gap year argumentative essay

The Gap Year Essay: Pros and Cons

Looking for a gap year essay example? This argumentative essay describes all the pros and cons of taking a gap year before college.

Introduction

• Pros of taking a gap year
• Cons of taking a gap year

There is an ongoing debate on whether high school graduates should take a year off (a gap year) before joining college. A gap year is a break from formal education and controlled environment that is otherwise monotonous and exhausting. Gap year is common in European countries and also in Australia and it is quickly catching up in America. It is an idea that even the most prestigious colleges and universities are getting fond of and thus encourage high school leavers to try it out.

Gap Year Pros

After completing high school, students tend to suffer from ‘information overload’ and exhaustion (Naomi, 2008). A year off may be helpful to such a person who has had an academic burnout and can use some time out to ‘recharge his or her academic battery’. The gap year will present the student with a chance to refresh his system and get a renewed energy which he will use to face the next phase of education.

Another reason as to why taking a year off is important is the fact that the person is able to build on some self confidence and their maturity level. Even top level universities are encouraging school leavers to take a year off since they reckon that those who do so, bring good values to the institution since they have had a taste of ‘outside life’ and will have a serious perspective towards life.

It is believed that those who take a gap year will be more focused and ready to face the more taxing institution of higher education. It is usually encouraged that students taking the gap year do so in a manner that will help them add some experience in a working environment while earning some money. They may also look for an internship which will help them have a feel of an organization and how it operates thus the student will make their curriculum vitae more appealing (William, 2000).

A gap year also offers chance for the high school leaver to do a thorough university search where he will look for the right institution that offers the course that he wants to engage himself in. The year off presents the school leaver with a chance to find the academic forte that he is most comfortable with. While enjoying a gap year, the school leaver will decide on what he or she wants to major in and this in turn will help them become more focused when joining university.

A school leaver may also spend his gap year travelling around hence broadening his horizon. By travelling abroad, the school leaver may discover new talents, gain new skills, learn new languages and visit various historical sites and this will help him have a diverse and broader perspective of life and thus make him more serious and focused when he gets to university.

Travelling abroad will also help the school leaver mingle with people of different races and cultures, a factor that helps them understand and appreciate diversity. This turns out to be very helpful to the high school leaver since he will encounter a multiracial and multicultural environment in the university and can therefore easily adapt, settle and start learning (Shellenbarger, 2010)).

A high school leaver who takes a gap year has a better chance of handling the peer pressure in the university. Because the high school leaver who was previously under the careful watch of his parents, will now be left on his own and thus the leaver who enjoyed his gap year travelling or being on an attachment will have built his self confidence and hence will tend to fight off peer pressure unlike the school leaver who joins university immediately where he will be hit by the reality of ‘first true freedom’ (World Inhabit, 2007).

Gap Year Cons

Besides the fact that taking a gap year will help to refresh the school leaver’s system, the gap year may also turn out to be disastrous towards the student and his career. This usually happens when the high school leaver fails to plan properly his schedule for the year off. Mostly, the high school leavers will waste a whole year and may not gain any helpful experience.

A mismanaged gap year may turn out to be too expensive to the high school leaver and, hence, deplete resources leaving him with insufficient funds to join university. Taking a gap year may result in a higher university budget as tuition fees tend to increase annually. William (2000) notes that “engaging in a gap year may result in the student missing a slot in the university especially in courses that are competitive”.

Also taking a year off may at times make the student lose momentum on studying and this may cause him a drop out of college or take a longer time to complete his course than expected. A gap year may lead to the high school leaver being demoralized by trailing his fellow classmates during the whole year (Sanjou, 2008).

A person who takes a gap year may fail to develop good skills and habits that may affect and help in his career and consequently fail to fit in the taxing university environment. A high school leaver who takes a gap year may enjoy real freedom having a time of his life and may find it very difficult to come in terms with reality that may end up by failing to join the university (Eunson, 2008).

Taking a year off may consequently lead to a delay in the beginning of a person’s career which means that the person will start earning at a later stage in life than he was supposed to. Also there are companies which plan trips for the school leavers thus reducing their level of self responsibility and thus don’t help build self confidence since they plan everything for the school leavers who should instead be doing things on their own to help build their confidence (College Confidential, 2010).

A high school graduate should consider the options he or she has when choosing whether or not to take up a gap year. The individual through numerous consultations with his parents, school counselors and sponsors should weigh between the pros and cons of taking up a gap year or not.

Ultimately, the decision lies in the high school leaver’s hands. This means that should the school leaver decide that he needs a break from academic pressure, he should ensure that he spends his gap year productively in a manner that will help boost his career path. A year off that is well spent by the school leaver can help boost a person’s confidence and maturity level. He will have a broader perspective of life and hence will give the university the seriousness it deserves once he gets enrolled.

