r/gapyear

Please don’t cook me for my stats, I messed up a few years ago and I’m trying to get myself back out of that hole.

Basically I don’t know if a postbac or a SMP is a better option for me. For context, I was doing well in college and then…I was not. I had multiple family deaths and personal problems that completely destroyed my progress. I withdrew from classes (sometimes entire semesters), I failed classes, ended with d’s and c’s in some, missed semesters for financial reason, etc. I essentially for like two years dug a huge hole. Well these past couple years I’ve been doing the work to get out but it wasn’t enough.

After 6.5 years I finally finished my undergrad. My finishing grades were really good but even with retakes, the amount of credits I have dilute any good good to essentially nothing. Anyway, I ended with:

1500 scribing hours in busy ED/lvl 1 TC
3.2 cGPA and 3.459 sGPA across 210 attempted credits and 138 completed credits
0 shadowing
Essentially 0 volunteering
3 strong LORs from biology department chair (research), ED physician, and anatomy professor
Approx. 500 hours research with upcoming publication.
I did take the MCAT during my hole digging phase unfortunately (did not study at all, scored a 491 :) )

I don’t know if I should just take a gap year, find a clinical job, volunteer and shadow a bunch and kill future Mcat attempts or if I should do a SMP or a postbac

So I'm 18(F) and I'm preparing for my study visa and my file will lodge in October 2026 and visa is never sure which really makes me scared and if my visa got refused then i will have a gap year which scares me more.

I asked my parents that can I take addmission at a college in india while waiting for my visa and they told me that we are tight on budget so i have to choose between my fate of getting visa or i should just get addmission here in india and forget about study abroad. So i don't know what to do. I feel like I'm gambling with my life which really scares me.. please guys give me some advice.

I have accidently got myself in a horrible situation. I fumbled my exams, like, really fumbled them. The last paper I did I barely finished half the questions.

My predicted grades were A*AA and I applied to unis with that in mind but its looking more like it will be BBB-AAB. If I'm lucky, I will manage to get the grades for my insurance uni.

However, I recently realised that I dont want to go to my insurance choice for various reasons. I never planned or even considered doing a gap year and now im stuck. Ive got two weeks until the start of the summer break.

I know alot of people travel etc but I have only just realised that Im definitely having a gap year today. I dont know what to do.

I have various mental health issues and if I just get a local minimum wage job I'll be absolutely miserable. I have very few friends (certainly not reliable, close ones) and we have all been pretty open about not staying in contact after A levels. I live in a village of 300 people. There are no shops in walking distance. I cant drive so my only way to travel is through the very irregular and spaced out buses that come through my village.

Without school I am essentially completely isolated. If I get a job in a local town I will have to spend lots of money and time on transport and I will have nothing to do outside of that job.

Staying in my bedroom and leaving to do a few shifts at maccies or something is not a proper life. I need an actual plan of something to do but Im not sure what.

I have a passport and Im not opposed to travelling but Im not sure how feasible that would be.

I like literature, history, movies, writing, crafts etc. I was supposed to be doing a history or archaeology degree.

Im not entirely sure if I want to go to uni at all now for various reasons, but my main concern is figuring out what im going to do for the next year or two.

Hi! I’m 19F (20 this year), and I’m in my second year of uni (I live in Australia).

To cut to the point, I genuinely am the most depressed I’ve ever been. I’ve dealt with my depression my whole life but the last few months have been the worst I’ve ever been.

Apart of the reason is uni, I want to get a degree but I just don’t know if I can handle it right now. My parents at the end of the day want what’s best for me but they really do push me to just power through and get my degree.

I just don’t feel a connection to my studies or my campus, I’m constantly unmotivated and therefore getting subpar grades. I feel like I’m wasting my time there.

One of my best friends is leaving to go away on her second working holiday at another summer camp overseas. I’m so unbelievably excited for her and so unbelievably jealous.

The idea of escaping and going off to do something new for months without a care in the world is so temping but I don’t know how I feel about deferring my studies.

I just can’t see my life getting any better by sticking around here and continuing like this. I also don’t want to make any rash decisions.

Any people who have been in similar situations now or when they were younger have any advice? :)

Background & Context:

I am an Indian student from a small village (low-income background: ~$720 USD/year) currently taking a gap year. I only discovered US admissions in 12th grade. Coming from a local school where university education is rare, I’ve had to navigate this entire process alone.

Academics:

9th: 92% (Rank: 1/85)

10th: 89% (Rank: 5/85)

11th: 91% (Rank: 1/186)

12th: 87% (Rank: 1/186 in school & #1 in my village area)

SAT: 1520 (Taken on a scholarship)

Honors: Awarded by MLA for academic excellence; "Student of the Year" (out of 1,000+ students) in school.

Extracurriculars:

Entrepreneurship: Started a local cloud kitchen (3 months; learned operations and failure).

Content Creation: Philosophy/Physics YouTube channel (10k+ subscribers).

Business: Scaling my sister’s jewelry business (hit 100+ sales/month recently).

Internship: EdTech company, creating coaching materials.

Athletics: District Gold Medalist in Karate.

I will be applying for business/ Engineering major mainly for Universities

Why the Gap Year?

I took a drop year due to a family crisis. In December of my senior year, my aunt passed away. My father was fired from his job for taking leave for the 13-day ritual that is necessary in India when someone dies as he took more leave he got fired as he is the only person that earns so it's felt burden to me to apply for University that cost more than my half Annual income so due to the financial hit and the loss, I couldn't manage 10+ applications while relying on scholarships fees.

My Questions:

How do top-tier US unis view gap years taken for family/financial reasons?

Does my "distance traveled" (rural/low income) help contextualize my 12th-grade score?

