Ah, college decisions. Those two words, or even just "college" by itself spoken to any senior, will elicit a visceral response of fear and sometimes just flat-out dread. In my first three years of high school, I didn't realize how much deciding on an excellent four-year college meant to a lot of seniors. In my last month of school, I've had to dodge endless questions about what college I'm attending, what I want to do as a job, and what my path is to said job. But now, I realize, I don't need to dodge or deflect those questions at all. So let's start this over.
Hi. My name is Annie, and next year is my "life year." I've found it hard to phrase this to people. You could call it a gap year or a year off, but a gap between what? School and more school? Showing that the relationships, the bonds, the jobs we get, the fun drama classes we take simply isn't life? I could plainly say, "I'm not going to school next year." But that leads to more questions about the quality of my grades in high school, my commitment, am I just lazy? We live in a world where our bodies and brains have kept us alive through a deadly pandemic with all of our classes online. Plenty of children who are taking gap years love school. So why do we feel embarrassment or shame stating that we are not going to college directly after high school?
First of all, we put kids into the mentality that "hard to get into colleges" = good colleges and that good colleges = success. An Illinois school counselor, Ashley Tucker, stated, "I think there is a myth out there that big schools mean more opportunities for internships and better networking opportunities. Everything is what you make it… wherever you go and whatever you do, the opportunities that you take advantage of are a result of what you do for yourself. Nobody hands you anything." Ivy league schools are incredible and well worth the time put in to apply for them. But is the stress all that useful? In a 2015 NYU study, an anonymous teacher claimed that "Parents are coming in and thinking, I'm (spending a lot of money) and I need to get something, a very tangible something. A great education is not a tangible something; a diploma from Harvard, Princeton, or Yale … that's tangible."
I mention the stress of a college application or decision because the idea of a "gap" year, as someone might call it, might help. According to the American Gap Association (AGA), "92% of students who choose to take a gap year say their intentions are to add life skills and experience personal growth." And in many other studies, participants who took a gap year recorded more joy, hope for the future, and fewer feelings of depression and hopelessness.
And this idea of just taking time for yourself after high school is becoming even more prevalent in our changing world. In a 2020 survey by Higher Education, reasearchers found that ”40 percent of [graduating students] say they are likely or highly likely to not attend any four-year college this fall.” While this may be due to the Covid-19 pandemic’s toll on in-person school, students may find that after the year of discovery and building relationships, they will be better equipped for the college they plan to attend
Not every college-bound high school senior should drop everything immediately and take a year off. A gap year is not built for or possible for every single person. And yet, hopefully, someday, we can embrace the freedom of taking the time to do the things we want to do. We can sit down and examine the possible faults in our college decision system. And maybe, just maybe, we can all take a deep breath. So here we go.
Hi, my name is Annie. And I'm taking a life year. It's going to be absolutely fantastic, care to join me?
ugh i love this