 |
 |
To Go to College or Not to Go to College: The Gap Year Dilemma
|
|
By Caitlin Acosta
|
 It’s October of my senior year at George Mason High School and a general wave of excitement has swept over my entire class. This is the last year of our high school careers and next year it’s off into the real world. And by the real world, I mean college. It is pretty much assumed by all that college is where we will be heading next year; we’ll be settling down in our dorms, attending classes, going to the occasional wild party and thoroughly enjoying the whole experience. Of course no one can wait to be out on their own and while the college application process causes a lot of stress, we know it will all be worth it. But despite all the enthusiasm and approaching deadlines, I harbor a secret deep down inside that I’m hesitant to share with my peers… I don’t really want to go to college.
The reason I am so hesitant to say this is because not going to college is almost sacrilegious around these parts. I mean, what reason would I have not to?! I get decent grades, enough to get into a decent college, which is all I really need. I’m not scared; I’m actually a very independent person. So what is wrong with me, you might ask. And the answer is… absolutely nothing. I’m tired. Tired of school and books and grades, and very eager to get past all that and experience something bigger. There are a million and three things I would like to do with my life next year, and to be honest, going to college IS one of them, but it’s not even close to the top of list. I’d like to go to Africa to teach children or help conserve the wildlife. I’d like to go on expeditions around the world helping others. I’d like to live in Morocco with my best friend. I’d like to become fluent in French. I’d like to help fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic. I’d like to do something real for the world and not just for myself.
While I realize the importance of going to college, and education overall, I feel like putting it on hold for a moment and educating myself in other ways. This is what is called “taking a gap year”. I realized how many others were also tired of school and were looking for a different alternative. I found tons of information about gap years. I even found a few websites that offer help for planning out what you’re going to do and where you’re going to go by giving you the best flying rates, the most efficient travel agencies, all the greatest sites to see and jobs to get, and even the best backpacks to bring with you. They made traveling around the world seem so easy and simple.
Taking a year off and not going to college immediately after high school is often looked down upon. This is probably because many people who take a year off don’t ever go back and what began as a gap year turns into a gap life. Last year, a majority of my close friends graduated from high school and I feel fortunate I was able to watch them move on to the next chapter of their lives. But as some of my friends went on to college and did the normal college thing, others did not. Others did not even apply to any colleges and just barely got by in high school. These individuals are doing absolutely nothing right now. They are not in Africa, they are not backpacking across Europe, they are not helping people, and they’re not even having a good time. And this is what scares me about not going to college. I don’t want to do nothing, but is there something in between nothing and the norm? Is taking a gap year realistic or do I need to stop daydreaming and turn in my applications?
Now I know that usually a commentary such as this one would end with a conclusion that sums everything up neatly. But I don’t have any conclusion. I don’t have the answers to all these questions and I don’t even know what I’m going to do yet. But that’s the point -- there are no answers. This whole college process is just a mass of confusion and doubt and uncertainty, and what we don’t realize is that no matter what we do next year, everything will be all right. We have the rest of our lives to figure everything out; there is no deadline.
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
