Gap year(s)

[GLC1968]

If you know what you want to do at university, just go and do it. Even if you don't quite know but defineitely want to go, do it as the first year is really feeling out the direction you want to take, what department and lecturers are good etc.

This.

I recruit engineers directly out of college (it's the main part of my job) into a technical field. I can tell you that if she wants to be an engineer, it helps tremendously to show purpose and direction in her schooling...even at the HS/Bachelors level. Hiring managers look at that when they look at resumes...particularly for recent grads.

This doesn't mean that she has to go directly to college, but if she wants to and is ready, I would encourage it. If she wants to take a year or two off, then I would HIGHLY recommend spending that time working in a related field. If she can score internships, great...but those can be very hard to come by for HS students. Something like Americorps or working for Habitat for Humanity would probably be a good option for her civil engineering aspirations.

Another thing to consider is that sometimes taking time off and then going back will make it harder academically when your focus is math and science. Ask me how I know this!

Lastly, (and somewhat unrelated to your actual question)...as she starts out in her college degree, someone, somewhere along the line (or a lot of people, like in my case) will tell her that grades are not as important as experience. They'll try to convince her that A's don't matter and that employers would rather see a well rounded student experience instead. That is dead wrong when it comes to engineering. Well-rounded experiences are good, but again, engineering managers like to see purpose, direction and an ability to focus on the task at hand. Good grades AND good relevant experience will point to that. A's will open doors both during her academic career and afterward.

[indigoiis]

Well, I am back in college full time at night (after work) after a twenty two year gap. I have taken classes here and there but this is the first time I am enrolled to finish my degree (I'll have my Associates in May and my Bachelor's next year.) I have a 4.0 GPA and a fairly rigid schedule which suits me at this time in my life. It did not suit me at 19, nor at 22 when I returned for a semester, nor at 35 when I took classes at the Community College.

A gap year would have been good. I was not mature at 19.

My daughter, on the other hand, was extremely focused (she goes to RedRhodie's alma mater) and was not interested in a gap year even though I recommended it. She is also extremely young for her age, although not immature. She's just not a partyer, not very social, and very in to her art and not much else. So school is exactly the right place for her at exactly the right time, and that's the way I feel about where I am at this time in my life.

My sister pushed her kid to go to college and my niece dropped out after 2 weeks. Not everyone is ready to go, no matter how smart.

Gap years have gotten very popular and there are a lot of good, structured programs out there if you look around. But ultimately, I would leave it up to your daughter. We did... even though we felt it was imperative she apply, we were ready for whatever she wanted to do if she had decided not to go. I couldn't have said it would be better to go. Everyone is different. And despite the recruiting desires of hiring entities, the packages are not always so nicely wrapped up. For myself personally, the diversity of my background actually helped me more than any degree could have to land me exactly here (that and, the recommendation of a good friend. )

P.S. I also work in higher education and can say for sure there are some kids here who are seriously meant to be here, and others who should be repeating their Senior year of high school.

[Trek-chick]

If I had to do it all over again, I would take a year off or so, and ride across country by bike. I have thought many times on this but, now with being married and having a house and dogs etc. It just does not fit into my life.

I still would LOVE to do this one day but need to talk DH into it....maybe when we retire

[shootingstar]

But, we also made it clear that school was their first job and no working more than 15 hrs. a week while in school. When I was a high school teacher in AZ, I saw too many kids working 30 hours a week to pay for their car and insurance.

I totally agree that college or university full-time truly requires majority focus, hrs. and time. I found just working 8-15 hrs. per wk. some school years, just enough for me without dragging my energy around. And I didn't have a car .... Looking back, my parents though they expected us to work at least during summers and supplement with student grants, were VERY generous since we were poor, to ask that if we worked during the school year, it be only weekends.

As for gap years during our working lives...well I guess I had my "gaps" with unemployment looking for work. I do have a work benefit to take a partial paid leave of absence for a restricted period of time. It's nice to have this if life should require that I reset my priorities of personal over work for a short while. WHo knows.... but I know it would not be for taking off and travelling around. No, I don't have the urge to go back to school at this time.

[Crankin]

Going back to school at age 55 was not that hard for me. Of course, as a teacher, I had to take many university courses to advance on the salary schedule after getting my first master's in 1979. So, it wasn't like I hadn't stepped foot in a classroom since then. Of course, this was an option for me, because DH could pay the bills, but I had all kinds of scary warnings from the professors in my department about the "stress" of grad school. Yes, it was stressful, but to a grown up who is used to managing time and workload, it was more business as usual. And, I did not give up my usual activities and friends. I am glad it's done, but, really, it was not that bad. Better than staying home and doing nothing!

[ny biker]

I have no regrets about going straight from high school to college. It was a big enough event to move away and start a new life at college. It would have been overwhelming to start something else, do it for a year or so and then start school.

Also I was excited about going away to college and would not have wanted to delay it for any reason.

[smilingcat]

I'll second GLC. I too am an engineer. Grades matter and your drive and purpose in the engineering field matters very much. If she wants to take a gap year, she BETTER have a focused purpose.

I dropped out of HS and never got a GED or what ever that thing is called. Dropped out in Junior year and went straight to an IVY League school. I was determined and I was very focused on what I want to do in my life. I didn't have second thoughts about it. So I'm bit of an odd duck. Also didn't take any break from BS degree to my Masters and I quit during Phd program. I wasn't interested in becoming a tenure track professor at any university although I was a research staff at my alma mater. Different department though. I have loftier plans than to collect more wall/fly paper (honors degrees etc. My father already did that with his MD, Phd in BioChem... or other members of family uncles aunts cousins...) Only one in my family NOT to have a college degree is my sister. I think she was overwhelmed with all the "fly papers" on the wall.