<p>why did they do it and did they alright after they returned?</p>
<p>My D knew lots of students at H that took a year off. Someone she knows got burned out trying to do too much and not have any fun and when that kid returned back he finished phi beta kappa and went on to become a Rhodes scholar.
So it is not uncommon for kids to do that, but would be helpful to do something worthwhile that semester that the student plans to take off. Do an internship or meaningful volunteer work</p>
<p>My D took a year off in her third year [to study aboard though an independent program] returned back to complete during her senor year</p>
<p>So let me understand what your asking, if someone took a year/semester off and DID NOT receive any educational credits in that time?</p>
<p>Yes, I have a friend who is a mechanical engineer who took a semester off to work in an internship type position at Lamborghini Inc. in Italy.</p>
<p>I did it for my senior year. I took a year off and came back to finish my last semester. It wasn’t really a big deal (the withdrawal/readmission processes are very simple and painless).
I did it because I was feeling stressed out from the combination of school and trying to figure out the rest of my life, mainly the latter reason. The ironic thing was that I still haven’t got it “figured out”, but I decided coming back and finishing that last semester was the responsible thing to do. </p>
<p>I also know other people who withdrew for different reasons (family, internships, etc.), as well as the common “burning out” reasons. We all did okay coming back. I actually think I did a little better for my last semester, but that also might be because I had only 11 units. </p>