Ask HN: should I take a gap year?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3742792

by peter_l_downs • 14 years ago

9 13 14 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Hey everybody, I was accepted into an awesome university a couple of months ago. Not only are they one of the top science / tech schools in the US, they have a really good gap year policy. If I can come up with a reasonable plan, they'll let me defer my acceptance for a year.

That being said, do you think I should do it? Did you take a gap year and have it turn out to be great (or terrible)? I don't have the kind of money where I could just travel for a year, but I'd love to work overseas if I could.

paulhauggis• 14 years ago

If you can, do it. You might have this opportunity again once you have a 9-5.

Don't waste it (IE: do something cool and interesting).

gamechangr3• 14 years ago

Don't go to the cliches places in Europe, go somewhere that makes you stand out. I lived in Vanuatu (South Pacific) it was a blast.

I worked (and made money), but many friends regret borrowing money to take a pleasure trip. You decide.

impendia• 14 years ago

Why attempt to stand out? OP should follow his heart, his interests, and his inclinations, whether that's off the beaten path or on it.

peter_l_downs2• 14 years ago

I'd like to do it — do you have any ideas for finding good jobs overseas? Something like Hackruiter for Non-US companies?

gamechangr3• 14 years ago

I was an Exploration Product Manager for a mining company.

There are many developer jobs in banking (I sure they are lame) all over the world.

treme• 14 years ago

imagine your self at 30, do you think looking back you'll think anything but "I'm glad I took that year abroad when I was 18"

peter_l_downs2• 14 years ago

Possibly – if I have to spend a lot of money and don't get that much out of it, then I'll be thinking the opposite.

kaybe• 14 years ago

Depending on where you're from, there's the work&travel programs of some countries. You can make enough to travel afterwards easily too.

I yet have to find somebody who regretted a gap year - go for it.

qiang1012• 14 years ago

Do what you want, even if they are something crazy! Try your best to make your life wonderful!

hippee-lee• 14 years ago

I'm 36, took the 'safe' route through college right after high school and then, through a round about cross country jaunt, I went on to a safe place in a large company after that. So take this for what it is worth to you.

If you can get a year to do something you are interested in or passionate about go for it! Formal education will be here for a while even though the alternatives like Kahn and udacity and others are validating a different path.

In the places I have gone, since college, I have always met interesting people with unexpected backgrounds. I highly doubt that you have to go off the beaten path or to the far ends of the earth to find interesting people with a story to tell and worthwhile work to do. But it is exciting to travel 'On The Road' style and i'll bet it sounds cool when you tell stories to your kids or friends over beers years later.

In retrospect, I could have done the cross country trek before college but that may have changed where I went to college and where I worked after college. If I change that I change meeting my wife and miss out on my daughter. The flip side to that is that for someone who is at a stage where they just want to experience life and people and learn more about the differences in the world; now is the best time to do that. Be it on the other side of the world, in the run down part of large city near them or a rural countryside - what will make the decision worthwhile are the people you engage with and what you do for them while you are there.

Things have changed a lot since I decided to go right into college and perhaps it is cheap and easy to find work on the other side of the world these days. I believe that meaningful work to fill a gap year could be found anywhere.

shuzchen• 14 years ago

I dunno. Unless you seriously know what you want to do, I feel like it'll be a waste of time. If you don't already have a very good idea about what you want to do, college is the place where you should discover that. Looking back, I had no clue what was important to me when I was first starting college (I mean, at the time I thought I knew).

I'd say the best time to take a year off would be between your 3rd and 4th years, when you've tried a lot of different classes and actually done some coursework in your major. You should definitely study abroad, and if your school is as cool as it sounds, they'll provide help and direction on a great place to go (I had a paid-for year in Japan. That was the most educational of all my years of college).

jiganti• 14 years ago

I took a gap year after high school, and am taking a leave of absence in the midst of my junior year in college- both experiences have taught me more about the world and myself than my time formal education ever has. I'd recommend the year off if at all possible.

Ask HN: should I take a gap year?

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