Gap Years: Plan A
I was recently speaking with a new acquaintance, and we were discussing my job. This person asked me what my busy time of year was, and I mentioned that my work definitely picks up in early March. “Oh yeah…because kids hear back from colleges, and think, ‘Okay, that didn’t work out the way I wanted it to. What’s my Plan B?’”
At first, I just chuckled, but then I responded, “Well, no. That’s actually not usually the case at all. When students come to me, they’ve usually been thinking about gap years for a long time. Gap years are not their Plan B. A gap year is their Plan A, and they just wanted to get their college applications out of the way.”
We then went on to have a lively discussion about gap years, and deferring college for a year, and what all of that can look like. But it got me thinking, and brought me back down to earth a little bit. When you are immersed in the world of gap years, you can forget that the rest of the world doesn't know and understand them the way you do. From time to time, you can forget that gap years are not the norm. They are not every graduating senior’s Plan A. But let me tell you why they should be.
1.) The timing of a gap year, especially one that is taken between high school and college or university, is unique. At no other time in a person’s life will they be on the cusp of adulthood. At no other time in their life will they have a base of knowledge, while at the same time be open and curious about learning more, experiencing more, and questioning the world around them. Their college schedule will be too crammed to allow for the flexibility of gap time, and later in life, they will have more experiences under their belt that will shape them (for the better or worse).
2.) College and university (or trade school, or the military, or a career path) will always be there. Taking the time to explore your passions before investing in other options will pay off. According to the Lumina Foundation, between 75% and 85% of students change their major at least once before they graduate, How Late is Too Late? While that may not be terribly surprising, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, just over 61% of students who start college graduate in six years, College Graduation Rates: Full Statistics On the flip side, the Wall Street Journal notes that 90% of students who take gap years graduate in four years, Time for a College 'Gap Year'? Here's What to Consider .
3.) Gap years increase your world view, and a wider world view is what we need right now. You don’t have to travel half-way across the world to meet someone new and different from yourself. You can stay in your own community and volunteer with an organization that will challenge your assumptions, and teach you things that you didn’t know you needed to learn. Gap years can be a time to expose oneself to different cultures, ways of thinking and different ways of approaching a problem. You cannot simultaneously meet and form relationships with people from a culture, while at the same time think that everyone from that culture is a horrible person undeserving of grace and kindness.
This is the knowledge base that we need more of. This is the reason that a gap year should be Plan A, not Plan B.
