it depends what you do with your time.
are you really going to be more mature and focused?
are you going to challenge yourself during that time?
i started college and finished my b.s. in 3.5 years (g.i. bill)after i did 6 yrs in the Navy.
i was 24 and had cut my teeth and sowed my oats and was ready for some college schooling.
i was was not the brightest student but after living about 5 yrs of my live on a floating home i was ready to make a change.

 "They took two years off to go to Vietnam for their senior trip . "

I had a couple of friends who did that. Sadly their return home trip was in a box.

I went to college straight out of high school to study kinesiology. I was working my way through, on the rowing team, and taking a full science course load. Around 3 years in, I felt directionless, unmotivated, just adrift and completely burnt out. I took a semester off and travelled with the money I had saved up to pay for the next semester.

I came back without a penny to my name, and around $3000 in credit card debt from my trip. Construction was booming at the time, so I got a job as a labourer to save enough money to get back in to school. A few months went by, and I was offered an apprenticeship as a carpenter. I was really enjoying the hands on nature of the work, and I honestly felt like I was smarter then half the people I was working under, so I signed up.

I never went back to university. I finished my apprenticeship, then started my own business shortly afterwards. Instead of finishing my useless degree 50-80k in debt, I finished my apprenticeship with 40k in the bank, and a truck full of tools.

Honestly, if I were to do it again, I would travel and work out of high school, and go to college around age 20-22. At that age, travelling and earning your own keep is a much better and more applicable education then anything you will learn in a text book. When you're 18, you have no clue what the hell you want to do. You think you do, but you just haven't been exposed to enough to really know. Also, when you are older, even by a few years, you are more focused and motivated. You're not just there because that's what you're supposed to do after high school.

---

Long Chile was a silly place.

Some do it, it's called the military

---

_________________________________
I'll be what I am
A solitary man

Terribly unfortunate. Mine was after my second year in college and was called Desert Storm. Yet here I am to make your pathetic life better! God bless the USA!

---

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

I think it can be a very good thing. I did it, and when I went up to uni I could pretty easily spot those who had and those who hadn't. Independent living, time management, surrounded by cheap booze and members of the opposite sex (or same, if that's your thing) can be a heady mix for someone who's just walked out of home and high school a couple of months earlier.

Conversely, the first essay I wrote took roughly two hours per page. I'd completely forgotten how to work academically, and that took a good term to come back.

Obviously depends what the individual does in their year off. Travel a bit, work a bit, learn to rub along with people, acquire some independence and confidence - all good. Sit in the basement playing call of duty for 11.5 months - not so good.

Daughter #1 will be taking hers - assuming she gets a Uni place - autumn 2018 to autumn 2019. We're just starting some planning now. The initial chunk of jigsaw looks to be spending a winter season in Whistler.

The next time like it in most people's lives is retirement. It's too good an opportunity to miss IMO, but try to help your offspring avoid squandering it.

I went to University for 3 years and then took a year off to travel because I didn't like what I was doing. I travelled in Europe and the Middle East for 9 months, got a job for 3 months and then went back to finish University.

Taking a "year off" to travel is not a good idea unless you really want to travel. I would literally be lost in a different world every time I looked at a world map, and still get that way 30 years later. I never lost the desire to travel and ended up living and working in 5 different countries and spent 5 years recently traveling around the world.

Most people think they like to travel but a lot just end up doing what they could do at home, except they happen to be in another country. I can't count how many young people I've seen in places like Europe or SE Asia who hang out with people from the same country, watching familiar t.v, eating familiar food, speaking familiar languages and going from one "must see" tourist spot after another.

If you're not sure what you want to do and think of travel as a way to figure it out without really having a desire, I wouldn't do it. I would get a job, you can learn a lot more. Work for a year and then decide if you want to spend your money on school. If you really want to travel, you will end up finding a way to do it but like going to College, it's not for everyone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKFjWR7X5dU

My buddy just found out his son got a 1.6 his first semester in college so maybe he's taking a gap year and didn't tell anyone.


I think most kids who take a year off do it because they have parents that will fund their traveling. I think it's one thing if you're working and supporting yourself even if you live in your parents home, but I'm not funding a year of vacation for any of my kids.

This. There is no way in hell I'm paying for my kid to "find themselves". Half the point of doing that whole exercise is to learn how to earn the things you want, and appreciate them and the work that went in to achieving your goal. Funding your kid's year long vacation is just delaying their entry in to adulthood.

---

Long Chile was a silly place.

I wanted to do it (and secretly work on my golf game), but my dad was not having a bar of it!

I bombed out of first year engineering in a big way. Across the board. I hated studying and I wasn't ready for a whole new experience. It felt like a waste of time and a waste of a whole lot of private tuition. I didn't even improve my golf game. Though when I switched schools the following year I blitzed several units that felt like a whole different language the year prior.

I didn't know what I wanted to do. Still not sure I made the right choice, but it pays bills. It seems like everything is becoming very structured these days. Perhaps if they don't enjoy themselves now they may never get another chance. If it isn't going to hurt their career prospects later on, why not do it?

That was me, 1989 - 2005, completed my degree in 2009, retired in 2013. I don't regret for a minute not going to college sooner.

Pro's of waiting
- I would have bombed out of school without a doubt had I rolled right into college.
- Wasn't near mentally mature enough to have the focus needed at the college level
- Earned a lifetime of experience, much of which really made my course of study so much easier
- Not having any clue what I wanted to be when I "grew up", waiting until I had a actual career interest made school more enjoyable

Con's
- Maybe, slight maybe, I could have been promoted quicker had I still joined the Marine Corps after college graduation (somehow I don't think I would have)
- Going back to school with full life (work, family, fun) was taxing, but doable with some sacrifice
- Tuition rates only ever go up, so waiting longer will cost you more.

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

I've always thought there was no better motivation to do well in school and find a decent career path than getting a taste of the jobs you will have if you don't. When you figure out that you will be working crap jobs until you find yourself you do that soulsearching a little quicker.

---

I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

That's a great point. Through high school and college I worked construction ever summer because I could make enough money that I didn't have to work during the school year. I HATED the work and everyone there would tell me to stay in school so I didn't have to do this my entire life.

We live right next to a community college. Last year we had an awesome part time nanny who was taking two classes at the community college and saving money while figuring out what she wanted to do.

She just wanted a break after high school before jumping into college. For her it seems to have been a great plan. I think keeping a class or two keeps you grounded in your path and these days you can take them online. It also allows you to explore some paths and start off a few credits up.

I wish she had taken more time out as she was a fabulous nanny. But I'm very happy for her as she is now doing great at the big state university and it seems like the year off was what she needed.

We didn't rush her. She chose it when we told her we weren't paying for her year of partying / travel and that she would have to get a job. She got accepted to the state university even with her crappy grades by Thanksgiving and never applied to another school because that was her top choice.

She wanted to be a kinesiology major. Except that getting up to go to class after partying every night until 3AM prevented that from happening. Her father kept throwing money at her, like he always does, thinking she would eventually pull her head out of her ass. This kid never had a job or any responsibilities until she failed out of college (the first time) with a 0.0 GPA, when she was 19. If you think "Animal House" is just a movie, I can tell you that there is at least one person in this country fat, drunk and stupid with a 0.0 GPA.

She is a huge reason why my husband and I are now divorced.