<p><strong><em>I posted this on the law boards a while back, but thought I'd post it here as well. I by no means am set on going into law and still am considering graduate school in philosophy so i figure getting feed back over here would be a good idea</em></strong></p>
<p>I am contemplating taking a semester off from school. I don't have a good reason. I am just pretty burnt out, and my motivation to do well in my classes has just run out. It wouldnt be smart to put myself through another semester and assume anything will be different, if it might potentially lead to some less than ideal grades. So I need to just get through this semester unscathed, and do something else in the fall, then come back and finish school.</p>
<p>I am wondering, how is a random semester off from undergrad viewed when applying to graduate programs. Would I need to have a good reason to have done this? will they look at the transcript and ask "what was this time off about"? I'm not sure how it would look.</p>
<p>As an alternative to that, I'm considering maybe taking just one class so I can, maybe, at least accomplish something during this break. Would there potential disincentives to this course of action? It seems that potentially the one class could even be worse than no class. If I was not enrolled at all, then it, potentially, could be assumed that there was any number of good reasons for it. But if I was actually at school and had opted out of a full course load maybe there'd be more reason to think I was just being lazy or something. </p>
<p>anyone know anything about how this works.</p>
<p>If you have this luxury, great. My undergrad career probably would have been substantially better if I could have taken a few months off at some point. This is the last time in your life when you might be able to do this.</p>
<p>ya.
do you think there could be negative consequences as far as how that would look on paper?</p>
<p>I think if you have something to do during that time, it’s fine. If they get the impression you spent a semester on a couch playing games and drinking beer, you could be in trouble. When they see your transcript they may notice the gap, and whether or not they actually ask they will want to know the reason.</p>
<p>So if you are going to take a semester off, do something with it. Get an internship or a job, go volunteer with some organization, go backpack through europe. As long as you have a good or entertaining story, you should be fine.</p>
<p>Many people need to take a semester off for personal or family reasons, and your reason is perfectly valid. I wouldn’t draw attention to it in applications, but you could simply say you needed the time to tend to personal matters. If people push the topic, you can just say you would rather not discuss it. Anyone who isn’t a total jerk should be understanding that life happens.</p>
<p>It shows more maturity to know you need a break than to potentially jeopardize your academics by pushing through while burnt out. It sounds like you’re going to need that break at some point before starting grad school anyway, so take it now.</p>
<p>I never had the option, so I ended up working for a while after undergrad for a mental break from classes.</p>
<p>I definitely recommend taking a break from college. I waited almost two years, and decided I was ready to return to school. During my break, I engaged in other activities and focused on self-healing. I knew it was the right time for me.</p>
<p>does anyone know if this would differ for law school. the responses over there are much more critical of the idea of taking time off.</p>
<p>I meant would there be a difference between grad school and law school that might account for the different theme in the responses.
are you guys, like me, just goin of instinct on this.
i have never really heard any credible commentary on this so i have nothin much to go on but just common sense.</p>
<p>If your aspirations are law school, I would highly recommend that you don’t take more than a year off. Some college graduates continue straight to law school. If you need a break, do it. Law admissions is all about LSAT and GPA.</p>
<p>I’m actually talking about a break during undergrad, not after.</p>
<p>Use the old standby “for personal reasons,” like EvoViro suggested. </p>
<p>I dont think that one semester is going to hurt you. Just take the time to study for the LSAT, and get an amazing score on it. </p>
<p>Like tenisghs said, for law school admissions, it’s all about the numbers. For grad school they might question the time off to know more about you since you would be working very closely with a few professors and other students. </p>
<p>Law school is more like traditional “school,” grad school is a different experience.</p>
<p>I took off a year in my undergrad…</p>
<p>i went abroad and did an internship…and though it was the most relaxing time of my college career a lot of schools and potential jobs have found that time of my life the most impressive part of my resume.</p>
<p>Aubstopper - you did not take time off in a manner like the OP is proposing to do. You did something specific during that time that is reasonably common during undergrad - you could put it on your resume without explanation.</p>
<p>The OP wants to just stop for a semester. I still think this is a bad idea, unless the OP can find something resume-worthy to do with your time. An internship would get the OP out of the classroom and provide a cover on admissions.</p>
<p>Bumming around for a semester will help you neither now nor later.</p>
<p>Taking a semester off is a luxury that lots of people don’t have, and bumming around won’t help on paper…I doesn’t mean its a bad idea. Burn out can be very real while you’re in college, and it will effect your grades and sucess in undergrad and law school. If you can find something meaningful to do that would help, but it still may not be a bad idea to take the semester off. I felt burnt out in College, and went straight thru to grad school. I believe it hurt my motivation and performance a great deal. The thing is that nobody can consistantly work all the time day or night to get grades, and sometimes that is required. You need a break from that.</p>
<p>Don’t leave college forever. This sometimes happens with what is suppose to be a small break.</p>