Can taking a year off before college be beneficial?
The additional space to grow up and gain certain autonomy is the crux of a gap year. One takes it not because they are lazy, but because they have some soul-searching and retrospection to do or aim to achieve certain things before they start standard college.
Most colleges understand a student taking a gap year. Yet, the main issue that arises is for the families to fund the exploration of a gap year and for the children to use that gap year usefully.
The way most people start their gap year is by joining the workforce. Now the question arises, do you do something that is career oriented or take a job which will help make you money you can save for college. Both are great options, and you should make your choice based on your specific situation. If you can afford to work just for the experience, go for it. But if the reason you took the year off was because of financial constraints, then utilising it to save up the money seems most sensible.
Taking a gap year is useful in both psychological and emotional development. It helps one develop the maturity to handle the complexities of college life. Getting some space from parents and from everyone's expectations (of peers, parents and teachers) can give you the space to figure out who you are as a person and what you want.
How you want to use the gap year is up to you – all you have to do is use is productively. Here productive doesn’t purely mean in an educationally driven way. It could also mean soul-searching through travel, moving to a new country, volunteering for social work, or even spending the time to tie up all lose ends and unwind.
For someone like me - who thrives under structure and deadlines – a gap year wouldn’t be a viable option. Yet for an individual who knows exactly how they want to use their year, a gap year could be a golden ticket to success. Though people have taken time off before college in the past, the concept of a gap year is relatively new. And now that it is widely talked about and accepted, if you feel you need it, take it.
Note that a gap year could look very different for different people. In India, for students planning to go into medicine or technology, grade 12 graduates could take a year off to prepare for competitive exams like JEE and NEET. For another it could be taking off a year to travel the continent of Europe or volunteer for 6 months in Kenya. It could be taking on different kinds of internships to figure out what you want to do with your future; or take online college starter courses to figure out what subjects you want to study. A gap year can be whatever you want it to be – just don’t let it be a waste.