Earlier this week it was announced that Malia Obama, an all-around amazing girl was accepted to freaking Harvard for college. And then what did she do? She deferred admission until 2017 and decided to take a “gap year” or a year off before returning to school. How could she do that? You don’t make Harvard wait for you! Seems like a completely crazy decision, right?

Wrong. Taking a gap year between high school and college is probably one of the best long term decisions that someone could make at age 18. But most of us American students never get to do it. Notice here that I say American students and not students in general--in other countries like the UK and Australia, gap years, or bridge years, are much more common and actually encouraged. During that year off students can travel, explore, meet new people, or even just hold a job and save up money for that degree they plan to pursue. Why is the US so behind on this front? Why do parents and school administrators hide this option?

From basically the time we start kindergarten the plan for our lives is go to school and get good grades to go to college, go to college and get good grades to get a job, get a job to work real hard and make money, work and save your money for your family, retire, die. Sounds super exciting. Where is the fun? The travel? The OMG once in a lifetime experiences? The regrets and the laughter and the excitement? In the US, the focus tends to be on working and working and succeeding and then putting extra experiences later. This kind of flies in the face of the indulgence that we see in American lives but hey, that is not the point of this article.

Of course, taking a year off to travel and have fun costs money (money that most recent high school grads don’t have) and that makes parents and administrators uneasy. But more than just money is the fear that once a kid breaks free of the boring classrooms and mundane assignments of the education system they will not want to return. This is a valid fear because anyone who has spent time in a prison-like high school knows the irritation and boredom it brings, but the reality is that students who take a gap year are more likely to go to a university than students who make that decision right out of high school. More likely! And once they are there, they tend to get a better GPA. Because taking that year to yourself can rejuvenate you and show you that while this degree might not be fun, it is definitely going to be worth it.

A year off from school as someone in your late teens can make all the difference in your personal growth. You get to think about only yourself for a little while and despite the stereotypes that teenagers are self-absorbed--the truth is that we are socially absorbed because in high school you have to be. Getting out of that system and focusing on yourself is what lets you find your true values and desires. After a year off you also come back with once in a life time experiences, things that you would never get to do once tied down by a full time job, mortgage, and kids. Learn a new language by spending six months in Brazil, travel around Asia and try as many new and interesting foods as possible, make best friends in places like Italy or Greece--how could these experiences be a bad thing?

I’ll just go ahead and answer that question for you--they will never be a bad thing.

Now, we all can’t be Malia Obama who is pretty much perfect and going to Harvard, but we all deserve the same experiences and personal time! Let her be the one to inspire you to break the conventional norm of going straight to college and becoming stressed out and addicted to coffee. Let her give you the confidence to make that decision for yourself. And then let yourself be the inspiration for other. Take that gap year, you deserve it! College will be here when you get back!