Should you take a Gap Year? – The complete guide

There is a point in time when everyone wants to have a break in their life. You can do it by taking up a Gap Year. This means that you will be taking up a year in which you will be having a break from whatever you are doing. Although you will be taking up a break for one year it is important for you to know the benefits and drawbacks of taking up a Gap Year and then decide if you should take up a Gap Year or not and then decide if you should or not take up a gap year.

Quick Takeaways

• A gap year is one of the years in which you will be taking up a break from your studies in order to achieve your other interests.
• If you want to refresh your mind and take your time in deciding what should you do next, then taking up a gap year is the best option for you. 
• You can focus on particular skills and do things that you really wanted to. 

However, you must read till the end so that you can get a better understanding of if you should take a gap year or not.

What is a Gap year?

As the name suggests this is the year that will add Gap to your studies. It is one of the years in which you will be taking up a break from your studies or work in order to achieve your other interests. This is one of the years in which you can learn various other skills or achieve other activities. Many students take up a Gap year in order to prepare themselves for higher studies. It is also taken by some of the students to enjoy some of the adventurous sports that they always wanted to do like trekking, mount climbing, etc.  

Should you take a Gap Year?

A gap year is something that is not for everyone. This means that whether you take it or not will depend upon you. If you can make the most out of it then you can take a GAP year. This means that you must make sure whatever you have decided to do in a gap year you must achieve it.

If you are planning to take up a course then you must consider its cost if it is in your budget or not. However, you may go for online schools that will help you to get paid for attending. Decide what you want to achieve before starting college and make a timetable to complete it. For deciding whether you should take up a Gap year, it is important for you to know the pros and cons of taking up a Gap Year. The next sections will help you to know the pros and cons of taking up a Gap Year.

Pros of taking Gap Year

The following are the benefits of taking up a Gap Year-

• It helps you to develop various skills that you always wanted to learn. Many students do take a Gap year and develop the skills they want which help them to land their dream job. 
• It will help to refresh your mind and you can start again with a refreshing mind. 
• The gap year is something that will help you to do a part-time job and start earning for yourself. You can utilize your Gap Year to get experience in the related field and it will help you to earn the money you want. 
• When you are taking a Gap in your studies you have a plan of what things you are doing. This means that you will be developing some new skills, or taking up some projects to gain experience. Obviously, both things will make your CV stronger and will attract your employer.
• You can broaden your knowledge by taking up a Gap year. Suppose you have chosen chemistry as your A-level, you can use your GAP year to learn techniques that will help you to broaden your knowledge.
• Taking a Gap year is not what you will be doing every year. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it will give you various experiences. 
• The experiences that you will get in your Gap Year will help you to get prepared for future studies.
• Traveling is something that almost every person loves to do. You can use your Gap year to travel to the places where you wanted to travel. Though it might be costly you can manage to travel to the places which are within your budget.

Cons of taking Gap Year

Now as you know the advantages that you can get by taking up a Gap Year, you will need to learn the drawbacks of taking up a Gap Year-

• Taking up a Gap Year will let you one year back from your fellow mates. This means that when your friends will be graduating you will be in your final year. Many students face depression due to this.
• A gap year may result in wasting too much time. This may not always be the case but many students when they take up a Gap Year waste too much time spending on wasteful activities and therefore should try using student planners to manage their time..
• If you are not using this time for traveling you will feel isolated in your own house. This will make it boring for you when you are not going anywhere for one year.
• As already discussed, when you use this time for traveling you can spend a lot of money on it. It may be a bad idea for you to take up a Gap Year for traveling especially if you are living on a budget.
• Many students may not feel refreshed while going back to studying after taking a Gap Year. You may also not feel like going back to studying after it.

Conclusion

Taking up a gap year is a big decision as you will be taking a break for a year from your studies, work, etc. Thus it is important for you to know whether taking up a break will help you or not. You must take up a Gap year if you are looking for developing new skills or broadening your knowledge during that time along with chilling and relaxing during that time.

Otherwise, it is just a waste of time and may not be worth it for you as it will not look good on your resume as well. Other drawbacks that taking up a gap year may be that you may feel isolated and you will be behind your friends and classmates.