Many universities in Europe and currently in the United States have come to appreciate the importance of taking a year off. Reports made by a number of university deans show that most people who take a gap year before joining university usually have a higher degree of seriousness, maturity and understanding than those who join university immediately after high school.

College Confidential. (2010). Pros and Cons of Gap Year . Web.

Eunson, B. (2008). Communicating in the 21st century 2nd edition . New York: John Wiley.

Naomi, G. (2008). The college gap year. Advantages and disadvantages of taking a gap year. CA: Sage.

Sanjou .G. (2008). Taking a year off is advantageous . New York: John Wiley.

Shellenbarger, S. ( 2010). Delaying College to Fill in the Gaps . Wall Street Journal.

William, F. (2000). Time out or Burn Out for the Next generation. New York, NY: McGraw Hill/Irwin.

World Inhabit. (2007). The Advantages and Disadvantages of Taking a Gap Year. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2023, October 28). The Gap Year Essay: Pros and Cons. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gap-year/

"The Gap Year Essay: Pros and Cons." IvyPanda , 28 Oct. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/gap-year/.

IvyPanda . (2023) 'The Gap Year Essay: Pros and Cons'. 28 October.

IvyPanda . 2023. "The Gap Year Essay: Pros and Cons." October 28, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gap-year/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Gap Year Essay: Pros and Cons." October 28, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gap-year/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Gap Year Essay: Pros and Cons." October 28, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gap-year/.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, how do i explain a gap year on my college applications.

I took a gap year after high school and I'm worried about how it will look on my college applications. How can I explain my gap year in a positive way so it doesn't hurt my chances of getting accepted?

It's great that you're considering how to present your gap year in a positive light on your college applications. Many students take gap years, and colleges are often open to these experiences, as long as they are framed constructively.

First, consider what you did during your gap year. If you engaged in any meaningful activities, such as volunteering, internships, or personal projects, make sure to highlight these experiences in your application. You can include them in the 'Activities' section or even write an essay about how they influenced your personal growth.

If your gap year was more focused on personal circumstances, like family commitments or health issues, it's important to be honest about this. You can briefly explain the situation in the 'Additional Information' section of your application. Just remember to focus on how you've grown and what you've learned from the experience, rather than dwelling on any negative aspects.

Good luck with your applications!

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Should you consider taking a gap year.

Taking a year off from school can seem a bit intimidating. However, taking a gap year between high school and college was an integral part of my journey to college, and it could be a part of yours as well!

Gap years are becoming increasingly more common for graduating high school students. They can be invaluable opportunities to work, travel, learn, and grow.

What did I get up to on my gap year?

During the summers that flanked my year off I worked as a camp counselor. I had worked at the camp throughout high school so it felt comfortable to start and end my time off with something familiar. However, going into my gap year I had no idea what I was going to do during the school season. I knew that I wanted to travel, but I didn’t have the money to do so. So the first thing I did was look for a job close to home. I ended up working part time in a Wegmans bakery and as a nanny for a local family. During the seven months that I worked, I was researching and planning a two month (self funded) trip through western Europe for myself and a friend. In late March, we left our jobs (with advance notice to our employers) and set off for the trip of a lifetime! We visited Dublin, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and London. We stayed in a combination of Hostels and friends' homes. It was so much fun to explore new places and meet new people. It was such a transformative experience! 

How do you know if a gap year is the right choice for you? 

Consider the following questions when deciding whether a gap year would be a good option for you.

Do you need a break?

Many of us work our butts off during high school to be the best we can be, and that can be tiring. Occasionally, students who graduate from high school and go directly to college might feel burnt out. This feeling is more common than many students realize, and it is completely valid! You can take time off from school to reflect on your goals and interests, focus on your health, and/or gain experience in environments different from a classroom. It is not a race to graduate. This information from Harvard's Admissions Office might be helpful to you as you consider a gap year: . 

Me receiving my high school diploma

Do you feel like you need time to mature?

College is a place to learn, grow, and gain maturity. However, it does require a certain level of maturity and independence going in as well. If you find yourself depending on others (such as your parents) to be responsible for you, you may consider using a gap year to practice maturity and independence. 

Do you wish you had more money?

Gap years can be used to work a full-time job or to take on an internship. It’s okay to simply use your time off from school to work and make money if it will help lighten the burden of your financial responsibilities. Additionally, just because you work doesn’t mean you can’t have fun during your gap year. (I did both!)

My best friend Sam in my Wegmans work uniform

Would you like hands-on experience before getting to college?

Working a job in a field that you are interested in studying, such as government, marketing, medicine, or business can be a valuable way to gain experience. Internships and volunteer positions can also be great ways to get hands-on experience. 

Do you have a skill you want to hone?

Some of my friends used their gap years to write and perform music, work as photographers, or to compete in various national and global competitions! Some people use their gap years to further explore their interests by taking courses in subjects that they might not have been exposed to during high school. (However, please know that, if you're an incoming Harvard student, you're not allowed to fully enroll in any other college during your gap year; also, none of the courses you take during your gap year will be eligible for transfer credits). You could look into your local community center to see if they offer any adult education courses; I briefly took a sewing course at a local craft store.

