Some students prefer to take a gap year between high school and university, to work or to travel. Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?

After completing their 4 years of high school,

students

have an idea of what they would like to pursue and accomplish.

As a result

, some adolescents take a

year

off before going to university to either travel or work to have some exposure to the fields they would like to explore or simply to go on vacation after the hard work they put in during their years of high school. It is said by the vast majority that the benefits of taking a

gap

year

after high school are greater than the drawbacks. On one hand,

students

who are often sure of what they are interested in and know their strengths and weaknesses well will most likely take a

gap

year

to work on some projects or get an internship.

For instance

, a survey conducted by Harvard University in 2019 has stated that 87% of the graduates who spent their

gap

year

productively were often seen as viable candidates for admission into top universities.

Nevertheless

, it is only the

students

who have accomplished something worthwhile who get

this

offer and not all graduates have the motivation to be productive during the

gap

year

. In short,

students

who spend their

gap

year

achieving something important or get into a good internship programme are seen as possible applicants for major colleges.

On the other hand

, applicants who take a

year

off fall behind their peers in their academics and

this

is a highly demotivating factor for them. To illustrate

this

, a study conducted by Oxford University in 2019 has claimed that 49% of the pupils who took a

gap

year

opted not to go for

further

education

instead

they decided to continue working.

Furthermore

, pupils who went overseas for their internships managed to learn numerous skills, far more than their classmates who went to college. In summary, adolescents who took a

gap

year

decided not to return to college as they continued working their jobs. In conclusion, it is apparent that graduates who decided to take a

gap

year

had far more benefits than disadvantages simply as they were able to better their portfolio by taking up a wide array of projects as well as the ones who went abroad for their internships picked up skills that would not be picked up by the average college student.

Hence

, after thorough analysis on the subject, it is conclusive that those who took a

year

off after graduation had an advantage.