Should You Be Thinking About a Gap Year?

Gap years: an enriching way to open your mind, or a hedonistic way to waste your time and money? Their divided reputation makes deciding whether to take one a difficult decision. The truth is that a gap year can be either of these stereotypes. Which one it ends up being depends on you.

There are many reasons to take a gap year. Benefits can include gaining greater maturity and life experiences, building savings, and gaining work experience that may even be relevant to your future industry. Especially if you’re not certain about what to study, or even if you want to go to university, taking an extra year before applying can give you valuable time to make the right decision: after all, university is a big decision, and it’s important to get it right. Changing your mind after starting your degree may require starting over from the very beginning, thereby increasing your student loans (not to mention all the wasted work). Alternatively, if you’re confident you want to get a degree but didn’t get an offer from one of your dream universities, or if your final grades were much higher than predicted, choosing to take a gap year and then reapply may be a good way to get a better offer.

Yet there can also be pitfalls to a gap year. Make sure that you really do get what you want out of it. If you’re considering rejecting offers in the hopes of getting a better one, are you prepared to take the risk that the better one might not appear? In fact, you might find yourself with worse offers than you hold now. Is it worth it? Alternatively, if you’re planning a gap year for other reasons, such as saving or traveling, make sure you keep those goals. Make a detailed plan with deadlines, and make sure you stick to it—or you might find yourself short of your savings goal, not visiting everywhere you wish to, or even missing the deadlines for university applications.

Here’s how to make the most of three things you can do on your gap year:

1. Working: A gap year is a great time to improve your résumé. Look into jobs and internships that are relevant to your intended field of study. When you start job hunting after university, it will look so much better if you already have experience. Plus, starting so early will make you look focused. Your current school should be able to help you locate suitable work, and if you speak to your teachers, they may be willing to use their contacts to help you.

Once you’ve got your job, you’ll probably find yourself earning more than you ever have before. Saving some is a great idea, but contrary to conventional ‘wisdom,’ saving it for university isn’t always the best route. Yes, you’ll be short on money as a student, but you will still have an income. On the other hand, after university, you might find yourself incomeless while you look for jobs. Having savings can help pay for for business attire, transportation to interviews, and even living where you’re looking for a job, so you can be available for those interviews. Don’t forget, as well, that it might take some time for you to receive your first paycheck after starting your new job. Consider putting your gap year wages into a high-interest savings account for after you graduate.

2. Traveling: The gap yah traveler is infamous, and sadly, far too real. There are good reasons to avoid being the stereotype. First of all, make sure you respect the culture of the area you’re traveling in. Pay attention to expected behavior in religious locations and memorial sites. To help you understand the country, read more than just the Lonely Planet guidebooks and phrasebooks (as useful as they are). Research the politics and social issues that affect the people living there—and try using a beginner’s language textbook, if you don’t know any of the language.

The second important reason to avoid being the stereotype is safety. Yes, drinking (if you’re of age where you are) can be fun, but drinking past your limits with people you only met that day in the hostel is dangerous. Drink responsibly, and make sure you’re aware of where you are and where your drink is at all times.

You can also use your travels to improve your résumé. Be wary of voluntourism, unless you genuinely have skills that aren’t available locally (and being a native English speaker, unless you have a TEFL or TESOL qualification, doesn’t count). There’s a high risk that all you’d achieve would be to take jobs away from local people and create a market for poverty and orphans. However, you can still do other things. Blogging about your experiences will look good if an employer Googles you (as long as the experiences are appropriate!), as well as being a good way to keep in touch with people back home. Learning a language well is not only useful for traveling, but could also come in handy later in your career.

3. Studying: Just because you’re not at university doesn’t mean you can’t study around work and traveling. Consider taking part-time or evening courses to boost the academic section of your résumé, or even just reading up on your field in your spare time. That extra knowledge beyond your school syllabus will be useful when you start university, as well as for impressing university interviewers.

A gap year can be a valuable experience, if you make it one. Being organized and proactive about your time can help you develop yourself professionally, academically, and as a person—as well as being fun.