 Yes, so hi everyone. Welcome to today's video. My name is Katie if you're new to this channel and We're gonna talk about 10 things that you should probably consider before taking a gap year in 2021 or really any year So just to sort of start off with my story. I Did not plan on taking a gap year this year And I've made a bunch of videos on about this topic on my channel about like my more sort of like personal experience With a gap year my regrets like the things that I've thought about like sort of like my own personal stories If you're interested in that I'll link plans at the end of this video and down below in the description I feel like I have sort of a weird perspective on Gap years and maybe something unique that I can like add to the conversation because I Truly never considered to this where I'm from. I'm from Maryland like in the DC metro area and People don't really take gap years here. It's not really something that's done You know, you graduate high school and then you go to college and that's that and you just you keep going It's you know, it's a very high-pressured area academically You know a lot of people attend grad school after they're undergraduate So it's just like school is what you do But the number one thing that you have to consider when you're planning a gap year is finances I mean we can't have I can't sit here and pretend that this is not, you know A big part of the conversation So, yeah, I think the best way to start is to have an open Conversation and if you're younger and if you're in high school or you in middle school like Start talking to your parents or the people who support you in your life Having an open conversation about like what your personal finances are for college is really important I think especially when you're looking at colleges and stuff like that But also when you're thinking about taking a gap year So spending some time to really calculate like what you're gonna do on your gap year You know, if you want to just like take some time like that's completely up to you That's your prerogative, but if you want to work too You know, if you want to save money for college before you go like I think that's a super awesome option because you can you can really make some good money in a year you start like saving and putting that away and Especially if you're taking a break in the middle like me, you know Doing those sort of like simple calculations to be like is this worth my time could be like The the first thing that you should maybe consider and think about when you're thinking about taking a gap year number two What I run on here is high school is hard slash burnout When you're done with high school, you might just be so like completely drained and burned out from school That going to more school might just be like the absolute opposite thing that you need Especially when you're mixing that with like newfound freedom in your life You know, it could lead to you like skipping class, you know Not doing your work not turning in your assignments because like you just don't care So if you do take a break, you know, it can allow you to look at school with, you know, fresh eyes and you know, you you'll take some perspective away from your time off and Come into school really like valuing Education or you might figure out that you don't want to go back to school and that's completely fine, too It's it's up to you and I think the value of the gap year is just like that big wide open slate of time Okay, number three. So the next one is emotionally draining Okay, I'm trying to like put this into words. So honestly, just like life is emotionally draining. You know what I mean? Personally this year has been really kind of eye-opening and it has made me Super hyper aware of myself at the end of the day. Like I am not turning in assignments. I don't have a calendar booking me until May. I don't have projects looming or papers looming or tests or anything like that. So my Only focus is just sort of like, what do I want to do? Like you and your life and your future are just like constantly spinning. So number four also sort of goes along with this and it is Finding a major and a life path I think there's so much pressure, especially when you're 18, like literally a million people are asking you like, oh What's your major? Like what are you gonna do for your living? It's like I I don't know So that's why I think like taking a year to really reflect on what it is that you're about and what you what you Relatively love because when you're 18, it's like you're committing to Four years, but it feels like that's like oh, I'm like committing to this career Once you get to college You'll just you will have I'm telling you you will have one night where you're sitting there and you're just like Wait, so you're telling me I have to fill up the next like 60 years of my life With work and then it's just gonna hit you and then You're just gonna have like so many existential crises about that like one thought and so like maybe having a year off To just process that question alone. Well, just it will help. That's all I'm gonna say Taking that time to really like figure it out will make sure that you're not stuck in a major because of finances because in America You could be paying upwards of like $40,000 a year for just like one year of college like that is a crazy amount of money like that's a lot of money and if you don't Know or you don't even know if you're gonna like school like Think of it as like I think that we think that going to college is such a big risk but going to college and like wasting a year like that's an even bigger risk and I don't think that people talk about that enough especially like If you come from the means to go to college, that's just it's so crazy expensive Like what is the skin off your nose to wait a year number five? You might not be ready yet, and that's completely okay. I know a lot of girls Either had roommates or I heard from the grapevine like a lot of people show up to college When they're not ready because it's like what they feel they have to do and then they'll be there for like a week or a semester and They just can't handle it like they just they're not ready to go and that is completely a personal choice and it is not up to anyone to tell you like What you are supposed to do or what makes you strong or what makes you independent like You know you have to do you have to make decisions that are right for you And I think when you're in high school It's very easy to listen to what everyone is saying and have that influence you but Once you get to that next year. It's like everyone's gone What what do you want to do? What do you like? What do you want to do? Because all of that background noise that you're in