Growing up, I knew that I always wanted to go to college. I just didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, or where I wanted to go to school. It always changed. One moment, I wanted to be a meteorologist. The other minute, I wanted to be a teacher. When I entered high school, that didn’t really change. I still didn’t know where I wanted to go nor what degree I wanted to get.

For the first two years of high school, college was on the back burner, and I just enjoyed high school.

In my junior year, college moved from the back burner to the front burner. By this time, I had toured a couple of colleges, and I thought about going to three colleges even though I still had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. The ACTs came and gone, and now I was ready for the next step in the college process. Applying.

For the first month of my senior year, I applied to college, and for the rest of the semester waited for a response. I got accepted into all three colleges that I applied for, and I couldn’t be more happy. For the second semester, I looked at different things that I could get for my dorm room, and did a few things that were on the college checklist. I had picked a major that I thought I would like, and that would be practical at the sometime. I got to know a few people that were in the same class as me. Everything was going good. I couldn’t wait to go to college.

Then reality set in. There were a couple roadblocks in my path that I had to take care of before being able to go to college. I wasn’t financially ready to go to college. So, I decided to take a year off. It happened to be one of the best decisions I have ever made. During my gap year, I got work experience, and gained various skills through the jobs that I had. I also made some connections in the world that will later help me down the road. I was able to save up the money for the things that I needed for college.

During my gap year, I was able to get serious about college, and make the right decision for me. I ended up not going to any of the colleges that I applied for during my senior year. I went a total different direction, and decided to go to a college that was the perfect fit for me.This time around, I was more prepared for college.

Now, I’m finishing my third year of college.

Honestly, there are sometimes that I wished that I didn’t take a gap year when I have to example to people why I’m older than most of the people in my class, or the times where I wish I wouldn’t have taken a year off so that way I could almost be done with school by now. But for the most part, I’m glad that I decided to take a gap year, and I know I made the right decision in the long run.