Do you want to travel?

While you can certainly travel during college through study abroad programs, sometimes it’s nice to travel without having to worry about doing your homework at the end of the day. Traveling during time off from school allows you to be a true tourist and to take advantage of many different opportunities. That being said, if you do not want to travel just as a tourist, you can often travel and do amazing work at the same time! There are a number of internships/jobs available for students wishing to go abroad. 

Me and my travel buddy in front of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona during our gap year

The bottom line

There are many reasons to take a gap year, but consider what's best for you. If you feel like you are ready to jump into college right after high school, go for it! However, if you answered ‘yes’ to any of the questions above, then you might consider taking time off from school. If you decide that you do want to take a gap year, but you aren’t sure how to go about it, a good place to start is your school guidance counselor. They may have information about opportunities in your local area and might be able to help you begin to plan your year off. They can also help you talk to your parents about why a gap year may be the right choice for you.

For some more information and resources about gap years, check out the Gap Year Association !

You should also check out Harvard's student-run club for people who have taken time off, the Gap Year Society .

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Home — Essay Samples — Education — Gap Year — A Research Of The Benefits From Having A Gap Year

A Research of The Benefits from Having a Gap Year

• Categories: Gap Year

About this sample

Words: 2659 |

14 min read

Published: Jun 7, 2021

Words: 2659 | Pages: 6 | 14 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, methodology, bibliography.

• Abdullah, D. (2017). Making the Gap Year a Reality: Six Issues for Consideration. International Higher Education(89), 13.
• Centre for Analysis of Youth Transitions. (2012). Gap year takers: uptake, trends and long term outcomes. Centre for Analysis of Youth Transitions.
• Coetzee, M., & Bester, S. (2009, January). The possible value of a gap year : A case study. South African Journal of Higher Education, 3(23), 608-623.
• Jones, A. (2004). Review of Gap Year Provision. University of Londen, Department for Education and Skills, Londen.
• Lyons, K., Hanley, J., Wearing, S., & Neil, J. (2012). Gap year volunteer tourism, myths of global citizenship? Annals of Tourism Research(39), 361-378.
• Mlotkowski, P., Lumsden, M., & Curtis, D. D. (2012). Bridging the gap: who takes a gap year and why? National Centre for Vocational Education Research, Adelaide.
• Piddock, C. (2004). Taking Time Out. Career World, 3(33), pp. 6-9.
• Rabie, S., & Naidoo, A. V. (2016). The value of the gap year in the facilitation of career adaptability. South African Journal of Higher Education, 138-155.
• Snee, H. (2014, November 1). Doing something 'worthwile': intersubjectivity and morality in gap year narratives. The Sociological Review(62), 843-861.

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How a gap year before college changed my view on life — and my future

“It’s day one of a really uncertain year … here’s to adventure, I guess.” I naively wrote those words on the first page of a brown leather journal that followed me into more than 100 random “host houses” that I nomadically called home for a year. 

Like many 18-year-olds, high school was the necessary stepping-stone for college. I was insistently Type A in high school with an intense focus on top grades and engaging in extracurriculars, with the foresight of a well-dressed college application and a sheer determination to prove that I would find success upon leaving my small Texas hometown.

But I’ll always remember the melancholic feeling of a rolled diploma in my hand as I walked across the graduation stage. Much of my academic efforts had felt more like sleepwalking rather than learning. I craved an experience that would make me feel strongly about something — a cause, mission or profession, I wasn’t sure.

In July, a month before my college move-in date, I found that opportunity: I had applied for and was selected to travel across the country on behalf of the Future Farmers of America, a nonprofit organization I had been involved with in high school. The role required deferring a year of college to visit and speak at different high schools — 317 in total — and advocate for agriculture education in the classroom.

An FFA staff member handed me the keys to a Ford truck that was wrapped with elaborate rolling fields of crops down the side doors. I was given a list of schools to visit, a travel partner named Conner, a couple weeks of training and a clothes hanging rack for the back seat. 

I wasn’t a wanderlust bohemian. I had a plan. A plan to go to college, major in business and become a CEO. But something within me knew before I attempted to lay out a career path, I needed to see more. My gap year didn’t squash my aspirations — it challenged them, flipping my 10-year plan on its head, making me ask why.

I needed to see more. My gap year didn’t squash my aspirations — it challenged them, flipping my 10-year plan on its head, making me ask why.

Washington, D.C., was the first travel stop for Conner and me. I’ll never forget an early morning that took place on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. I sat in awe as the sunrise’s gleam reflected on the water. To my right I smelled and peripherally saw a large, hairy animal — maybe standard in my hometown Gilmer, Texas, but not on the National Mall.

