If you’re a Senior at Santiago, you might have thought about taking a gap year. Gap years have always been a tough decision for students and their parents. The Gap Year Association estimates that between 40,000 and 60,000 students in the United States take a gap year each academic year. But is it worth it? The pros and cons of taking a gap year are endless. Students inevitably worry about the drawbacks outweighing the benefits, so it’s important to consider all the implications of a gap year.

According to Fontbonne University, “A gap year is a period of time between high school and college when students take a break from their studies to pursue other activities, which could include travel, work, or volunteering.” For many, gap years are an opportunity to take a break from school to improve other aspects of their lives, but they fear they are losing time and falling behind their peers. More specifically, students take gap years for reasons such as not knowing what they want to do in the future or what to major in in college. Students may also take a leave to practice being an adult, working, making their own decisions, and finding themselves. One could also take a gap year to have fun, travel, and spend time with friends and family. Semester at Sea has examples of pros and cons:

Pros:

1. 

   Gaining Work Experience: Students can gain experience by working outside of school, improving their resumes, and learning more about the career they want to pursue in the future.

2. Saving Money: Taking a gap year can help save money if college or university seemed expensive before the break. Saving helps support future decisions, both inside and outside an academic context.
3. Personal Growth: Taking a gap year gives you time to manage your own schedule and finances, and to make decisions that foster personal growth and self-reliance.
4. Time For Extracurriculars: Gap years allow people to fill their time with new experiences that offer opportunities to step out of their comfort zones, face new challenges, and learn valuable life skills while engaging in a variety of extracurricular activities.
5. Exploring Your Options: A gap year can help students gain life experience, explore different fields, and reflect on their interests and passions before committing to a specific major or career path.

Cons:

1. Missing Out: Some people might feel that they start falling behind peers who did not take a gap year.
2. Expenses: Depending on what students choose to do during their gap year, travelling, joining programs, etc., gap years can become incredibly expensive.
3. Responsibilities: Once someone takes a gap year, people begin to realise how many things they must take care of, such as getting a job and becoming responsible for their own decisions and finances. 
4. Having No Planning: Without proper planning, some may feel they’re not making effective use of their time and that their gap year was a waste of time.
5. Forgetting Material: People fear forgetting everything they’ve learned and losing momentum or enthusiasm for restarting their academic journey when they return to school.

If you’re unsure about your decision, here are some interviews from the perspectives of students who have taken gap years before:

What Motivated You To Take A Gap Year?

Mohamed Ali: “What motivated me to take a gap year was being able to explore the different pathways and gaining more professional skills that helped me decide my future goals.”

Wissam Omori: “What motivated me to take a gap year was that I had to take the SATs for one, and the second reason was to better understand myself and what I wanted to be in the future. One of my reasons was that it was out of my hands, but the second reason is that I felt I needed a gap year after all the stress.”

What are the Pros? / Do you think it was worth it?

Mohamed Ali: “I would say I was able to gain different skills, explore different fields, and have more time to adjust.”

Wissam Omori: “Personally, I feel that it was very worth it. When I was in school, I was very against taking a gap year. I was like, why would I take it? I already know what I want, and then some things happened, and I started questioning myself. What do I wanna be in the future? Do I really want to be in this major? Do I not want to be this Major? So a gap year actually helped me express who I am and figure out who I want to be. Other than that, I get to live my life, and I get to do whatever I want. The things I couldn’t do while I was in school, I could do more freely when I took a gap year. Three, I actually had time to develop myself as a person. If I went to school and university in the same year, I would’ve had no personal growth; I would still be the same awkward kid from school. But I got a job, and I got to meet new people, which helped me develop myself even better and made me a better person. If you ask me, it was totally worth it.”

Natalie Cruz: “I could work and save money. It was a nice break and gave me some real-world experience.”

What are the Cons? / Do you think there were drawbacks?

Wissam Omori: “I feel that one of them is the depressive episodes you get, because when you’re in school, you have your school friends, and after that, you don’t always keep in touch with them. So you start reminiscing and get nostalgic. For the first few months, I was very depressed because I had nothing to do in life. What I didn’t like was that when my friends or classmates who went to university immediately, I felt like I was missing out and was behind all of my classmates and all the people that I knew who were starting to go to university. I just had more regrets, and I started guilt-tripping myself into thinking that what I did was wrong. Because when you see people your age develop more and go one step further into the future, and you’re still where you are, you start blaming yourself and kind of start being harsh on yourself.”

Natalie Cruz: “Maybe a con would be just that I felt a bit behind and a bit worried that I would lose motivation and continue. But it was worth it for me.”

If you’re thinking about taking a gap year, it’s extremely important to do your research; talk to your counselors, family, weigh the pros and cons, and consider your long-term plans involving a gap year. Taking a gap year could mean “Being able to explore the different pathways and gaining more professional skills that help [you] decide on future goals.” And remember, do what’s best for you.