My senior year of high school, I was flooded with college applications, a job and piles of assignments. I knew I wanted to major in Musical Theater after high school, yet I knew that meant I needed to commit enough time and effort to audition for colleges.
The Reason
I decided to take a gap year to solely focus on my college auditions, and it was the best decision I made so far in my entire life. People judged me and questioned my decision of not going to school for a year. But I knew I needed to do what was right for me, and keep in mind there is not one “normal” pathway to success.
The first leap was hard.
At the conclusion of senior year, people asked me what my plans for the future were. I had told them that I planned on taking a year off in order to pursue my dreams of becoming a triple threat and performing. Not only were they skeptical about my choice of major and whether or not they could call musical theater a “career” or just a “hobby,” they tried to convince me that taking a year off would play a negative role in my future. I started to believe what these people were trying to drill into my head — the idea that taking a gap year is so rare, so odd in the United States, and that people who take gap years usually do so to volunteer in a third world country or defer a college in which they had already been accepted to for work reasons/financial stability. In my case, telling them I was taking a year off to audition only caused them to see red flags. I was surrounded by doubt, negativity and people who thought they had “my best interest in mind.” But eventually, I worked up the confidence, courage and maturity to accept the fact that there is not one pathway to someone’s future or educational journey. I needed to do what I felt was right for me personally and follow my heart.
I felt so alone.
Out of my graduating class of over three hundred students, only five people decided to take a gap year. Five. Some planned on using the year to travel, while others took the year off to pursue their own interests. I felt so alone and started to become depressed since practically my entire graduating class was going off to college, starting a new chapter in their life, meeting new people, picking things out for their dorm — I was not able to be a part of all of the college freshman traditions, and that made me feel like an outsider. I could not see that I also had a future, a year to look forward to and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities headed my way.
Misconceptions of “gap year” and what people assume will happen to those who take one
People do not know what a gap year is, so they try to define it without educating themselves. Some people still don’t know what a gap year is. With this in mind, they start telling me how “wrong” I was to make that decision and that students who usually don’t go to college after graduating high school end up taking more than a year off and perhaps never go to college. I knew that I had a goal, which was to audition for as many musical theater college programs I could while preparing, rehearsing and studying my repertoire throughout the year. I knew how time-consuming the process was going to be, and in order for me to feel confident on the day of the audition, I knew I needed to solely focus on this and my training.
Support from my parents meant everything.
I am so grateful and fortunate enough to be able to have parents who were directly on board with my gap year the minute I told them I wanted to take one and what the plan ensued. They always encouraged me to follow my dreams and continue my passion for performing. In addition to my parents’ support, I was blessed to know that my closest friends and teachers from high school had my back the entire time, which really helped me through the days I was questioning my decision.
Confidence and positivity are key.
As soon as I felt confident about my decision and was able to talk about my gap year in a positive manner, it was contagious. Yes, I still had people who came up to me and told me I was crazy and that my future wasn’t guaranteed. But as time progressed and the more I believed in myself and my future, the more other people did too. I was the only one stopping myself from seeing my gap year as an opportunity, not a setback.
