Parents: what should I do with my "gap" semester?

Parents Forum
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I’m looking for parents’ perspective on this question - all the college kids around me just tell me to travel.

I’ll be graduating in December with my bachelor’s in English. Eventually, I want to teach at the secondary level. To get certified, I’m looking into MAT programs. I know there are other options, but that’s what I’m leaning toward right now. The issue is that these programs start in June usually. So there’s a high chance that I’ll have about 5 months between graduation and starting a graduate program.

My question is simple: what can I do for those five months? The obvious answer that comes to me is just to work. I have a consistent job substitute teaching, but even if I do 5 days/week it only brings in $450-ish post-tax with no benefits. That’s not a lot to save up on. I’d also be open to getting a second or third job, I’m pretty used to waitressing. This would be a good option to save up money for graduate school - but I feel like I’d kind of be stuck. I’m currently living at home, and I know that after graduation I’ll be ready to move on.

The other thing that I want to do is travel. But… I know it’s not super realistic. I’ll likely have about $20k saved up by the time I graduate, and I won’t have any loans. I will have grad school to pay for in the future, though. I’d love to spend time in Europe. I know it’s kind of a kid’s dream, but I really would love to explore somewhere that’s not the US. Bottom line is that I pushed through college to finish in 2.5 years with anywhere between 18-30 credits a semester. And I’m already feeling a little burnt out, so I know I will be by the time I graduate.

I also feel like I know the answer - I should probably work. But I also haven’t been able to have much time to do things beside school and work. I know I don’t have to decide now, obviously, but is there some sort of option that I’m missing here?

Thank you all in advance!

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How about teaching abroad? Or doing something else you are passionate about.

I would encourage my child to do something out of the norm that they will not be able to easily do once they get a “real” job. While money is important, experiences are priceless.

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I’m with the college kids - travel. As an adult, one of my regrets is that I didn’t travel as much in my younger days. Yes, travel is “doable” with a family, but not like when you’re on your own and you don’t have to take others into account. If your dream is to go to Europe, go and backpack through Europe. Have no regrets. Once you start working and start “adulting,” it gets swept under the rug and other things take priority.

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Another Parent chiming in with regrets of not traveling before “settling down”. You can find ways to cut expenses, and you can even try to find a way to work/barter along the way. You NEED to take some time off, you are close to burn out, and you need a radical change of pace.

Maybe you take a 3 week tour instead of a 3 month tour, and maybe you find a temp job after you travel that is not in your hometown. It will mean sharing an apartment with multiple roommates, and maybe you don’t end up making much money at all. But you could pick a U.S. city that interests you, one with a lower cost of living. Then spend your non-work hours exploring the area. Take time to meet the locals, attend local festivals, join a community from Meetup.

You will never regret traveling and giving yourself a break from school.

5

Consider volunteering at one of the girl scout centers abroad. Free room and board, cool locations.

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How much money do you need for the MAT?

Do you need to start it right away, or could you do something else for a year or two first?

What subject(s) and age group(s) do you want to teach?

If you travel, where would you like to go?

Would you be interested in teaching English language, rather than English literature if it would get you a paid or volunteer with housing gig abroad? One niece spent about a year and a half as a language model-teacher assistant in ESL classrooms in Chile. She was a volunteer, but housing, meals, and health insurance were provided. When she returned she enrolled in an MAT for TESOL. I also know people who have gone to Japan with JET, and people who picked up a CELTA certificate (usually just a 4 week course), and then gone on to teach in the country where they trained, or elsewhere.

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My daughter started her Masters in Secondary Math Education in January…so check around first.
Do you need benefits? can you still be on your parents health insurance?

8

Another way to travel is through wwoof international where you work on organic farms in exchange for room and board

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Two Ideas:

Work at a national park. Xanterra and Delaware North are the two largest concessionaires, I believe. They offer jobs in hotels, restaurants, shops in the national parks. These jobs often include subsidized housing. Why not live at the Grand Canyon for five months and get paid for it? Or Yosemite, or Yellowstone? It’s a great way to spend some time in nature. These are large operations, and there are lots of young people working at the big parks.

I know someone who teaches English on Vipkids. Teacher posts available time slots and students sign up. It pays well, and you can do it while you travel if you have internet access. You’d be well qualified as an English major. It does require teachers be college grads. Good luck!

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I’d encourage you to travel - maybe not for 4 months but for a month or two. You will never, never have a time in your life where you can travel as cheaply and with no encumbrances. Other students (e.g. Australians) will also be traveling in the winter so you won’t lack for company. You should be able to get to Europe for $500-$700. Do you have any friends or family that you can stay with? Otherwise hostels and couch surfing are low cost options. Once you are there it is cheap to travel on Ryanair or one of the other discounters.

On the other hand, if you are hired as a teacher you will have summers off. That’s a pretty unique feature not available in other professions. But there is no guarantee of how that will play out in the future, or whether you will choose a different path.

Another good option are the teach abroad programs. Some are with private tutoring companies. Many positions are available in Asia. My son did that for awhile and ended up with another job overseas, all from people he met while living there.

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WOOF is a possibility as someone mentioned.

Do you speak languages? I know a lot of students who have taught English abroad after graduating.

Would you consider grad school abroad? UK master’s are one year, and Germany has free tuition, maybe France.

Or if you get a job teaching, will the school help pay for your degree? I have no idea just throwing it out.

Do you need a grad degree yet? Are there other fields you might try?

