Is taking a year off from college a good idea?

[CBright7831 0]

I'm not putting my future into the hands of people on a message board, but I would like some different oipinions.

 

My senior was a great year, but it really burned me out. I think if I went to college right now, I would just mess up. I wasn't exactly the greatest kid in school when it came to grades (C average). I just don't think I could do it.

 

Is taking a year off while your friends move on, a smart idea?

[Guest Olympic Slam]

Yes and no. I speak from experience.....

 

Yes because if you don't have your heart into it, then you're just wasting your parent's money and your time. The first two years out of High School are great for getting a clue about the real world and figuring out what you wanna do with your life.

 

No because you may never go back. If you're not much of a student you could find yourself in low wage hell doing nothing and never getting the enthusiasim to finally go to college or trade school. And God forbid if you meet someone and fall in love, then you're REALLY screwed. I have a friend who quit going to community college and is now so far behind in terms of skills that he can never possibly go back or to a real university. He's doomed to marrying some fat chick and living in a trailer. Also, if your close friends are going to college then there's a good chance you may lose them.

 

I say take a year off and learn to appreciate that potential college degree and have some kind of goal in mind when you go. Go to a community college and bone up on math and english so that when you DO go you won't be a C student anymore. If you can't handle English and Math at a JC then maybe college isn't for you afterall.

[Guest subliminal_animal]

Would've been for me, had my cushy supermarket job panned out.

 

I wasn't exactly the greatest kid in school when it came to grades (C average).

You better not be, because I didn't buy my son that WORLD'S GREATEST KID shirt just to take it back or just because he bought me that WORLD'S GREATEST DAD shirt that I took back like I would ever wear that bullshit.

 

But back to your problem.

[IllustriousOne 0]

I took a semester off and I realized that I didn't want to be here (not to suggest that my home life is bad) and that I had a lot more future IN school than out of shcool.

[The Czech Republic 0]

The world is filled with people who said they'd "just take a year off from college." Go somewhere, and go now: even if it's just junior college you're at least keeping your mind sharp in preparation for the big leagues. Unless you REALLY need the money you'll get from working long hours for a year, just go to school. But if you just take a year off to sit around, watch talk shows, be a townie and show up at high school parties, you're dead where you stand.

 

Just advice not from my own personal experience, but from what I've seen happen to other graduates.

[Steviekick 0]

You also have to be careful because if you are not a student you'll propably get kicked off your parents' health insurance policy and thats $400 a month.

 

If your not sure, go to a community/junior college. If you find a job that you are gaga about that is local, try your fist semester as a part time student.

[Guest Horse hockey!]

Yet from my own personal experience, a year (or in my case, a few years) isn't a bad thing. You get some time in the real world and see that in order to get anywhere, you do need that piece of paper that says you can commit to something for four years.

 

If you're unsure of what you're interested in (that's me!), just go to community college, get your general AA, and take elective courses in some things you may be interested in. Some form of science, web design, what have you. Like something enough, go on to get your Bachelor's in that.

 

Burn out is common. If it happens, take a little time. Not a whole lot. The longer you wait, the harder it is to go back.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

No, it's a horrible idea. I don't know how anyone could feel burned out after the easiness that is senior year, but maybe that's just because education in my school didn't exactly take a front seat in the grand scheme of things.

 

I've known a lot of people who "take a year off" and believe me, the number of those who wind up going to school is very slim. When someone tells me that they're taking a year off, I take it as their way of saying "I'm going to lie low for a year and hope people don't realize I'm not going to school."

 

I hated most of school, but figured I should do something after high school, if for nothing else than the slim security it provides if I go all the way through. Community college is just fine by me and I hate how it gets such a bum rap from so many people who think only idiots go there.

 

It's quite false, actually, as I think there's an equal amount of intelligent people between community colleges and Universities. The only real difference is the latter pays a helluva lot more to get the college experience (aka living away from home, claiming you're on your end, but having the rents still foot the bill for everything).

 

But I digress. The college life can be stressful, but I've found it a bit easier than high school, since you don't go to the same classes every day. I can say that if you do take a year off and wind up actually going to school, you're going to feel behind in comparison to your friends. My girlfriend took a semester off and only two years later is she feeling like she's caught up with where she should be, thanks to summer classes.

 

It doesn't matter if you know what you wanna do with your life or not. Just go and at least take your basics. Gotta keep yourself busy and without school, you'll prolly just have some dead-end job and a lot of time to do nothing on your hands.

