Why Taking a Year off Before Starting College Is Beneficial

Wide Fleurantus

Dr. Surrency

ENC: 1101

11/24/14

Why taking a year off before starting college is beneficial

         High school is define as a big part of a student’s life. It is also where they start to have connections with different type of students, play their favorite sports and make friends. Senior year in high school is when students start  to ask themselves about  their future, graduation, and  decisions on which college and major is best for them. It is not a surprise to notice that, many students do not know what they want to do. “Some students are not ready to jump into the college experience," said Neil Routman, (Cohen). Sometimes students burned out after high school and need times to regenerate. Taking a break could give students more time to really think about their future and think of a major. A gap year is also a step back and a generate process after years of the daily academic grind. For some students, they already have an idea on what they will be doing after they have completed high school, but they are unaware of the stresses of college and their ability to handle it. For that reason, taking a year off before entering college is beneficial for some students in term of maturity, save up money for tuition, and get hands on experienced.

Taking a year off before entering college increase student’s maturity. Firstly, some people believe that after graduated from high school students should jump into college right away however, they overlook if the student already had a plan on what he or she wants to be. Additionally, people believe that some students are still too young and not ready to make a good decision. Sometimes they make a decision that might affect them for the rest of their lives. For that matter, taking the time to really think about a plan for your future is always a good start. On the other hand, other people think that students should not take a year off before entering college. They think that a year off, could make students not want to go back to school just because they do not want to, or do not have time. Students have been in school for twelve years, four more years is not going to hurt. I personally understand that, however, if we look on the bright side only 25% of students going to college and drop out after one or two semester.  According to National Association for College Admission Counseling, there are no hard counts of gap-year students, they report anecdotal evidence from counselors that more high school graduates these days are seeking a year off, (nacacnet.org). Ann Larson, a Senior Associate Director of Admissions at University of Miami, said “We really have no problem with students taking gap years," Larson said. "It's very positive what they bring back to the university. It's a maturing experience,"(Rivera L02). some students say they take a gap year to escape stress accumulated from Advanced Placement courses and competition over grades and class rank.

In addition, students are able to save up money to pay for tuition when taking a year off before entering college. Tuition is mostly the main issue for students who take-off a year.  Jumping into college right after high school and later noticing that it was a mistake so that is just wasting time and money. This happens to many students every year. Andrew Rasmussen, 23, now a student at Minnesota State University, Mankato, took a different path. Rasmussen said he "floated through life" during high school, and did not apply himself. With no one pushing him to go to college, Rasmussen graduated from White Bear Lake High School in 2005 without having taken any entrance exams. He went to live with his father in California, where he took on a series of odd jobs. He worked at Starbucks, spent some time as a traveling salesman and detailed cars. After a year in California, he returned to Minnesota and started working toward being accepted to college. "I decided that I didn't want to work as a barista for the rest of my life, so I had to go back to school," Rasmussen said. He goes on to say "I saw what I was doing without a college degree and really appreciated it in a way I don't think I would have been able to otherwise. I was eager to learn, as corny as that sounds," (Ben pg.1E). Taking time off after high school give me an opportunity to save up to pay for college.