I wouldn’t mind making $450/week. That is a good amount to save if you are living at home. But if you are moving out after graduation, you may need more of a nest egg, with school in mind and paying rent.

But as others have said, take a break for a few months and yes, travel.

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You may want to consider –

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Definitely travel. Or at least work abroad somewhere. See where you can teach English abroad and make enough to survive. There are all sorts of programs that allow you to teach English abroad and plenty of schools hiring natives to teach English.

I had the opportunity to go abroad twice in my life (once to teach English abroad and another time study-abroad during my MBA program). I passed on both occasions because of reasons but am a bit wistful now that I did.

Once you have kids, you’ll be much more constrained.

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My D did a MAT that started in June and all the classes were as a cohort. Is that what you are looking at? Hers did have a few electives built in that most took the second summer but these could be taken ahead of time. If you can even take one and work part time you may free up time later. D’s worked ok for her except that she went from May graduation to MAT in June, but program was sequenced so they had passed Praxis after fall semester, student taught in spring and then were qualified to look for jobs while taking summer electives - so she had job starting the second fall after undergrad and had masters - not a bad deal.

Be sure you have all the prerequisites - D had to use her elective space to get one or two that she didn’t have as undergrad. If you need any, the spring would be time to do it.

Oh and some of these were on-line courses, so you could maybe get one out of way, work some and still take some extended travel time.

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Travel. Definitely travel. And “summers off” for teachers are pretty much a myth, especially in the first few years as you are getting your curriculum set up. You’ll have a healthy summer vacation, but it’s not really three months off as many people think. (Plus, you don’t get paid in the summer, so you’ll probably have to pick up extra work in the summer.) This may be the last time you are this free for many years–travel if that’s what you want to do.

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^^^ yes, I know few, if any, teachers who get summers off. They’re either picking up extra work for money or working on continuing education credits.

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So - what a thread to come back to! I want to thank you all for your advice. I’m still reading through and processing, but I’ll be honest. This isn’t the response I expected. Mostly, I think, because it’s not at all what I’ve heard from my own family. Sometimes an outside viewpoint (or 12) really can help.

First, I want to say that traveling for a longer period of time than a weekend or even a week hasn’t ever really been on my radar until now, but maybe it’s time to really look into that possibility. I guess it’s time to see it as an actual option - that’s super exciting!

To answer a couple of questions:

Teaching abroad is definitely something I’ve looked into, but I think in this case I would want to start in the US for a few years and then go somewhere else, just to sort of establish myself, if that makes sense. Sort of the same reason that I’m shying away from the Peace Corps. I also can’t really afford to go without a job for long, so volunteering would be hard unfortunately! But it’s still something I’ll look into! Thank you for the suggestion @jk201820

@powercropper Thanks for saying it like it is! I’m definitely a little burnt out for sure, and I’m glad I have some time off because it would be quite a jump to go straight from undergrad into a masters’ program after the last few years of solid work.

@bopper I’ve definitely found a few programs with January starts! I’m not sure if that’s right for me yet, but I’m still in the early stages of deciding. I’m pretty much self-sufficient, and I pay for everything except my phone bill and health insurance. I will need to find my own health insurance for 2019, but I’m comfortable with using the gov marketplace to do so.

@scmom12 Yes, I like the cohort MAT model! Thank you for the suggestion to knock out any subject pre-reqs - I’m working on sending in my transcripts to get evaluated by a few possible states/schools. Such a good point!

As for the summers off thing… yes, I’m well aware. One of the common myths about teaching. :slight_smile:

In the end, I think maybe the reason why this feels so weird to me is because I’m only 19 and this definitely feels like a huge “independent” decision that I haven’t had to make before. And secondly, because it’s just setting in that I’m graduating - and the only thing I’ve ever done is school! I think there are some other people who likely feel the same way.

There’s too many people here to respond individually, but I just want to again say thank you so much to everyone who took the time to offer some suggestions!! I’m looking at anything and everything, and this is such a great starting point. Thanks CC!

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I can’t believe you will finish college in 2.5 years, wow!

Another vote here for travel. Please, please do it. You will regret it if you don’t. You’ve worked so hard in school and need to go out and see some of the world. Could you get a teaching assistant job in England or Scotland? That way you could work and travel.

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@suzyQ7 Haha yes, I get that reaction sometimes. It’s been tough, but definitely worth it. I don’t love college classes, and I’ve found that through online classes and summer ones I’ve been able to knock out a lot of the gen eds/unrelated classes. Not to mention - save so, so much money!! I would 100% completely recommend taking classes at a CC, especially the random lower level ones. When I graduated high school, I was so focused on what would be the most “prestigious” and not practical. Luckily I’ve come around. I’ve been enrolled in 3 colleges concurrently for 9 months now though, and it’s been a pain to manage time, financial aid, and work. So I’m super looking forward to not having to organize every minute of my life for once. And maybe do something fun!! (reasoning for this thread)

Edit: I also feel like I should add in that yes, I am enjoying college! I’m involved in extracurriculars, I formed the first year, got the experience, etc. I feel like that’s a comment I get a lot too is that I rushed through something and didn’t get the full effect. I did, just didn’t feel like I needed four years of it. Hopefully I can find another amazing and new experience!

I actually haven’t looked into any teaching assistant opportunities! I didn’t know that was something that schools usually hired foreigners for - but if I could do that in Europe, it would pretty much be the dream. I’m also not opposed to taking more than a semester off before a grad program, either.

20

Take a gap year and work abroad!