The Gap Year: A Time of Reflection by Joshua

The Gap Year: A Time of Reflection by Joshua - August 2019 Scholarship Essay

For many high school seniors, entering college is a daunting and terrifying ordeal. It is no exaggeration to say that the major you choose when entering college could determine the rest of your life. Furthermore, while it is true that if you do not enjoy your major you could just switch at any time, the amount of money possibly lost on unnecessary classes is still a terrifying thought to many freshmen. This fear can often lead many freshmen to continue pursuing a degree in a subject they don’t truly understand or enjoy leading to many graduating and either returning for another degree (and feeling like they wasted a lot of money) or entering a job they hate. However, there is no law requiring a high school senior to enter college, merely an expectation built up by tradition. In actuality, by taking a gap year before entering college I believe students entering college (such as myself) would have the ability to become more financially stable, have an easier transition into their new responsibilities and a chance to better understand what they truly want to do in life.
College has only continued to get more and more expensive over the years and this trend does not seem to be slowing down any time soon. Therefore, taking a gap year to work and raise money for college is an incredibly smart decision for anyone planning on going to college. Building up a supply of cash to live off of during college will easily allow you to focus on class more leading to a more successful and less chaotic school year. To make the most of my gap year’ I would attempt to find work for around 3-4 days a week. This would allow me to gain the funds necessary to attend college while also helping me adapt to working in the real world without the responsibilities of school. This could also help ease me into the idea of working so that if I ever needed to work during the school year I would already be used to working in a less stressful environment.
A gap year, for many high school students, would also allow many to become more familiar with how to manage their better and how to live more on their own, an essential skill for college. Without the ingrained habits of school and my parents telling me what to do every day, I would have a lot more time to experiment with the idea of living by myself and to learn essential skills such as cooking and doing laundry properly. By taking a gap year I would allow myself to have far more time to adjust to life on my own before I also had the extra weight of actually attending classes. I could essentially ease into becoming an adult instead of diving in headfirst like so many other students do and end up regretting.
Finally, I think a gap year would be useful for experimenting with what I actually want to do in life. Throughout high school, I have often been convinced I was going to attend college as an engineer. But in reality, is engineering what I really want to do with my life? Am I even really sure what kind of engineering I want to pursue? All of these questions force themselves into my thoughts and it just leaves me feeling so overwhelmed with the idea of attending college. By taking advantage of a gap year, I feel I could take a step back and really examine what I want to do with my life. Using the extra days that I would not be working I would try and explore different careers and see which ones I enjoyed. Do I actually enjoy painting? Am I more drawn to biology than engineering? A gap year would give me time to reflect on these questions and allow me to figure out what I really want to pursue in college.
A gap year is a time to expose yourself to the real world away from a life sheltered by high school. Whether this exposure be through job experience, practical home experience, or in finding what you are truly passionate about a gap year can help you gain the necessary experience needed in life before going to college