Bridging the Gap: My Gap Year

Howdy! My name is Graeme McGuire, born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. I graduated this year from the Friends School of Baltimore, and am currently enrolled in Rochester’s Class of 2018. I opted to take a year off (gap year, as many call it) between my final year of high school and my first year college. This year, I’m attempting to travel independently overland (by foot, bus, and train) from one end of the Eurasian continent to the other; starting from Lisbon, Portugal, and ending up (hopefully!) in Singapore. I’ll be writing occasional blog entries throughout this year to document my experiences and adventures for prospective students.

The invariable first question from people I explain my plans to: Why? It’s a good question, one that leads to many more good questions. Why postpone the start of university studies? Why attempt something so fraught with potential perils? And why alone?

These questions have been circulating in my mind since the end of last summer, when I began my senior year and entered the gauntlet of college applications. Not everyone is familiar with the idea of a gap year — it’s a choice notably more popular with students from Europe and Australia than the United States. And in some schools at home, it’s practically unheard of. There’s no one way to “do” a gap year (or years) — some people work, some volunteer, some travel and some combine all these things. One friend of mine is working on a dairy farm in Illinois, and a former co-worker is teaching English in Fiji and Costa Rica — the options are only truly limited by your interests and motivations. Or, beyond programs, one can completely organize and facilitate their gap year experience on their own (as I have). Everyone taking a year or two off before university will likely give slightly differing reasons for their choice, but many will boil down to the same central idea: I’m not sure I’m ready for university yet.

To some, that might seem like an odd way to feel. After four years of high school (no matter how great they were), aren’t we all craving the freedoms and experiences college promises? The friendships, the parties, the chance to begin studying something that truly interests us? And certainly, I’m enthralled by the thought of all these things coming down the line — the University of Rochester was my first choice school by the end of the application process, and I couldn’t be happier about starting there next autumn. But as I reflected on my high school career, then coming to a close, I began to wonder if I really felt prepared for (at least) four more years of education. After months of internal debate, extensive research and plenty of discussion with parents and friends, I decided last winter that I would pursue independent travel for a year in lieu of enrolling in university. The final decision came down to a few fairly simple convictions:

1. Traveling is one of the best ways to develop — I had a very fortunate upbringing, in which my family was able to travel frequently to other countries. Combined with developing passions for languages and history during high school, and an ever-growing collection of travelogues on my bookshelf, these experiences critically molded my adolescent perspectives and opinions. Chiefly, I was raised with the idea that immersing oneself in other lifestyles and cultures is tantamount to thriving in our increasingly interconnected world.
2. I need to get out for a while — As fond as I am of Baltimore (which is a lot) and the whole Northeast, where I’ve spent the vast majority of my life, I began to yearn for places that didn’t all feel so similar. This is a kind of flipside to the previous point; that getting out of one’s comfort zone is a powerful, eye-opening, and seriously refreshing experience. To spend a year passing between a tremendous variety of places, climates, peoples and their thoughts struck me as a terrific cure for my home-weariness. Simultaneously, I know that I’ll return home with newfound critiques, comparisons and appreciations for the land I was raised in.
3. Better sooner than later — Another common response to my travel agenda has been “why not wait until after college?” Indeed, even my parents, the travel buffs that they are, didn’t take a year off before university. Combined with the sheer scope of my itinerary, this is something of an unprecedented idea. Frankly, I probably will travel extensively after my college career, as well as during (I’m already debating study-abroad locations for junior year!). It’s in my genes, I think, to want to push my boundaries and explore other places. And given Rochester’s reputation for encouraging students to freely form their own educational experience, I thought forming my own real-world experiences for a year would be a great way to get into the habit of being independent.

With these three things in mind, my churning internal dialogue settled on something like this: “I am curious about the world, able & willing to explore it, and young enough to give it my full focus and dedication — why not just do it?”. Thusly my gap year was decided — I knew it was the best decision for me personally, and I encourage anyone currently embroiled in the college process to give serious thought to taking time off before university. It’s not the right choice for everyone, but it all comes down to being honest with yourself: what you want, what you love, and seizing opportunities while you still can.

And months later, here I am, writing this up from a hostel in Barcelona — the sixth city I’ve visited in the last three weeks. Tonight I’ll take a train to Madrid, and spend a few days there before heading off to France. I’ve still got more than seven months ahead of me, and Singapore is still half a world away. Lord only knows what’ll happen between here and there, and not knowing is stressful in a way. But most of me knows that’s what I wanted a taste of before settling in for university — flexibility, freedom, adventure.