[spman 0]

I can definitly relate to feeling burned out after High School. I just graduated myself, and pretty much felt the exact same way. Thankfully I managed to have the luxury of knowing what I wanted to do in the future, and how to go about it, so I'm attending a state school in the fall. I really couldn't imagine taking a year off from school, even with my job that I work at for 40 hours a week, I've found myself to be in somewhat of a rut without the structure school provides me. My feelings towards college was not to go becasue I want to further my education, although that's part of it. I wanted to go for the socialization aspect of it. I want to be free from my parents and the shitty life I have made for myself these past eighteen years. I want to meet new people and have new experiences, I really don't want to be sitting in front of the PC while watching TV and playing video games for the rest of my life. If you truely do not know what you want to get out of life at this point though, college would just be a waste of your money. Don't waste your time though if you're not going to school though. Get a decent well paying job which you could provide for you in case you choose not to go back to school.

[Guest Dumb Fuck]

I took off half a semester after high school... mostly because I never had any serious thoughts about college during HS, and I had no idea what I wanted to do.

 

For me, it ended up being the right decision... because I really needed time to think what I was going to take up in school, and to be able to work some, since I played sports during high school and was injured my junior and senior year.

 

However... I always knew that I was going to go to college.

 

After a year... I have my doubts that you'd feel like going back... so, forcing yourself may be necessary. It's best in the long run.

[Guest Dumb Fuck]

You also have to be careful because if you are not a student you'll propably get kicked off your parents' health insurance policy and thats $400 a month.

 

If your not sure, go to a community/junior college. If you find a job that you are gaga about that is local, try your fist semester as a part time student.

At least in this state...

 

If you're under 25, and go back to school at any time, you can go back on your parents' insurance

[Guest Brian]

Bruiser Chong, I think that most people just feel burned out from having to go to school for twelve plus years.

[Hoff 0]

I can't tell you about your situation, specifically, but I can speak from related experience.

 

In two and a half years of college, I found myself slightly depressed, lonely, and even more disturbing, unable to settle on a major. In the middle of that fifth semester, I started to think about transfering or taking time off of school. I made the decision to leave Marquette, and I took about three months off before enrolling in a local business school, under some pressure from my father (and I am NOT making excuses. This was MY decision...I'm simply stating the facts as they lay). After three quarters there, I dropped out without a plan, without informing a soul. From there, I told my mom, asked if I could move back in for a bit, and just think about things. And the more I thought, the more I realized that I had never really wanted to be in college. I wanted the lifestyle, sure, but not the schooling. Smart as I am (arrogant as I am, heh), for me, simply working a steady job and taking my free time to write and play music was infintely more fulfilling.

 

I'm now faced with some harsh realities. I'm paying student loans while living paycheck to paycheck. I will never be able to get certain jobs or careers, and I will likely never be a rich, unless I hit big as a singer or writer, which I'm aware enough to realize is a very, very slim possibility. But, I'm also happier than I'd been in years, even while I was partying it up. My life is FULL. I have time to write and play and sing. I have time to pursue hobbies. I work 40 a week and make enough to save a little, and hopefully strike out on my own this spring or summer. I'm putting care into my body for the first time in years, and losing weight.

 

Things are not perfect for me, far from it. But I'm a happy man.

 

Here's my advice. Take time off only if you know you can use it productively. Weigh your options. Look at careers. Think about what you want to do with your life. Prioritize. Do not take these months to goof off. I, like many, have seen people do that and get lost in life. But I have also seen people be happier for it, like myself. I have seen the decision made both to continue away from school, and to return to it. And in both cases, the people seemed better off for it.

 

Never forget some things. You can always go back to school. Yes, the cost may increase and your available funds may decrease, but there's almost (almost, mind you) always a way to make it work. Financial aid, loans. No door is ever closed if you're determined to open it. Trite? Maybe. But worth considering.

 

Also, never forget that, despite what so-called "college prep" highschools tell you, there IS life outside post-secondary schooling, and many, many people live that life without regret or remorse. There is nothing saying that just because you're smart or a good student or because someone says you SHOULD go to school, that you HAVE to go. The choice is yours, always.

 

I hope that this helps. I hope you do take the time to really evaluate everything and end up making the right call. Best of luck.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Bruiser Chong, I think that most people just feel burned out from having to go to school for twelve plus years.

I can understand that, but hard as it may be to end one big chapter of your education and having to go right into the next one, I think it's the right move in most cases. College isn't nearly as tough on you as high school, schedule-wise. Classes may be a bit tougher, but I found in my first year of college that unlike high school, class time was actually used constructively. I suppose that was because there was only a few hours collectively each week to get things done, whereas in high school, there was a lot of busy work to fill in the time gaps.

 

The summer break is closer to four months, too, which is plenty of time to recharge the old batteries, IMO. Any more than that and you probably won't feel like going back. As I see it, being in school is a lot like when you're working hard and getting a lot of things done. The moment you stop, it's tough to get going again. The longer you wait, the tougher it gets. That's why I didn't fool myself with this year off bullshit. School hasn't usually been a delight for me, but I know that chances are, I'll need a degree to obtain a position in the field of work I want to pursue some day.

[Murmuring Beast 0]

It is a good idea.

 

Line up work for that year and keep your mind active during it. Make sure you still read books or write, even just for pleasure, so that you don't regress back a few years.

