Reasons to Take a Gap Year or Leave of Absence from University
(A gap year may be taken the year before matriculation, during (aka “Leave of Absence”) or the year after graduating from a university)
Image from Gap Year Association 2015 study.
Undergraduates:
- Self-Discovery
- Consider Options for Life
- Increase self-confidence
- Improve communication skills
- Break from the usual Academics
- Explore and learn about the world (Virtually in our programs)
- Become a global citizen
- Live the life of a Digital Nomad
- Find purpose in life
- Become an active volunteer in the global community
- Improve a foreign language or learn a new one
- Build new connections globally (peers, advisors, mentors, entrepreneurs, investors)
- Avoid Online Learning, aka “Zoom University” of your university or college during Covid-19
- Avoid the chaos and danger of being on-campus during the Covid-19 crisis
- Miss the social distancing and controlled environment that is just not as fun on your campus
- Learn Entrepreneurship and Business
- Gain technology skills in programming, digital design, and media
- Build know-how and skills in social media marketing
- Experience entrepreneurship
- Start a real business that can continue during college or after
- Build maturity
- More enthusiastic about going to University
- Build leadership and be better able to fulfil leadership roles upon return to campus
- Gain valuable virtual internship experience through a placement in a startup company
Graduate, Postgraduates, Professional students including MBA and Law Students
- Many of the same reasons found above in “Undergraduates”
- Explore and Experience Entrepreneurship
- Supplement graduate- and professional-level studies with entrepreneurship learning which may not be available at your university
- Break from the usual Academics
- Travel the World as a Digital Nomad if you so desire
- Avoid Online Learning, aka “Zoom University” of your graduate program during Covid-19
- Supplement your income / funding for graduate school (which has disappeared during the crisis for some graduate students)
- Apply or explore your research ideas which may be commercialisable
- Avoid the chaos and danger of being on-campus during the Covid-19 crisis
- Miss the social distancing and controlled environment that is just not as fun and dynamic on your campus and graduate- / MBA- / Law- format
- Earning Income for future endeavors and studies
- Start a Search Fund (see our Search Fund Acceleration program)
- Build global connections for future startup activity, career, or investment opportunities
- Learn how to program, design digitally, and interact with software and platforms you did not know before
- Learn and leverage social media for the benefit of your startup and career
- Get a jump on starting your own business before the end of graduate school or just afterwards
- Start a Hedge Fund (see our Hedge Fund Acceleration program)
Image from Gap Year Association
Image from Gap Year Association
Image from Gap Year Association