The Gap In Our Transcripts
“I’m going to be a lawyer and go to Harvard when I’m older” said my naive six year old self. How did I even know what Harvard was? At six, how did I even grasp the concept of college and life outside of Garden Street Elementary school? At sixteen, I still couldn’t even give you an answer.
As a sixteen year old girl, I have dreams. I have goals. I want to grow up and see the world and travel. I want to go to my dream college and I want to have a dream family. But how can this all be possible in such a short period of time. By the time I am 18, I will have spent 13 years in school with over four more ahead of me. By that time I am supposed to be “mature” and ready to go to college in order to get myself a successful career. If am expected to spend a quarter of my life in school, when am I expected to fulfill my own dreams?
What I have learned in the ten year span of wanting to be a lawyer, then a doctor, then a forensic scientist to a detective to finally wanting to be a surgeon, is that society expects a whole lot from someone so young. The emphasis that is put on college is unfathomable. Its hard enough trying to pick out what I am going to wear to school tomorrow, let alone picking a major that will ultimately determine where my life is headed.
Society encourages us to follow the norm and societal expectations and continue onto college, but why follow what everyone else is doing? We follow everyone else because thats what society tell us is right. And when you go against the grain of society you are looked down upon. And being looked down upon is a fear many of us have.
In a year, I am expected to have my college of choice picked with the early decision and early action deadlines circled in red on my calendar. I am expected to know my major and expected to be enrolled for the fall of 2016. For me, I have every intention on entering college right after high school with no year in between. I also feel as if I have no other choice but to enter college immediately. For as long as I have known about the process of entering college I have never been taught of a so called “Gap Year”. I fear that many of us are unaware of the existence of a gap year because it is taken so rarely! A gap year is a year students take off between high school graduation and college enrollment. A gap year allows people to continue to find themselves before they enter college. For others, the use of a gap year is misused and causes people to fall off track off their education.
For as long as I can remember, the idea of college has been instilled in me, and never was I told it was “ok” to not go to college. I was also told to travel the world, see things I won’t see in Brewster, NY. Because thats what I have been taught is right for so long I could never imagine waiting a year before going to college. I want to go and experience college while i’m still young and be able to get all my immaturity out before it is too late. Waiting a year and then going into college a year older than everyone else in my grade would be odd for me, knowing in a sense I should be more “mature” and already have my life on track. At the same time, I want to be able to tour the world and indulge in cultures I would never see otherwise. For me, going to college is definite, but traveling and spending as much time as I want with my friends is not. Sooner or later, school work will have me up day and night and my social life will disappear, but the idea of losing a sense of myself and giving up on my dreams in order to receive a diploma with my name on it does not excite me in any way shape or form.
Gap years can allow people to continue to find who they really are and decide on what they want to do in their future. People who take gap years are able to do things that are not at their disposal in college. They are given the opportunity to backpack through the Swiss Alps or scuba dive in the Great Reef while their old classmates sit in a dorm cramming for a test. Also, the ability to get a job and save up money for college is a major advantage that others do not have. It is no secret that the price of college is not cheap, and the more you can earn before entering will make your debt that much less. Also, having a year to mature is not always a bad thing, as you will be less likely to fool around and be able to get all your work done.
As college approaches me rapidly, the clearer it is to me that I need to focus on what is best for me and not what everyone around me says is best. Yes, for me the best decision I could make is to go straight to college. But that is not always the case. Everyone is different and rationalizing college is not the same to everyone. If you want to take a gap year, go for it! If you don’t even want to go to college, then so be it, but never lose sight on what is best for your own sanity.