“Goat’s name is Miles,” said a voice hidden behind the large mammal. “And I’m Steve. We’re sort of a team.”

Interest piqued, I petted Miles and listened to Steve share the duo’s unlikely journey. From Seattle, Washington, to Washington, D.C., they had trekked 3,600 miles over four years, raising over $100,000 for a startup orphanage in Kenya. Quitting his job, departing normalcy and choosing an adventure that impacted and united folks across the globe.

Steve and Miles didn’t inspire me to call my admissions counselor and bail on my college degree, but they did challenge me to think about my life in its limited totality. That encounter left me wondering how I wanted to help the world, how I planned to change it, and thinking less about what was ordinary and practical. As an 18-year-old, being given the freedom to think imaginatively before re-entering the classroom walls provided a substantial framework for when I began at my university.

In total my gap year brought me to 18 states and across 60,000 miles. Each night, organized through FFA, a volunteer guest host kindly provided us a place to sleep. A new face, new life story and a newly gained perspective. Those lessons learned around 150 random American family dinner tables may have been my most significant takeaway.

It’s not lost on me that my experience was not a typical gap year. Host homes, school visits and living out of a truck are not the gap year norm. But regardless of structure, gap years take on their own mold. And when approached with intentionality, they produce an environment where failure is encouraged and growth is inevitable.

Part of my gap year with FFA was working alongside rural media to promote agriculture education. I became fascinated by media work: local radio shows, writing scripts for promotional videos, and the couple times I got to be on a camera set — all things I never saw much of growing up and had no clue could be a real profession. 

I minored in journalism at Texas A&M University a few years later, wrote for the school’s satirical paper and applied to over 50 journalism internships throughout college.

The spring of my junior year I interned at TODAY and soon became a full-time employee — all thanks to a year that allowed me to make sense of where my passions met profession.

The last words on the final page of that now tattered journal from my gap year read, “Too much to capture on paper but I have written enough to transport me back to these wonderful moments of life.”

More than fond memories, I find those moments have etched themselves into my core self, helping direct the next adventure ahead.

Argumentative Essay Examples & Analysis

July 20, 2023

Writing successful argumentative or persuasive essays is a sort of academic rite of passage: every student, at some point in their academic career, will have to do it. And not without reason—writing a good argumentative essay requires the ability to organize one’s thoughts, reason logically, and present evidence in support of claims. They even require empathy, as authors are forced to inhabit and then respond to viewpoints that run counter to their own. Here, we’ll look at some argumentative essay examples and analyze their strengths and weaknesses.

What is an argumentative essay?

Before we turn to those argumentative essay examples, let’s get precise about what an argumentative essay is. An argumentative essay is an essay that advances a central point, thesis, or claim using evidence and facts. In other words, argumentative essays are essays that argue on behalf of a particular viewpoint. The goal of an argumentative essay is to convince the reader that the essay’s core idea is correct.

Good argumentative essays rely on facts and evidence. Personal anecdotes, appeals to emotion , and opinions that aren’t grounded in evidence just won’t fly. Let’s say I wanted to write an essay arguing that cats are the best pets. It wouldn’t be enough to say that I love having a cat as a pet. That’s just my opinion. Nor would it be enough to cite my downstairs neighbor Claudia, who also has a cat and who also prefers cats to dogs. That’s just an anecdote.

For the essay to have a chance at succeeding, I’d have to use evidence to support my argument. Maybe there are studies that compare the cost of cat ownership to dog ownership and conclude that cat ownership is less expensive. Perhaps there’s medical data that shows that more people are allergic to dogs than they are to cats. And maybe there are surveys that show that cat owners are more satisfied with their pets than are dog owners. I have no idea if any of that is true. The point is that successful argumentative essays use evidence from credible sources to back up their points.

Argumentative essay structure

Important to note before we examine a few argumentative essay examples: most argumentative essays will follow a standard 5-paragraph format. This format entails an introductory paragraph that lays out the essay’s central claim. Next, there are three body paragraphs that each advance sub-claims and evidence to support the central claim. Lastly, there is a conclusion that summarizes the points made. That’s not to say that every good argumentative essay will adhere strictly to the 5-paragraph format. And there is plenty of room for flexibility and creativity within the 5-paragraph format. For example, a good argumentative essay that follows the 5-paragraph template will also generally include counterarguments and rebuttals.

Introduction Example

Now let’s move on to those argumentative essay examples, and examine in particular a couple of introductions. The first takes on a common argumentative essay topic —capital punishment.

The death penalty has long been a divisive issue in the United States. 24 states allow the death penalty, while the other 26 have either banned the death penalty outright or issued moratoriums halting the practice. Proponents of the death penalty argue that it’s an effective deterrent against crime. Time and time again, however, this argument has been shown to be false. Capital punishment does not deter crime. But not only that—the death penalty is irreversible, which allows our imperfect justice system no room for error. Finally, the application of the death penalty is racially biased—the population of death row is over 41% Black , despite Black Americans making up just 13% of the U.S. population. For all these reasons, the death penalty should be outlawed across the board in the United States.