that senior year of high school like it's not gonna matter People's opinions are not gonna matter. What's gonna matter is you know the eight months that you either You know chose to do what you really wanted or just did something just because everyone else did I'm not saying that college is that because I went to college and I had fun so like, you know, I don't you just do you okay number six It will help you understand the value of education. So I think that this sort of goes back to like the burnout thing Like I just miss school and I miss You know lectures and I miss projects. I miss being challenged in that way And you know when you get out of college like you to work your way up for years So it's like I feel like I took my night. I didn't take my time for granted But like I'm definitely not going to take it for granted when I go back like I'm just so hyper aware of Like that I have these like two golden years of school ahead of me and I'm so excited for them So yeah, I think it just it makes you value what you have it makes you grateful. Um number seven traveling So you can travel um Maybe not this year Barring the vaccine and such um, let me just say I joined like a couple of like gap year Facebook groups and I didn't realize what one of them was like exclusively for students in the UK Okay You guys are crazy Like you guys are you are wild and I don't know Please tell me if you're from the UK if this is like a common thing But I look on this Facebook group and it's people from like different parts of the country and they're like hey Like I'm looking for a buddy to like move to Switzerland with like who's down and then people just respond And then I'm assuming that they move to Switzerland together like what do people do that? Like I want to live in a world where I can just be like hey like want to move to Canada and someone would be like yeah, sure Let's go What does that happen like please tell me like do you have friends who just like go live with random people? I guess I did that but like in calm. I don't know. That's just so wild to me But like also that sounds so fun and like I want to live in that world I want to live that chaotically like does that work out like I I Feel like my I had random roommates and like they were just so So it was so bad like I cannot imagine like committing to like move somewhere with that one person For like three months like that sounds so chaotic, but like does it work out like is everyone just like nice? I don't I don't know. Please tell me how that works. I'm genuinely like So excited for you all but also like a little bit concerned So, please tell me okay number seven work experience. So obviously I've talked about this Getting, you know work experience or experience working in like a field can give you perspective But also it takes the pressure off for summer internships and like internships during school like I I've had a couple of internships now and this past Yeah, this past January to a year ago today, maybe not today, but I was like so panicked about getting a summer internship and Lining it up and getting like the right one and I was applying to literally so many and like reaching out to people and like I was Constantly trying to get another internship and like Now like I've been working all year like I had the summer like what do I want to do? Like if I get the vaccine like where am I gonna go? I don't know But I have that option because I've been making money during the year and I've been working like doing like real work for the whole year and Like I don't I've never had like a summer like Off I don't know and like I maybe it won't be this summer Maybe I'll keep working through this summer But you know next summer I feel like I don't I'm not in this big rush to get work experience Because I've had I've had a good bit like I want to like be young and like Find someone to move to Switzerland I'm so number eight is I feel like this is like a little bit like This little bit like hair flip like sass that Going on a gap year makes you like a well-rounded person. I have gotten so much confidence this year and like a different sort of way I think half of it is because of YouTube and half of it is because I've like really had to like Take a look in the mirror and like assess what's important to me in a way That's not connected to a letter grade and I talk about that like in depth in another video I had an existential crisis about it because like that's just a lot to think about like that's just truly like a lot That's a lot to cover. I don't know number nine That you build a good relationship with taking risk This year is wide open like it's that I think itself is the risk. I don't think that For me it was like a risk of like I might not go back to college. I might not like you know Get all my stuff done in time. Like that's not really where the risk came in for me. It was like I have to Fill up a year like a year Like that's so long. Um, and number 10 is understand that it's like it's all waiting for you I think that that's like the number one thing that people think about is like, oh, you're gonna graduate late like oh, you're going to you know be delayed in your life and Be let's like delayed from what like I don't know like you know what I mean like delayed from Another year of school like delayed from graduating the year that you know was in my Instagram bio like You know like when you sit back and like You think on that it just goes like it just goes away like the fear of like those like stupid things like I just Like I think at the beginning I was like I'm gonna be 24 when I graduate college 23 I'll be 23 and like Who cares? Like, you know, I just I don't cuz like apparently I don't so if you're looking for Someone to give you the green light and say like you should do it. You should take a risk You should you should go like just I'm telling you. Yeah. Thank you so much for watching I post new videos every Monday and Thursday. I forgot for a second Yeah, so if you want to check out my other videos on you know gap years feel free to do so Some of them are a little bit odd. I'm not gonna lie to you My sit-down videos and then I have like my weird like comedy like vlogs and like I pretend to travel places as a joke I'm still trying to figure out like what this channel is and I'm so glad that I have like another six months I'm probably gonna keep doing this for like years, but Like I have like a whole year to like you figuring that out. So um, thank you so much for watching and I hope you have a great day and Yeah, I don't have like an exit to my videos yet like I cannot think of like something cute to say like by friends or Ladies or Ladies in general, I don't know. Also My videos end like so abruptly sometimes You