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Taking a Year Off...

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Chilam Balam

Greenlighter
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Messages
7
Before I go to uni/college, is that a bad idea? I've heard it will hurt my chances of getting accepted into a college, but I'd really like to take a year off after high school. Anyone done this or know anything?

Much appreciated :)
 
Probably unless you're really committed to going to school. Why are you taking a year off, what do you hope to accomplish? Unless you're going to be like traveling the country or something, I honestly don't see a point. Why don't you consider taking classes part time, why you do whatever it is you plan to do?
 
Yep ^^ im from Aus and its very common thing, people work and save money or travel or just partying 24/7. Im taking a gap year for abit of all three.
 
I'm in the US. Now I've decided I'm going to forgo school altogether and really do what I want with my life. I.e. basically do what people do on gap years 24/7/365


Thanks :)!
 
I definitely advocate a gap year to do some long term travelling, it'll open your eyes and mind to the wide world out there, you'll learn and experience loads and come back a new person.

Deciding to take a gap year for the rest of your life however is unrealistic and will never happen. How will you fund this lifestyle?
 
^I'll be travelling around the world for most of the year, come back to a job (it's guaranteed), work enough to pay for plane/train tickets, and go back to travelling. I'll be doing volunteer work with people in return for food and shelter when I travel. E.g. I'll go to Spain to work in a hotel for 3 months, then I'll work on an Austrian dairy farm for a month, and then working an organic farm in Chile for 3 weeks. It's not a lifestyle that most people would want, but it will suit me.
 
Chilam Balam said:
^I'll be travelling around the world for most of the year, come back to a job (it's guaranteed), work enough to pay for plane/train tickets, and go back to travelling. I'll be doing volunteer work with people in return for food and shelter when I travel. E.g. I'll go to Spain to work in a hotel for 3 months, then I'll work on an Austrian dairy farm for a month, and then working an organic farm in Chile for 3 weeks. It's not a lifestyle that most people would want, but it will suit me.
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Yeah, most people don’t prefer this sort of life style. But it’s your life you can move as you wish. Try to pursue some sort of educational course of your interest in this gap period to stay in touch with your studies.
 
I got a feeling the OP will never be heard from again, at least on BL. He's likely out in the middle of nowhere realizing that its not that easy finding employment for two weeks when just about everywhere people a fighting like hell for a job that can hardly support them in the first place.
 
Chilam Balam said:
^I'll be travelling around the world for most of the year, come back to a job (it's guaranteed), work enough to pay for plane/train tickets, and go back to travelling. I'll be doing volunteer work with people in return for food and shelter when I travel. E.g. I'll go to Spain to work in a hotel for 3 months, then I'll work on an Austrian dairy farm for a month, and then working an organic farm in Chile for 3 weeks. It's not a lifestyle that most people would want, but it will suit me.
Click to expand...

I think this is a great idea and I wish I'd done that. Instead I did half a degree, took a year off and spent it working a shit job and doing a lot of drugs. I wouldn't recommend either one of them. But it took that to make me realise what a privilege it is to be able to study.

So many kids go to university with fuck all life experience and a sense of entitlement, as well as a conviction that their white middle class life is the prototypical life for everyone. Taking a year off and seeing a bit of the world works wonders to get rid of this attitude.

In Australia you can get in to university, and then defer, meaning when you come back from your year off you have a guaranteed university place waiting for you, as well as a lot more perspective as to why you're going to university in the first place.
 
I'm from the U.S., and I'm taking my second year off. My first one was when I was 17- I said fuck it and left high school for Cambodia. Spent a year there, did a little work but mainly goofed around the region. Then I went back to the States for college, and then I came back here after 2 years of studying. I'm now working as a freelance writer, and will only go back to school when I'm ready to take on academics again. But I'm keeping myself busy by working on my writing and reading philosophy on the side, to keep my brain tuned. I think I'm actually garnishing more enthusiasm for studying than I would be at school.
 
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