Why this introduction works: First, it’s clear. It lays out the essay’s thesis: that the death penalty should be outlawed in the United States. It also names the sub-arguments the author is going to use to support the thesis: (1), capital punishment does not deter crime, (2), it’s irreversible, and (3), it’s a racially biased practice. In laying out these three points, the author is also laying out the structure of the essay to follow. Each of the body paragraphs will take on one of the three sub-arguments presented in the introduction.

Argumentative Essay Examples (Continued)

Something else I like about this introduction is that it acknowledges and then refutes a common counterargument—the idea that the death penalty is a crime deterrent. Notice also the flow of the first two sentences. The first flags the essay’s topic. But it also makes a claim—that the issue of capital punishment is politically divisive. The following sentence backs this claim up. Essentially half of the country allows the practice; the other half has banned it. This is a feature not just of solid introductions but of good argumentative essays in general—all the essay’s claims will be backed up with evidence.

How it could be improved: Okay, I know I just got through singing the praises of the first pair of sentences, but if I were really nitpicking, I might take issue with them. Why? The first sentence is a bit of a placeholder. It’s a platitude, a way for the author to get a foothold in the piece. The essay isn’t about how divisive the death penalty is; it’s about why it ought to be abolished. When it comes to writing an argumentative essay, I always like to err on the side of blunt. There’s nothing wrong with starting an argumentative essay with the main idea: Capital punishment is an immoral and ineffective form of punishment, and the practice should be abolished .

Let’s move on to another argumentative essay example. Here’s an introduction that deals with the effects of technology on the brain:

Much of the critical discussion around technology today revolves around social media. Critics argue that social media has cut us off from our fellow citizens, trapping us in “information silos” and contributing to political polarization. Social media also promotes unrealistic and unhealthy beauty standards, which can lead to anxiety and depression. What’s more, the social media apps themselves are designed to addict their users. These are all legitimate critiques of social media, and they ought to be taken seriously. But the problem of technology today goes deeper than social media. The internet itself is the problem. Whether it’s on our phones or our laptops, on a social media app, or doing a Google search, the internet promotes distracted thinking and superficial learning. The internet is, quite literally, rewiring our brains.

Why this introduction works: This introduction hooks the reader by tying a topical debate about social media to the essay’s main subject—the problem of the internet itself. The introduction makes it clear what the essay is going to be about; the sentence, “But the problem of technology…” signals to the reader that the main idea is coming. I like the clarity with which the main idea is stated, and, as in the previous introduction, the main idea sets up the essay to follow.

How it could be improved: I like how direct this introduction is, but it might be improved by being a little more specific. Without getting too technical, the introduction might tell the reader what it means to “promote distracted thinking and superficial learning.” It might also hint as to why these are good arguments. For example, are there neurological or psychological studies that back this claim up? A simple fix might be: Whether it’s on our phones or our laptops, on a social media app, or doing a Google search, countless studies have shown that the internet promotes distracted thinking and superficial learning . The body paragraphs would then elaborate on those points. And the last sentence, while catchy, is a bit vague.

Body Paragraph Example

Let’s stick with our essay on capital punishment and continue on to the first body paragraph.

Proponents of the death penalty have long claimed that the practice is an effective deterrent to crime. It might not be pretty, they say, but its deterrent effects prevent further crime. Therefore, its continued use is justified. The problem is that this is just not borne out in the data. There is simply no evidence that the death penalty deters crime more than other forms of punishment, like long prison sentences. States, where the death penalty is still carried out, do not have lower crime rates than states where the practice has been abolished. States that have abandoned the death penalty likewise show no increase in crime or murder rates.

Body Paragraph (Continued)

For example, the state of Louisiana, where the death penalty is legal, has a murder rate of 21.3 per 100,000 residents. In Iowa, where the death penalty was abolished in 1965, the murder rate is 3.2 per 100,000. In Kentucky the death penalty is legal and the murder rate is 9.6; in Michigan where it’s illegal, the murder rate is 8.7. The death penalty simply has no bearing on murder rates. If it did, we’d see markedly lower murder rates in states that maintain the practice. But that’s not the case. Capital punishment does not deter crime. Therefore, it should be abolished.

Why this paragraph works: This body paragraph is successful because it coheres with the main idea set out in the introduction. It supports the essay’s first sub-argument—that capital punishment does not deter crime—and in so doing, it supports the essay’s main idea—that capital punishment should be abolished. How does it do that? By appealing to the data. A nice feature of this paragraph is that it simultaneously debunks a common counterargument and advances the essay’s thesis. It also supplies a few direct examples (murder rates in states like Kentucky, Michigan, etc.) without getting too technical. Importantly, the last few sentences tie the data back to the main idea of the essay. It’s not enough to pepper your essay with statistics. A good argumentative essay will unpack the statistics, tell the reader why the statistics matter, and how they support or confirm the essay’s main idea.

