Orange_Juice

Parents, if you could go back in time and plan a gap year for your college-aged self, knowing what you know now about yourself, what would you do with it?

Or, if you'd rather, what would you do with a gap year for yourself today, if you didn't have your current responsibilities (kids, spouse, debt, whatever)?

Why? What would you hope to get out of it?

I ask this because I'm trying to personalize my gap year plans based on what I want/need to get out of it, and it would be nice to hear from people with more life experience than I have (and more self-understanding, presumably) about what kinds of experiences they would pursue in my situation. I'm especially interested in how your plans would be personalized for YOU and why.

insomniatic

I think a lot has to be taken into consideration. Money, etc.

owlice

Heh. Because of the way I went to college, I suppose one could say that I did have a gap year or two. I sometimes worked full-time (or more than full-time) and went to school in the evening. I did a lot of different things to get through school; it was not one clear shot, for sure!

Assuming I could take a gap year now (or better, when S is in college) and money were no or little object, I would travel and volunteer. I have not been to Asia nor sub-Saharan Africa and would like to see those parts of the world. I have good organizational (devising/implementing programs), teaching, and problem-solving skills, and would like to apply those skills to projects which bring clear benefit(s) to a group and which are sustainable once the project is up and running (the whole "teach people how to fish" thing). Projects which improve health and/or education would be good fits for me, given my educational and professional background; a microloan project would also be a good fit.

cnp55

If I could have taken a gap year, and money was not an object, I would have pursued my sport at the highest levels,and attempted to make the Olympic team. As money was a problem, and my sport at that level is extremely expensive, it was not an option.

At the beginning of my freshman year in college, I passed a test which qualified me for a competition the following summer from which two people would be selected to train for the Team. So it was a possibility -- but I could not have made the finances work, and my parents were not supportive of the idea *at all*.

razorsharp

Make a long list of books to read and read them all.

great lakes mom

Find something specific to study, in another part of the world, and intensively concentrate on that while living abroad.

I had gap years of a sort as well, between 'regular college' and my nursing program. Saw much of Asia in that time, learned a smattering of many East Asian languages, though also worked hard to pay for my travels while living there. During that time I realized I wanted to live in Taiwan and study Chinese intensively. Life took me in other directions, but I tend to think of that as my one big regret in life.

These days I'd go somewhere in Latin America, study Spanish and volunteer.

While I've traveled quite a bit, if on the cheap, I tend to value travel less than living in one spot and learning the nuance of another place and language.

emeraldkity4

Parents, if you could go back in time and plan a gap year for your college-aged self, knowing what you know now about yourself, what would you do with it?

That depends, is Pearl Jam on tour?



If they would take me, I would join the Peace Corps, but I don't have a college degree.
I am very interested in working in Ghana however with my daughter- although to do what I would like to do, I need to know more about agriculture.

Oh I missed the going back in time part- I don't really remember that far back- travel by backroads I guess, it doesn't really matter where-you meet interesting people anyway.

mathmom

I took one and lived with a French family in Europe. If I could take one now, I'd go to Scotland with my watercolors and paint for a year.

avoidingwork

I took a gap semester in 1972 when I was 16 and out of HS. I started out working in the office where my Dad worked, a car accessories reseller. He was a VP and I was the office 'gofer'. It was varied work, but I quit because I was bored making money (can't even imagine that now). So, I then volunteered full time at a local public special ed school. I worked with deaf students, who were probably about 8 years old. In the summer, I was a counselor at a summer camp, and then in the fall I started university.

The only requirement my parents made was that I kept busy. I was just thankful to be out of HS early.

Orange_Juice

Really interesting answers!

Haha! This made me smile.

I am SO with you on this one! (That's actually already part of my plan. ^_^)

Thanks for all of the responses. They've been a lot of fun to read!

cottonwood513

Fly more with my youth discount. Do more US road trips. Ride more horses.

katliamom

Right after graduating from college, I had an opportunity to live/work in Italy for a year. Didn't do it. Regretted it. So I worked 2 jobs. Saved up money. Went traveling throughout Asia, for 4 months instead.

If I had to do it again, I would do the Italian year. Then came back, work 2 jobs & go to Asia.

One never regrets trips. Just not doing those trips.

robileez

This is a fun exercise.

I did take a gap year of sorts. After college I lived on a kibbutz in Israel for a year and a half (I’m not Jewish). It was an amazing experience, and for someone who has no clue what they want to do with their life, a Gap Year(s) can be very revealing. I still remember standing in the Kibbutz’s cotton fields, after a year and a half of hard work but also lots of fun, looking up at the border of Lebanon, and suddenly thinking to myself “I need to go home, get a job and apply to graduate school.” And that was it. I went home, worked and entered an MBA program. It wasn’t completely smooth sailing after that, but it was as if I got something out of my system; maturity struck.

My suggestion: get out and meet people. Don’t be a tourist; stay in one place and experience another culture. Or, stay at home and work; learn what it means to put in an eight hour day, week after week. Just about anything you do with your year, short of sitting around the house playing Guitar Hero, will be rewarding and will help you value your amazing opportunity to get a college education (and it is an opportunity, and a privilege. Kids often miss this point.)

Life is fleeting. I hope you enjoy yourself!

robileez

Oh, and if I could do a Gap Year now, I would go to New Zealand and work on a sheep farm for a year.

Cheers!

musicamusica

Take my easel, my oils, pack up a small RV and paint my way from the Hudson valley to the Rockies and rediscover what Thomas Moran painted in the 19th century. But first I need a serious cash infusion. Then again, I COULD sell my work as I went along.......