<p>Does anyone think that a gap year after your sophomore year is a good idea? I am currently a junior and I am burnt out. I went to school for 4 semesters (including classes during the summer, 2 two-week classes, and working part-time).</p>
<p>Also, for those of you who have had gap year's, what did you do during that time? Did you parents support the idea?</p>
<p>holy crap.</p>
<p>I've never heard of it, but I endorse this thread.</p>
<p>To be honest, I kind of have wanted to do it (but actually to self-educate myself using materials like MIT OCW, to read A LOT from the university libraries, and to organize pages and pages of my writing). Actually I did take advantage of the university libraries, but at a major cost to my GPA (since I'd like to read 5-10 books per quarter or something like that - and college is the best opportunity for that)</p>
<p>I did consider dropping out to homeschool myself for one year, but my parents dissuaded me from doing it. But another possibility is to just take a single class instead of many (that single class could be an easy one...). But some have to "get it entirely out of their system for a while"</p>
<p>Well.. I SORT OF am. I'm studying abroad for a full year. It's still work, but at least first semester isn't all just sitting in a classroom- it's fieldwork.</p>
<p>I'm a first semester sophomore right now, and I'm going to take the next semester off. To work, travel, live in a new place and get my motivation and inspiration back.</p>
<p>I think there's so much of a stigma around taking a semester off. So many people believe the best path is to go through 4 years of high school, then immediately go to college for 4 years, then get a job. But it's not!</p>
<p>lianri:</p>
<p>Are your parents supporting the idea? How are you coming up with the money to travel and to live in a new place?</p>
<p>My parents do support the idea. They actually suggested it in the first place. I'm pretty lucky to have them, I guess.</p>
<p>I've been working a part time job (15 hours/week) here at school, so I have some money saved up. I'm going to spend a few weeks at home after this semester ends, then I'm probably going to fly out to Denver, Colorado, to live near my brother. Both of us are avid skiers (I've fallen out of it while being in college) so we're going to spend lots of time skiing. It'll be <em>so</em> nice to go somewhere new (I go to Cornell and live about half an hour away - I've spent my entire life in central New York). I'm going to get a waitressing job to support myself. I have lots of experience as a waitress, it's a very transferable job (once you waitress somewhere, you can waitress anywhere) and it makes a lot of money.
I hope to save up enough money (might be a hard thing to do between my skiing addiction and rent, so we'll see) to fly to Europe for a couple of weeks and see my friend, who's studying abroad there.</p>
<p>My only regret is not doing this <em>sooner</em>!</p>
<p>Wow, you are very lucky. I only dream of taking a semester off. Good luck and have fun!</p>
<p>Why can't you do it? Will your parents not allow it?</p>
<p>I think it's a healthy and good idea for <em>anyone</em> to take a semester off.</p>
<p>It was never an option for me. I don't have a "traditional" job. I buy a lot of things cheap and sell them on EBAY. I made $3,500 in one month. I also like obtaining autographs. I would love to have a semester off to concentrate on that. That is great that you have a hobby. </p>
<p>My parents never supported the idea. I barely gets by having 2 weeks off after my summer classes.</p>
<p>Some schools pull scholarship money if you take a semester off- especially if it causes you to go beyond the traditional 4 years. </p>
<p>That's why my "time off" will be between undergrad and grad school doing either the Peace Corps or Teach for America.</p>
<p>I think that's true if you're asked to take a semester off because of bad grades. But as long as you're a good student (Cs or better, probably), at many schools you can just walk in and say "I want to take a leave" and they say "OK!" and when you come back it'll be as though you never left both academically and in terms of scholarships. That's been my experience, anyway.</p>
<p>I would only take off for a significant time from college if I had some REALLY exciting/important/life changing that I could take advantage of. </p>
<p>Kind of like what Bill Gates did, dropped out of Harvard to start Microsoft (now that was probably the best decision of his life!)</p>
<p>No way would I just sit home or go to work while I could be getting college over with.</p>
<p>Well, it's obvious from what you just said that you're enjoying college and getting something out of it-- and your statement that you wouldn't want to just leave assumes that you'd be leaving something good.
But what if college was actually unhealthy for you, or wrong for you at some point in time? At least just sitting at home you're not blowing tens of thousands of dollars. I pay for part of my tuition- and you'd better bet I'd go home and work and earn money rather than waste it on something that isn't doing me any good.</p>
<p>How much do you make each week waitressing? How much do you pay out of the tuition?</p>