How it could be improved: The author is missing one logical connection at the end of the paragraph. The author shows that capital punishment doesn’t deter crime, but then just jumps to their conclusion. They needed to establish a logical bridge to get from the sub-argument to the conclusion. That bridge might be: if the deterrent effect is being used as a justification to maintain the practice, but the deterrent effect doesn’t really exist, then , in the absence of some other justification, the death penalty should be abolished. The author almost got there, but just needed to make that one final logical connection.

Conclusion Example

Once we’ve supported each of our sub-arguments with a corresponding body paragraph, it’s time to move on to the conclusion.

It might be nice to think that executing murderers prevents future murders from happening, that our justice system is infallible and no one is ever wrongly put to death, and that the application of the death penalty is free of bias. But as we have seen, each of those thoughts are just comforting fictions. The death penalty does not prevent future crime—if it did, we’d see higher crime rates in states that’ve done away with capital punishment. The death penalty is an irreversible punishment meted out by an imperfect justice system—as a result, wrongful executions are unavoidable. And the death penalty disproportionately affects people of color. The death penalty is an unjustifiable practice—both practically and morally. Therefore, the United States should do away with the practice and join the more than 85 world nations that have already done so.

Why this conclusion works: It concisely summarizes the points made throughout the essay. But notice that it’s not identical to the introduction. The conclusion makes it clear that our understanding of the issue has changed with the essay. It not only revisits the sub-arguments, it expounds upon them. And to put a bow on everything, it restates the thesis—this time, though, with a little more emotional oomph.

How it could be improved: I’d love to see a little more specificity with regard to the sub-arguments. Instead of just rehashing the second sub-argument—that wrongful executions are unavoidable—the author could’ve included a quick statistic to give the argument more weight. For example: The death penalty is an irreversible punishment meted out by an imperfect justice system—as a result, wrongful executions are unavoidable. Since 1973, at least 190 people have been put to death who were later found to be innocent.

An argumentative essay is a powerful way to convey one’s ideas. As an academic exercise, mastering the art of the argumentative essay requires students to hone their skills of critical thinking, rhetoric, and logical reasoning. The best argumentative essays communicate their ideas clearly and back up their claims with evidence.

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How to write about your gap year

You have just submitted your primary application and after a brief respite, the secondary essays begin to flood in. Do not fret! With a little practice and patience, you will be churning out these essays! It can be easy, however, to become overwhelmed with the task at hand. My advice is to begin writing some of the more straightforward essays to help you boost your confidence and get the ball moving. A great place to start is the prompt about your gap year. Here are a few tips and misconceptions to guide you through this common secondary prompt.

Tip #1: Be Straightforward 

In many cases for this essay, you will have very little space to describe what you are doing or plan to do. As such, do not add flowery language and get to the point as quickly as possible. Your main goals here are to (1) tell your reviewers what it is that you are doing/plan to do and (2) what you have learned/hope to learn. Ideally you want to focus on the latter and explain how these extra years will eventually align with your goals of becoming a physician. 

Tip #2: This is Not your last chance 

One thing that is often not known (or is simply forgotten) is that these secondary essays are not your last opportunity to update your schools about what is happening/what you are learning during your gap year. Throughout the admissions process, applicants are often encouraged to write update letters to the schools (just double check that each of your schools accepts update letters). This secondary is a great chance to tell the schools the things that you are working on now and what you have learned from them. 

Misconception #1: It is not okay to “just work on myself”

Something that many applicants do during their gap years is work on their candidacy – most commonly working on their MCAT score. However, something that might be feared at this point in the cycle is that this information is not enough for this essay. However, medical school is a lot about resilience and overcoming obstacles. Therefore, talking about the plan and approach you have taken to strengthen your application is a valid approach for this essay! Ideally, your plan worked and you did in fact achieve your goals; so, talking about what you have learned in the process is absolutely helpful in showing your ability to go through medical school and become a doctor.

Misconception #2: It is not okay to do something non-medical

While many people spend their gap years doing something that is “easily defendable” in terms of its relation to a future in medicine, others may do something completely different. All the above is great! The most important thing to do in this essay is to talk about what you have learned and how it will make you a better physician in the long run. 

Now, if you have taken many years off and have not touched the field of medicine for any of those years, it may be more difficult to defend why you are applying to medical school. If you are going through this scenario, my advice is to try to have something even remotely related to medicine going on in the background. Your primary focus of your gap year(s) can be unrelated to medicine, but make sure you have some kind of touchpoint with the medical field during that time, even if it's in a very limited capacity. 

