A Gap Year as the Biggest Luck for Students
on 25/01/2018
There are countries where parents have a controversial attitude towards a “gap year”. There is no such thing in their culture, and after finishing a high school, their children obligatory have to enter a university.

A gap year is an intermediate stage in studying between finishing school and entering a college or university. It is mostly widespread in The USA and other English-speaking countries like UK and Australia. A break can continue for some months or last during a year or more.
Available Experience
A gap year is a chance for teenagers to invest time into their own impressions and to leave their comfort zone. Young people usually travel a lot, go for an internship in fields that interest them or for volunteering in other countries.
Such kind of experience is especially valued by universities during entry campaigns, and that is why representatives of many educational establishments tell former school pupils to delay entering the universities and to find some time for themselves. Harvard University recommends that during several decades already.
MIT, North Carolina University, Middlebury College, Princeton and Yale universities support the gap year idea as well.
There are at least four reasons why gap year can be useful for teenagers all over the world.
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1. Gap Year Gives a Former Pupil Some Time to Think
Sometimes, the last year of school passes so fast that pupils do not even have time to stop and think on their goals in order to plan their way more detailly. That is true about pupils who have that star-pupil syndrome. They always wanted to be appreciated by others and never had time to think and understand what they really want for themselves.
One of the main advantages of a gap year is that it gives young people space and time to decide where to go and to ask themselves very important questions: “Do I really want to become a doctor? Should I try entering other faculties as well? It seems to me that I’m good in programming: should I try?”
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2. Gap Year is a Time to Prepare for Entry Campaign
According to statistics provided by American scientists, students who entered a university after a one-year break, are more responsible for visiting lectures and able to describe their career ambitions more detailly. They understand what they study for and what they want to reach.
For potential art faculty students, a gap year is a possibility to collect a quality portfolio required for further studies.
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3. Possibility to Become Better in Certain Subjects
Have you always wanted to learn Spanish or try yourself as a web-designer? A gap year is the most suitable time for you to improve some skills. Maybe, they won’t be helpful for your further studying and will stay just hobbies. And maybe, there will be a new movement direction found with a new subject.
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4. A Chance to Earn Money
A part-time job is what can help you pay bills and give some pocket money, and get the first line of your CV. As a teenager, you will doubtfully be able to earn enough to cover all your exes. But you can make your first private savings, and spend them as you want while studying. Any job, even the simplest one, gives you main skills of time-management, decision making, budget planning, communication, leadership, and self-confidence.