Gap year, a great opportunity, or a waste of time?

Vanja Đorđević, 3/8

Gap year, a great opportunity, or a waste of time? Many people think that a gap year is a poor
decision because you let your habit of studying slip from your memory and its hard to gain it
back. I agree that there are some disadvantages but in my opinion, there are loads of advantages
as well.

First of all, during the gap year, you can work to make money for your education, that you may
not have yet. Moreover, you can do some studying on your own and figure out what your real
passion is. Lastly, you can spend that year traveling and getting to know other cultures and
languages, so you can start university fresh.

On the other hand, you can get out of studying habits and feel like you are falling behind. It can
also be quite expensive if you don't carefully plan your gap year. The last disadvantage, and in
my opinion the biggest one, is that it is hard to keep in touch with your friends that decided to go
immediately to the university.

If I had a chance to take a gap year, I would spend it traveling around Europe and studying
languages, as well as working or doing some volunteer work.

To sum up, I think that a gap year is a good thing if you plan it out correctly or if you are still not
sure what you want to do in life, but if those are not the cases it can just be hurtful for your
education.