Pav graduated magna cum laude with a BSE in Chemical and Biological Engineering and minors in Engineering Biology and Global Health Policy from Princeton. He is now an MD-PhD student at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Arguments For And Against Taking A Gap Year

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Using grammarly placed a student on academic probation, why students should travel during a gap year essay sample, example.

Travelling is not about simply having fun; in fact, it is a serious survival school, especially for a young person who got used to being taken care of by his or her parents. It does not mean a teen must cook food on an open fire or sleep in dire woods; in the 21st century, Master Card allows a person to comfortably live almost in any country of the world. By survival, I mean the necessity to make independent decisions and take responsibility for them by facing the consequences. Where to eat or what to cook; which transport is cheaper; how to buy something you need when the retailer does not speak any language you know; where to stay for the night; how to get from point A to point B—these, as well as many other questions a traveler solves every day, and there is no one around to tell them whether their decision is true or false. For a young person, the ability to make life-affecting decisions can be invaluable (TravelStudentsF).

Travelling not only makes a teen more decisive, but also more communicative. When you go to a foreign country, you know almost nothing about it. Even if you have searched for some information about it, 90% of it is useless when you arrive to the new place. Therefore, you need help, and the only assistance you can get in a foreign country is from locals; in case you travel to a non-English-speaking country, you should also be prepared for the fact that people will not understand you. This can easily become an emergency case, because even basic communication phrases like “I need a doctor” or “I need help” suddenly become a challenge; therefore, a traveler has either to learn phrases of the local language, or try to explain what he or she needs with gestures. Both ways are fun, and contribute to making a person more easygoing and able to communicate with almost anyone. For a person who has lived for half a year in, for example, Nepal, communicating with English-speaking people after returning back home is easier (IFR).

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Also, travelling makes people more open-minded. When living in an homogeneous environment, a young person rarely has an opportunity to see beyond conformed norms of behavior, etiquette, and morals. Homogeneous environments usually make people more conservative. Instead, imagine you suddenly arrive in a completely new surrounding, with a totally different culture, traditions, attitude, outlook, and way of life. You will either have to adapt to it, or return back home, because frustration from the fact that foreign people do many things in a way different from what you got used to at home can be intense. Fortunately, the majority of travelers not only adapt to new rules, but enjoys embracing them, which makes them more open-minded, ready to experiment, and spontaneous (StudentsAroundF). No need to say that all this can be useful for a person regardless of where he or she lives, or what he or she does.

Modern students can enjoy the possibility to travel around the world before entering a university and thus choosing their future life path. Travelling during a gap year (or at least several months) can make a travelling student more responsible and decisive, communicative, and open-minded. These skills and qualities can be invaluable for a person throughout their entire lifetime.

“What’s so Exciting about Travelling?” IFR.net. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.

Doe, Jim. “How to Stop Being Ignorant.” StudentsAroundF. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.

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Home » Resources » The Gap Year Argument

The Gap Year Argument

• By Andrea W.
• July 10, 2013

What was it that Socrates said? “Visit the Signet Blog for all your tutoring needs”? No, wait—I think it was actually “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Yes, that’s it.

While Socrates may not have been referring to “The Gap Year,” he was correct that contemplation of the self is invaluable during periods of transition—whether geographic, academic, or occupational.  Relaxed reflection is essential to the practice of everyday life—particularly those moments of life between signposts of success . Below, we tackle the arguments against the gap year, and the best argument in favor of it.

The Arguments Against

“why wait when i am ready for college now”.

This is always the first question students ask when confronted with the prospect of a gap year. Of course, you are ready for college in many ways. However, adapting to a new set of academic and social responsibilities is not easy for everyone, and it can be fun and fulfilling to tackle each responsibility without the burden of classes or tuition. You may be ready now, but a gap year will likely leave you extremely prepared, not just ready.

“If I take time off now, I worry I won’t go back to school.”

This is one of our favorite excuses. The best counterargument is to work a full-time job. After a month or two of 40-hour workweeks, most teenagers will beg to go back to school. But the discipline of rising early for work  does  have academic merit.  A 9-to-5 approach to college ensures strong grades without stressful cramming or all-nighters.  Give it a try and you’ll probably find the work of college is closer to 30 than 40 hours per week.

“By next year, I will be too old for college.”

College courses, unlike high school courses, are homogeneous mixtures of lower- and upper-classmen, often with some graduate students mixed in. As such, the age of any college student rarely becomes a major issue.

The Argument in Favor

The concept of a gap year (often up to 15 months, including two summers) is almost always misunderstood. Many parents and students fear the onset of lethargy and mental atrophy, and wonder what to do over that seemingly unconventional period of time. To those people, we always stress a  multi-faceted approach . Imagine the opportunity for personal growth inherent in the following sample timeline:

• June: Graduation
• July–September: Summer employment; begin planning for your upcoming year.
• September–January: Take advantage of an opportunity that would be enjoyable and would help you grow socially, occupationally, and academically. Some great places to find these opportunities are  USA Gap Year Fairs , Gap Year , and  Projects Abroad .
• February–June: Work, intern, take a course or two, and visit with friends. If it has taken you longer than the summer to save up for your trip, this will be your chance to travel.
• July–September: Continue studying, working, and connecting with friends.

