what I call “starting my serious adult life.” I’m still waiting for that serious adult life to start, by the way. Any day now. I felt that having a break from study and the pressures of exams and assignments would make me more determined to kick those career goals – even if I wasn’t sure what those goals were just yet.

Tricia Taormina from The Huffington Post wrote an article on Gap Years and simple reasons why they are important. It made me wonder whether we all need a break from study or work every five or so years to re-engerise ourselves and make us remember what matters. Of course I know this isn’t possible for a lot of people but it’s nice to dream.

Why consider taking a gap year?

“Gap time is meant to revitalise your mind – to avoid the burnout that can accompany immediately taking on more intense coursework”

Many teenagers and young people travel to live abroad for a year, sometimes two. Some people move for work. Others for love. I’ve never moved away from Sydney but I admire those who do and make a real go of it. I’m very close with my family and friends and love having my network. I like stability in my life; I am a Capricorn after all. I’m a little too practical for my own good sometimes and I believe this makes me miss certain opportunities.

I commit to long leases on rentals, I have a cat who I adore and I have a lot of stuff that has accumulated in my home over the past four years I’ve lived alone. I literally can’t pick up my whole life as I know it and throw caution to the wind. Although I’d love to. I fantasize about it. I know that if I travel to Boston or NYC I won’t come home. And that’s an expensive plane ride to bring all my stuff over.

I mean, I could start from scratch but that’s terrifying. What happens if I make the wrong decision? Or if I get ill and there’s no one around to help me? Or if I’m simply lonely. Well, I get lonely at home some weeks and I do get sick and take care of myself just like a regular person. But I do wonder sometimes what am I so scared about.

When people announce their engagements, weddings or pregnancies I’m genuinely happy for them yet I have this anxious feeling in my stomach like it’s all happening too fast for me. It’s not even about me! I get that same feeling when people say they are moving to London for two years and are applying for a visa. Really? Are you sure? Two years is a long time. It’s not really, I know.

Did you take a gap year? Or if you could where would you go?

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Author Info

Rose Russo has written 56 posts.
Rose is a freelance writer, blogger and self confessed chocoholic who could quite easily live on a diet of turkish delight and English breakfast tea. She loves the fast paced nature of online media but sometimes feels like she’s the only member of Gen Y who still gets excited to pick up the newspaper on weekend mornings. If anyone has a Sportsgirl addiction cure please let her know [I may be on a first-name basis at my local store] She also writes a weekly column focusing on relationships, friendship and life stuff on her blog at The Budding Rose
Follow on twitter: @thebuddingrose

9 Comments »

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Monique Fischle

I didn’t do a gap year because I knew if I did, I wouldn’t be able to get back into the swing of study. Plus, there was a 4 month break between HSC and Uni starting so I got my break. If you’re going to be spending a ridiculous amount of time at uni, if you are studying something like medicine or whatnot, I think a gap year is a really good idea.

As life would turn out, I’m having an unintentional “gap year” after finishing uni, just not working or travelling, just doing lots of work for free and applying for a million jobs!
- Rose Russo
  
  I think your intern work will pay in dividends for the future – hands on experience is the best experience!
  - Monique Fischle
    
    Haha it better pay. I’m consistently told “wow, you have so much experience” followed by “but it’s not enough”!
Michelle

I have taken two gap years. But only went overseas for 6 months. Didn’t really do the “typical” travelling thing…

I had pneumonia in year 12 and decided to defer my university place so that I had a chance to recover and also to earn some money – so I could qualify as independant from my parents and get centrelink’s assistance once I did start studying. I moved to Sydney right after Christmas of my Year 12 year and started working. I’ll spare you the details but in that July I moved to the UK, where I had citizenship so could keep earning money. I regret not doing more travel while I was there – with the continent so close.

After doing my four years of undergrad study, I knew that my next career step would be a post-grad course, but due to various factors I decided to work for another year before getting back to studying. Not terribly exciting. But still, I think, a gap year. And it was actually a very good decision, career-wise, as the job I had that year helped me improve my ability to get the job I wanted after my graduate diploma!

I think gap years are a terrific idea. I particularly support the idea of taking a year between high school and uni – especially for people who are only 17 (or younger!) when they finish school. Seeing something of the world (whether you’re travelling or just working a full time job) really builds some maturity and prepares you to make better decisions about all sorts of things when you get to uni. You just have to be prepared to be a year or two older than your classmates, and it can be a little hard to get back into good study habits
http://music.johnanthonyjames.com/ John James

In hindsight I think I should have taken a Gap year…I don’t think I was emotionally ready for Uni…paradoxically, I think I would have been better taking a year off, finding some part-time work, and using the experience to toughen-up and grow-up a bit…

…but then again, I’m so happy with where I am today, doing things differently then might have meant that I would be somewhere different now…
- Rose Russo
  
  That’s true JJ… no regrets! You might not be where you are now!
Jess C

I’m strongly considering packing up and moving to London at the end of next year when I finish studying. I’ll be 25 and all I’ll have to show for it is a Bachelor degree, Masters degree and an overseas trip (Europe – this month!). I have this strong feeling that I need to get my career going, and I want to travel… so I think London is the place to be. I wish I’d taken a gap year after school to get a better picture if what I wanted to do – though I only had my career epiphany last year so maybe it wouldn’t have been any good anyway.
- Rose Russo
  
  You are still young Jess… I hope you have a blast
Melissa Savage

I didn’t do a gap year because I thought the only way to do it was to travel, and I didn’t have the money to do that. I also wanted to just keep in the rhythm of studying, like Mon, and as she says, there was a 4 month break anyway.

I was also already 18, I’d turned 18 in the April of Year 12, and I didn’t want to waste any more time getting on with my ‘real’ life.

My brother ended up accidentally having a couple of gap years after getting a bad mark, but it worked out fine for him in the end: he got a job as a law clerk, worked his way up to being a paralegal and is currently a couple of subjects off getting his law degree.

Totally depends on the person in question. The other advantage in working for a year is that you become ‘independent’ for Centrelink purposes, which for me would have made the difference between being able to move out of home and not. In my case that would have helped considerably because home was with my alcoholic dad.

KiKi & Tea