I took a gap year and while it was the best thing I’ve ever done, still, it wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies. Here I’ll be sharing with you the ‘dark side’ of taking a gap year that you must know before jumping in:

1. It can be expensive

You might think that not going to college for a year will lessen your expenses, but it might or might not be. Depending on your purpose of taking a gap year, it can be pricey. You have a whole year for yourself to prepare, unwind, explore, and join an internship, and all you want is to make the best of it. If your purpose is to prepare for an entrance exam and not planning to go anywhere, then it might cost less but if you’re planning to travel or explore new hobbies or expand your knowledge on certain things, prepare your savings or maybe have a remote, flexible job (like what I did) to fund your journey.

2. You might waste a lot of time

Knowing your purpose or goals before embarking on this journey is vital. You don’t want to look back on your gap year and realize that you haven’t done anything or something remarkable that you could see that it was worth it. While taking a rest is a nice thing to do, a whole year is big enough to do so much more than that. This could be the time to try the things that you are passionate about outside the academic realm or go to a place that you’ve been dreaming of, maybe you want to save money for college then, it’s the best time to find a job.
A lot could happen in a year and it’s in you to make the best of it.

3. You might feel left behind

Even if how particular you are about your goal on this journey, there will still be times when you’ll feel left behind by your high school friends who are in college already. You might see them sharing their freshmen stories on IG. Most of our friends came from school and given that they’ve taken the flight to college already, you are on your own on this journey.

4. Transitioning back to school could be challenging

In my case, it wasn’t hard to go back to school because I’d already allotted half of my gap year to prepare for college. But also, I’ve heard from the gappers that I’ve talked to that they’ve lost momentum and some of them are actually on their 3rd gap year already. If the financial aspect isn’t the problem, maybe they just don’t see themselves as someone who’d want to go to college. Depending on your goals, if going back to college is in your plan then transitioning back won’t be that hard.

Gap year truly can be exciting as it sounds but of course, like all things in life, it has its pros and cons as well. Before taking on this journey or before asking your parents for permission, might as well take the time to weigh the factors you need to consider.

Note that this is based on my experience and it might be or not the same with everyone else.