Have you just returned from a gap year? Don't worry, you might not be the only student who has. You could be an incoming first-year who just came back from a break to get a fresh start in university after a smothering college admission or an upperclassman who returned from a career-developing internship. Taking time off from school has become a recent trend for many American university students.
The "gap year" started in Great Britain during the 1960's, after WWII, when the baby boomer generation headed to India to create the independent travel market. Now it has grown to include volunteer and travel projects, leading youth to backpack around Europe, serving the public or gaining early work experience in the real world. A July 2005 Mintel Gap Year Report revealed the UK market spend in 2004 was between £2.2 billion and £2.5 billion, and predicts the global gap year market will grow to around £11 billion by 2010. Undoubtedly, this market has become a rising profitable commercial trend.
Why has this trend become popular in the U.S.? In the past, there were a relatively small number of American students going off to gap years because of the considerably high cost of post-high school education. In 2008, more than 65.6 percent of all undergraduate students relied on loans to finance their education, with an average debt of roughly $23,186. This cost was a considerable burden for students, and many felt they could not spend "free" months out of school. Students and their families felt the best choice for them was to graduate as fast as possible, get a job and pay off the debt.
However, minds have now changed and some university admissions officials are feeling the shift.
"As the anxiety that surrounds the admissions process has increased, getting into X college has become an end in itself rather than a means to an end," said Robert Clagett, an admissions dean at Middlebury College in Vermont, in a recent Boston Globe article.
There may be many reasons for this shift in more students taking a gap year, but it sums up to one critical reason: the global stagnant economic situation. Although recovering, the bad economy still has high unemployment for college graduates. The corporate minds of employers have changed, and many have felt the financial burden for corporations to employ the inexperienced has become too costly. Many corporations are looking for older and more efficient veteran employees. Therefore, many students do not see it as a priority to enter their field in such a hurry. Instead, they are looking for ways to improve their resumes, whether they are backpacking in Europe, serving in public or doing an internship.
As a result, the average amount of time it takes for college students to graduate is expected to increase. However, this is not a bad thing for some students.
William Fitzsimmons, an admissions dean for Harvard College said, "Many of these students think it's some kind of race and that they have to be involved in some sort of program 24 hours a day."
Gap years and career gaps should not only be considered for future employment. They give students a break from books and pressure.
Breathtaking personal experiences are sometimes more valuable than words in a textbook. Words are not going to define what it was like to work in a third-world country helping the poor and the famished. Neither is it going to define seeing the wider world through open eyes and touching nature with your hands. These experiences are not only going to shape character for students, but it will give them time to consider what they really want to do in the future. During that time they can plan their career and life goals.
The benefits of a gap year for each individual student can be different depending on how each person decides to spend his or her time. If students plan to waste a year by being spendthrifts and slack-offs, that is their choice, but it is certainly not going to be as beneficial as it is to those who have spent their year doing thorough research.
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Considering the recent trend, Miamians should find ways to avoid the effects of economic unemployment by choosing to spend their time off. After all, life is not just about books.
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