Has anyone taken a Gap Year?

shellybean
Mon, 13 Jan 2014 21:04:15 +0000

Hi — my son is in the middle of a gap year. He was accepted to Berklee and to Univ. of Denver/Lamont School of music. Both were out of our price range even with a scholarship, so we deferred Berklee for a year. He will be going next month to reaudition in the hopes of a bit more money.
In the meantime, he has explored several other schools. Now he is auditioning at UNT (North Texas), William Patterson, and Middle Tennessee State.
The benefits for him were:
1, broadening his schools to choose from. In fact, if things go wonky, he has even found a couple of programs to consider for next year if he should have to take another gap year. He’s young and he has his whole life ahead of him. We want him to be where he Should be, not just picking a place off the cuff.
2. He has grown as a musician even more during this year. He’s done several gigs – some of them huge – and done some session work, etc. And he has immersed himself in theory and jazz (all on his own as there are no teachers near us and we couldn’t have afforded them anyway! lol)
A gap year is what you make it. It can be beneficial – immensely so – if the student keeps studying and learning.
As a parent, I can honestly say I have been glad he waited and didn’t throw his money away on an inferior program. He would’ve had to borrow at least some money to go somewhere and I think it is smarter to wait for the right place and the right time than to “settle” for something that wouldn’t have been good for his career. One can LEARN anywhere, but college is more than learning… it is connections and it is the start of a career. To go into debt for just “any ol’ place” for us wasn’t what we wanted for him. I know that makes us sound snobby but we’re trying to be practical while at the same time encouraging his dream.
As a former student, I wish in a way I had taken a gap year. For me, I think it would’ve given me time to figure out what I wanted before just jumping in. And for my husband, he should have taken a gap because all he did when he went to college the first year was play pool! lol So there are lots of reasons and lots of benefits. It’s just mostly important that whether one does a gap year, or gap years, or whether he/she goes straight to school, don’t waste time or squander time/talent/resources. You can benefit from any scenario if you work at it.