Taking Advantage of Your Gap Year by Casey

Taking Advantage of Your Gap Year by Casey - August 2019 Scholarship Essay

What college are you planning to attend? What field are you anticipating on studying? What career are you hoping to pursue? Those are all questions that I acquire, time after time, along with every other student. However, what happens when you do not have an answer to any of those? Perhaps, you are not ready to spend the following four to eight years of your life studying and attending school. Maybe you are unsure what to dedicate the rest of your life to doing. Should you proceed with heading off to college and taking your basics until you “figure out” your path? You could; however, I believe there is another solution. Instead, I would consider taking a gap year.

When others imagine a gap year, what often comes to mind is traveling and exploring the world. However, I view a gap year as an opportunity to gain experience and an advantage over your peers. If I were unsure what road to travel down, I would spend a gap year exploring my interests and what occupations fit my personality. If I detected even the slightest interest in a certain trade, one that I would love and could picture myself doing, I would explore that path by shadowing others. Often, if you find a particular interest in a certain career, you can ask to shadow a person in that trade and witness what the job thoroughly entails. By doing this, I would learn if that job is just right or if it is something that I would not be able to stand. Perhaps I would discover that, although I could work that job for one day, one week, one month, or even one year, it is not something I could continue forever. Depending on what career I decide on, I may not even need to attend college. For certain jobs I can just enroll in a vo-tech for my education, and others all I would need is a bit of training and a license. If that is the case for the career that I decide on, I have no need to worry. I did not waste loads of your money on tuition and two to three years of my life studying, trying to figure out my future, just to discover that none of that had been necessary.

On the other hand, if I already figured out my direction, yet I decided that I needed a break from school, I would explore interning. Through an internship, I would gain valuable knowledge and experience that none of my peers that are attending school would have. It would also reveal whether or not that job was the right selection. If I discover it is not, it is all right. I have not wasted anything; all I did was obtain a deeper understanding of myself.

While on my gap year, I would also acquire a job and begin to save up money. Whether I decide to attend college or vo-tech or select a different option, a savings would be extremely beneficial. When you first start in the workforce, you will find that you will not immediately earn a vast amount of money; it takes time to receive a raise. I will never be capable of predicting when an emergency or an unexpected incident will occur, resulting a giant bill to pay. Already having money in the bank will help out tremendously.

Although I am not partaking in a gap year, if I were at a different stage in life, a place where I did not know what career to pursue or if I needed a break from studying, I would be taking one. Yes, I could spend that extra time traveling around the world on an exciting adventure; however, it would not be beneficial to my future. Whether I shadow, intern, or just save up money, whatever it is, I would find a way to utilize that “break” to advance my future. Furthermore, taking a gap year does not automatically indicate you are putting your future on hold. Although education is an important factor in every career, some more than others, obtaining experience is just as valuable, if not more. Gaining experience will help you grow and develop skills and understanding, and that is precisely what I would do on my gap year and how I would make the most out of it.