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To gap year or not to gap year? That\u2019s not even a question if you ask me.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s that time of year when senior school students sit their final exams and hang up their laptops. Another cohort full of enthusiasm for life beyond school. Remember hopes and dreams? Here\u2019s my message to senior students across the country \u2013 cancel your plans and go on a gap year.<\/p>\n
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Lizzy Hoo learning to snowboard in Japan during her gap year.<\/span><\/p>\n Apologies to all the parents who might think a year off is a waste of time, especially the ones who forked out tens of thousands of dollars on an education \u2013 I\u2019m sure the last thing you want is to see your 13-year investment visit an ashram in India or dig holes in Cambodia. Hear me out \u2013 the commerce degree can wait. In the scheme of things, a year\u2019s break will be worth so much more than enrolling in a course they\u2019re just not that into.<\/p>\n Which is exactly what I did. I got into accounting when I left school. I started it, I hated it, I quit it. My debits never equalled credits and after a semester of almost failing and a lot of cheating (it was very easy to do in 2002), I decided, much to my parents\u2019 concern, to pause university education and take eight months off because I had some growing up to do.<\/p>\n I worked two jobs, saved up some cash, bought a flight to the US, arrived with less than $US400 and a very convincing fake ID. A friend got me a job in a restaurant at the top of a mountain in Colorado where I served plate-sized steaks, bloody marys and feigned an interest in Steve Irwin at every table I waited on. \u201cWow, you\u2019re an Aussie? We love Steve Irwin!\u201d \u2026 \u201cMe too!\u201d \u2026 now tip me.<\/p>\n Believe me, the commerce degree can wait.<\/span><\/p>\n I learnt to snowboard (a great life skill), got wildly drunk most nights (not a great life skill), made enough money in tips to occasionally bail friends out of jail, travel around the country and experience a couple of full-moon parties on the way home. By the time I arrived back in Australia I was more focused than before and switched university courses to something I kind-of enjoyed.<\/p>\n But aren\u2019t you a comedian? Yes, I changed careers in my late 30s. I\u2019m all for the sabbatical too, which is basically a gap year but for when you have a midlife crisis.<\/p>\n Arguably, the high-schoolers graduating now are the most in touch generation to ever leave school. They grew up with so much internet (we had to make do with MSN messenger and Napster). They\u2019ve just been through a global pandemic, and they\u2019re very open about their feelings \u2026 maybe a little too much. But I still think a year out from formal education and discovering what excites and drives you is invaluable. Unless you\u2019re one of those kids who know exactly what they want to do, like my friend who has only ever had two jobs \u2013 stacking fruit at Coles and now partner at Ernst and Young.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a lot of privilege that comes with taking a gap year. I acknowledge, there was always a bed at my parents place, I didn\u2019t have to provide for my family and I lived in the city with access to education and employment. So saving money while I lived at home was an option for me. Not everyone has a dad who would pick them up from anywhere you asked. His limit was 1am, and I made a lot of 12.30am calls.<\/p>\n University is such an expensive option as well. A year off to decide whether you want to commit to that kind of debt could save you so much money. I have loads of friends who are still paying off HELP\/HECS debts for courses they never finished. It\u2019s debt that only starts to feel real when you see it coming out of your pay cheque. University costs at least $15,000 a year now (my whole course cost $15,000). You could backpack around South-East Asia for at least six months with that kind of cash.<\/p>\n If you can take a gap year \u2013 do it! Work, save some money, go overseas, enrol in a scuba diving course, volunteer, work in an English pub and come back with an accent, be a nanny, go fruit picking, visit the Whitsundays and tour guide, do a ski season. There are so many options and I\u2019m all for them.<\/p>\n And if you need encouragement or ideas \u2013 and you\u2019re not getting it from your parents \u2013 slide into my DMs, and I\u2019ll tell you to go for it.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n