Erika Richards (far right) opted to be in Asia for her gap year
Mind the Gap Year The how, what, and why of taking a year off before university by Ellis Friedman
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beijingkids
2013 June
to pursue an interest, to get work experience, or to make some money before paying university tuition.
Becoming Independent “Some students just aren’t ready for the next step in their education [after high school],” says Adam Wilson, a Canadian International School of Beijing (CISB) guidance counselor. “They benefit from maturing, both in terms of age and [from] experiencing the ‘real world.’ Many [international school students] have lived with their parents their whole lives and many have never had jobs. They need to experience a bit more independence and learn to stand on their own two feet.” Wilson was guidance counselor to 19-year-old Erika Richards, who graduated from CISB last year. She took a gap year for reasons different than Zhu’s. “I wanted to spend more time with my family,” says Richards, whose family moved from Canada to Beijing in her senior year of high school. Not only did Richards want to take advantage of the opportunity to live in Asia, but she wanted to save for university. “I wasn’t ready financially to live on my own. I didn’t want to take on so much debt at such a young age.” Richards has spent her gap year in Beijing living with her parents, and traveled to Australia and Shanghai.
photos: courtesy of erika richards and franklyn zhu
ranklyn Zhu, originally from Hong Kong and China, had an acceptance letter to Yale University when he graduated from the Western Academy of Beijing (WAB) last June. But instead of packing up and heading to university a few months later, he worked as a graphic designer in Beijing until September, then jumped over to Stanford University in California for two months to take classes in psychology and art. In November, he decided to backpack through Mexico and Cuba. By the time January rolled around, he was studying opera in Siena, Italy. Come April, he was backpacking in Sicily and visiting friends in London and Amsterdam before settling in Milan in May for another session of opera study. “After high school, I was feeling burnt out. I was going through a massive existential crisis, and I didn’t want to jump right into another four years of institutionalized education just yet,” says Zhu, who will attend Yale this fall. “The biggest reason I decided to take a gap year was that I wanted to try something new and do something out of my comfort zone.” Many students graduating or about to graduate from high school share this sentiment, and the gap year, though common in the UK and Australia, is still not the international norm. Students take gap years for reasons, existential to concrete: to see the world, to find themselves,