The gap year refers to a period of time, usually one or two years after graduation, where students take a break from formal education to travel, volunteer, or do an internship/fellowship before continuing with graduate/professional school or starting a job. These short-term experiences can help students explore a potential career path, gain experience and credentials that could contribute to graduate/professional school, develop cognitively, socially, and emotionally, and connect with professionals in areas of potential interest. In some cases, these short-term experiences will turn into longer-term professions (e.g. a research fellowship turning into a research career). When thinking about a gap year or two, consider the following prompts:

1.      Why are you doing this?
What is motivating you to take a gap year or two? Have you thoroughly thought through how this might fit with your future career or graduate/professional school goals? What is your vision? Draw it out.

 2.      What are your goals?
For example, are you interested in expanding your resume, working and living independently, identifying/clarifying your interests, or experiencing a different culture? Get specific.

3.      Plan ahead.
Planning ahead is useful in order to avoid missing deadlines for applications or fellowships. Giving yourself ample time to create your gap year plan is important for updating any international travel documents you may need, saving money, or booking trips in advance.

 4.      Research your ideas – what are your options?
To help you explore a variety of options, we created the following list of resources commonly used by undergraduates. Keep in mind that this is not an exhaustive list; we intend for you to use it as a starting point and not as an end point.

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