Gap years provide benefits for students
Many students attend college right after high school graduation, but they should reconsider taking a gap year where they can travel, work or volunteer. It has been proven that students who have taken a gap year have been more successful in college.
For four years, many high school students have been working nonstop to get into college, but the question is why they worked so hard to do it all over again for another four years. Yes, a major reason they go off to college is to get a degree so they can later get a high-paying job. But is one year off going to stop that from happening? The answer is no.
High school students deserve a break before they go off to college. A gap year can help students find themselves and prepare them for college. But first, what is done during a gap year matters to ensure success in college.
The most common thing students do during a gap year is travel around the world. Traveling the world can be very rewarding and educational since it teaches the students about different cultures. Also, they can have the opportunity to learn a different language to become fluent in.
Many job applicants only know one language, so becoming fluent in a second language is a very impressive skill to put on a resume. It helps differentiate applicants from others vying for the same position.
Another thing that students do during their gap year is internships, which are a great idea because it could be another thing to put on a resume when applying for a job. Internships give students a lot of real-life experience that sometimes schools just can’t teach.
Numerous people assume students who finish their gap year and begin college will fail because they stopped their routine of consistent studying, but a study by Robert Clagett, former Dean of Admissions at Middlebury College clearly proves that this assumption is wrong.
According to a study of GPA results by Clagett, gap-year students tend to outperform others in college by 0.1 to 0.4 points on a 4.0 scale, with the positive effects lasting over the entire four years.
Many students would love to take a gap year but don’t because of the lack of money they need for travel costs or to maintain an internship with no pay.
Students can still travel even if they are dealing with a shortage of money. Florida State University, for example, offers to pay for a selection of students to go on a gap year.
Students should seriously consider taking a gap year because it will help them grow as a person by learning new things that only experiences in the real world can teach and help them become more ready for their transition into college.