 

Taking a year out can have two results:

 

1. You'll get the appetite to go back and learn and feel young again.

 

2. You'll feel as if it's time to stop the childish bullshit, earn a wage, and start your life for real.

 

Personally I'm between the two at the moment. It's always good to better yourself but you must also be practical.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

If you leave for a year chances are you may not return.

 

Best idea, imo, is to go to a community college -- it's cheap and you can figure out what you want to do with your life. Once you graduate you'll have 60+ years of not having to go to school...

[redbaron29 0]

Don't take a year off.

 

There is some statistic somewhere that says like 60% of the people who take a year off never return.

 

My brother was one of them

 

Also I know its hard, but dont go to college with your friends either. I know its cruel but it fucks shit up.

 

Only go if your serious about getting through...I wasted a couple thousand dollars before I got serious bout college....In retrospect I could kick myself for wasting all the money.

[Guest DVD Spree]

Have to agree with Hoff. If you want to take a year out, you have to do it with the intention of doing something productive and/or worthwhile - if you're just taking a year out to sit on the couch and watch TV, that's pretty much how your life is going to turn out.

 

I can honestly say that taking a year out is one of the best decisions I made. You mature SOOOO much when you take your first steps out of the school environment, and when I came back and went to university the difference between those of us who had taken time out to work or travel against the wet-behind-the-ears, fresh-out-of-school, never-lived-away-from-home before kids was like night and day.

 

My year out was awesome. I lived abroad, got together with a girl I'd been lusting after for four years (and who I've now been with for four and a half years), culled a lot of the dead weight amongst my so-called "friends" (the ones that go off to college and you never hear from again), and to top it all off, if I hadn't taken time out, I wouldn't have been in the same year as my best buddy, who I met on my course.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

I'm pretty glad I'm not dealing with school right now. I went to college right out of high school, and aside from the atmosphere, hated hated hated it. It was such an incredible waste of money. My grades were ok, but I didn't care for what I was doing at all, schoolwise. I planned to change my major up a bit, but went flat broke before this could happen. My high school grades weren't spectacular enough for a scholarship, and I got little to no financial aid. So I was working some real shit jobs, and playing with my shitty punk band for beer. College was probably the most rotten time in my life as a person, really. I was all the bad things about high school, dropped into a structureless environment full of booze, drugs, and chicks. That was beautiful and all, but not really in a way where I could develop myself. Had I somehow stayed, I'd hate my life right now.

 

After leaving, and getting my cigarette gig, I've been quite a lot happier. I've got ideas what I want to do with my life now. Real ideas, not vague career aspirations that look like they're miles away. I'll go back to a community college someday, grab a short degree to boost a paycheck, and get people to take me slightly seriously.

 

Go to a full time university right-off if you've got the money for it, unquestionably. Otherwise, go to community college to get all your bullshit required math, english, speech..all the crap that doesn't pertain to your major. Those credits will be transferrable, you'll be set to go on your chosen path, and you'll save several thousand dollars in the long run.

 

I'm glad I left, really.

[NoCalMike 0]

Well I can speak on my personal experience: NO IT'S A HORRIBLE IDEA.

 

After highschool I had the "burned out" feeling too, so I didn't go, figuring I would work a few jobs, make some money and then go back. Well few years later I was in a decent paying warehouse job that I hated, and felt stuck.

 

I am now in school, and doing fine, but the tech school I am going to is at least twice as expensive as the comminity college -transfer- university route, however I am doing it because I am 24, and don't want to wait 4 years to get a degree.

 

I look back and marvel in the fact that I could have been finished with school and probably working a good job that I enjoy going to by now, yet I am now at a temp job and going to school at night. I am doing what I have to do, and it is mostly my own doing. It is not like I am depressed, on the contrary I am actually quite happy with my current status as my outlook is a lot better then I felt 2 years ago, however at the same time I know what the easier and BETTER route would have been, upon highschool graduation.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

If you have any intent of going to college, I think taking a year off now is a mistake.

 

My senior was a great year, but it really burned me out. I think if I went to college right now, I would just mess up. I wasn't exactly the greatest kid in school when it came to grades (C average). I just don't think I could do it.

 

The way you're describing it, it's not "I want to experience the world for a while" or "I don't have the money to do it right now." It's "I won't go because I don't think I can do it." Take a year off with that approach and I don't think you'll be getting back into it any time soon. If you don't add to your education in some way in the meantime, you're not going to get beyond that concern of college being either a waste or an impossibility.

 

The community college idea is a good one, though I would say get into the best university you can and go full bore. You'll learn by fire if you must. Otherwise, community college, yessir. Without that you'll never start.

[NoCalMike 0]

Another problem is that once you enter the work force, you usually start taking on more bills, possibly move out of your parents house, etc....so it makes it harder to go backwards, and it really limits your options.