Should I retake a 1520 for a 1550+, or focus entirely on my business and essays?

I am on right path to take the drop ?

This is my first time asking a question on reddit. In fact, I made an account specifically to ask this question. I'm graduating rank 8 in my class, but my cheapest college offer is $21k a year after aid and scholarships, which I just can't afford without taking out private loans. As far as I'm aware, everyone else in the top 10 is only paying 10k or less. This is mostly my fault I think, as I was completely lost this year and slacked off a bit, missing the deadlines for a lot of scholarships and opportunities that I should have capitalized off of, including pretty much all competitive scholarships for the schools I applied to, leaving my with just the financial aid package from my FAFSA. Should I take a gap year and reapply to colleges and more scholarships next year? Should I risk it for the biscuit and take out $10k yearly private student loans? Is this even the right place to be asking this?? I'm so lost. School counselors ain't worth shit.

Guys, is gap year a good decision or baddddd???? My whole family is against it,but im too convinced for it

I was accepted to several universities, but only two are places I would genuinely want to attend. However, their total cost would be around €40,000 per year, while my family and I could realistically cover only about €20,000 combined. The more affordable options do not align well with what I am looking for. Since I have already taken one gap year, I am unsure whether taking a second gap year would be strategic or too risky. What are your thoughts on this? What I could possibly do to get into top universities with a fat financial aid next year with so many gap years?

as an international student currently studying at a university and considering reapplying to better schools, do you guys think it’s worth it?

In that case, I’d probably take two gap years and start over from freshman year.

For context, my current university is top 10 in china, but there aren’t many opportunities for me to stay here long-term or go global

I'm 18 I'm writing jee advanced in 3 day but didn't meet board criteria of 75% got 61% lost the motivation to write advanced.i didn't write VIT but wrote comedk and kcet and can't get good college in that to as board marks is low .my parents are refusing to take drop,they are to get into any college and write gate exam for good mtech college.I genuinely feel like I can get good ranking jee as in the last 2 years of preparation I didn't give my full potential and even if I got both percentage criteria have not got any college from JEE main and advanced so hoping for a genuine advice and asking seniors where been in the same position as mine or current classmates were going to same face what they are doing thank you, appreciate you reading my text and commenting

Our 17-year-old’s 529 covers one year of out-of-state tuition. That’s it. A four-year US degree isn’t financially realistic for our family, and we’re not going to debt-finance it.

My wife and I are considering offering him 3 to 6 months abroad with that money instead. The goal is to put him somewhere unfamiliar enough that he has to figure out who he is without his parents, his friends, and suburban Phoenix filling in the blanks.
Here’s the honest picture:

- He’s gifted. D1 running talent. Has never built the discipline to execute it.
- He’s a comfortable suburban kid. Hasn’t had to figure much out on his own.
- His eyes lit up when we floated the idea, which makes me trust it less, not more.
- We have not yet built the structure. That’s what I’m here for.

What I’m wrestling with:

A 18-year-old (when he graduates high school in 2027) with money and no plan in a foreign country is a recipe for drift, not growth. The kids who come back changed from gap years usually had some scaffolding: a job, a program, a language school, a mentor, a commitment. The ones who thrive in pure freedom are usually already disciplined. He isn’t.
But too much scaffolding turns it into a study abroad program with extra steps and defeats the point of him having to navigate something hard.
What I’m asking:

1. If you sent a kid abroad at this age, what structure did you put around it? What was the right ratio of freedom to commitment?
2. What did you require of him during the trip? After? Was there a “contract”?
3. At what point would you have pulled funding or brought him home? What was your line?
4. What do gap-year-changed kids have in common that vacation-kids don’t?
5. What am I not asking that I should be?

Not interested in “follow your heart” or “every kid is different.” Looking for specific, lived experience and honest pushback on the plan. If you think this is a bad idea, tell me why.

My son just announced he is taking a gap year after year 3 of college to travel the world. He will then return to school and finish year 4. He saved / invested / etc enough $ to make it work. As a parent, I am so uncomfortable with this idea as he is a young 20 year old and I envision the worst happening to him during his travels. More so, I think returning back to school will not be easy…

Are any of you either parent or young people who travelled extensively at 20 or so? What were your experiences ? Is my panic justified ?

I don't want to trauma dump but I'm on a gap year after finishing sixth form because I don't know what I want to do in the future and I feel so upset and alone. I've become depressed and lonely and I don't talk to my friends about it because they can't relate because they know what they want to do and they're in uni living the life while I struggle to find a part time job and help my family out. I feel so bad for feeling jealous but I can't help it. I feel like finding out my next step in life is eating me alive. Does anyone have any advice?

Hello!
I’m a 3rd year computer engineering student in India. Academics was never my strong point and my grades were average at best for the last 3 years. After doing an internship, I realised my skills are no where near the industry standard and decided I want to get into a top university in either the US or in the EU.

I come from a fairly low ranked college so this time I don’t want any regrets. And so, I’m aiming for only the highest universities. After doing a lot of research, I realised there’s no way any of them will accept me looking at my grades, low work experience and no research work.

I graduate in June 2027 and was planning to start applying this year so i can start the fall session in 2027 but considering my standards this time around, I don’t think I will be able to achieve them.

I thought I could try to get my GPA up but there’s simply not enough time to get even a decent grade by the time applications roll around.

I will be doing another better internship this June but I can’t imagine that will be nearly enough to achieve my goals. So, I realised that maybe I could take a gap year and work in core technical and research fields to further strengthen my skills. This would also help in ignoring my low GPA from my bachelors degree (maybe).

However, I’m still confused on whether I should continue to aim to get into university in 2027, or take it easy and increase my chances for a top university in 2028.

Your insights will be wonderful!