Beginning school as a freshman in the fall after your gap year, you will have the distinct advantages of  maturity ,  additional education ,  a rested mind , and i ncreased social confidence . Often, self-growth is the process that occurs in the background of life while we aren’t paying attention. As a result, it can be ignored or devalued.  The self, especially during times of transition, should instead be prioritized . During this phase of your life, little is more important than understanding who you are and where your passions lie.

So, once you’ve finished getting yourself into college, do yourself a favor and pause to consider setting aside some time for reflection. Instead of going straight to college, taking a gap year might result in more success and less stress—while potentially saving tuition money in the process.

Remember,  college is about becoming your own person.

If our anecdotal authority is not persuasive enough, check out this wonderful piece  on the value of deferring enrollment, written by William Fitzsimmons, Harvard College Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid.

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Jessica Bennett

Harvey Weinstein and the Limits of ‘She Said, She Said, She Said’

By Jessica Bennett

Ms. Bennett is a contributing editor in Opinion, where she writes about gender, politics and personalities.

I often wake up these days feeling as though I’m living in an upside-down world. Thursday was one such morning: Just as Donald Trump prepared to spend another day in a Manhattan criminal court to face charges related to hush money paid to a porn star he allegedly had sex with, in the same spot where Harvey Weinstein was convicted of rape four years ago, Mr. Weinstein’s New York conviction was overturned .

The decision was determined by a single vote , by a majority-female panel of judges, which ruled that the trial court judge had improperly allowed testimony from accusers who weren’t part of the charges, compromising Mr. Weinstein’s right to a fair trial .

Those following Mr. Weinstein’s legal battles always knew there was a possibility that his conviction would be thrown out on appeal. But the nature of the decision , and its focus on several women who testified that Mr. Weinstein had assaulted them, even though none of those allegations had led to charges, revealed something that unsettled me.

Until Thursday, it seemed that we had entered a new age of accountability, legal and social, not just for Mr. Weinstein but also for the abusers who’d come after him. Even as the #MeToo movement fell short in some ways, the Weinstein case felt like a cultural marker — an Arthur’s sword in the stone moment, in which something irreversible happened. The monster of #MeToo had been vanquished, and it changed something about the way we understood vulnerability and power.

And then, suddenly, it didn’t.

To be clear, Thursday’s ruling will not spring Mr. Weinstein from behind bars. He already faced an additional 16 years from a separate conviction in California , and he may be sent there to serve out that sentence.

But in establishing the limits of these so-called prior bad act witnesses — an attempt by the prosecution in the case to show a pattern of coercion — the ruling did something else: It highlighted the striking gap between how we’ve come to believe women inside the courtroom and outside it.

One of the lasting and mostly positive outcomes of the #MeToo movement, thanks in large part to Mr. Weinstein’s accusers speaking out, has been the way that public perception of sexual assault has shifted. Cases that were once dismissed as merely “he said, she said” were suddenly made collective, as women all over the globe came forward to proclaim they too — sparking a global reckoning.

Today the idea of believability in sexual assault cases has come to be synonymous with numbers: an army of voices, joining to support a claim, is how we come to believe that a woman is telling the truth. It is also, by the way, how we as journalists have learned to present those cases — detailing patterns, repetitions and often decades’ worth of paper trails.

I arrived at The Times in 2017, just days before my colleagues Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey began to publish groundbreaking charges against Mr. Weinstein . Accusations against him had been floating around Hollywood for years. But it was only through intensive corroboration, a paper trail and, importantly, the voices of multiple women that Ms. Kantor and Ms. Twohey were able to establish a pattern. The women of the Weinstein story became believable to the public because there were simply too many of them, with too many similar details, over too many years, for us not to believe.

Around 100 more women came forward with stories of sexual misconduct by Mr. Weinstein in the aftermath of that first article by Ms. Kantor and Ms. Twohey. The book and movie that followed were titled, aptly, “She Said” — a homage to that chorus of voices.

And yet inside the courtroom, as I reluctantly learned this week, the opposite can be true: She said, she said, she said, she said can unravel a prosecution.

Put bluntly: Our court system has not fully caught up to culture when it comes to understanding sexual violence. On its face, the veritable tsunami of damning evidence against Mr. Weinstein and others exposed for wrongdoing seemed to solve a problem that activists had labored over for decades: How do you combat the “he said, she said” nature of sexual assault cases?

While Mr. Weinstein’s accusers could, as Ms. Kantor wrote, fill a courtroom — and the women who proclaimed #MeToo in their wake could populate a small country — much of Mr. Weinstein’s appeal rested precisely on the argument that those voices ended up hurting, not helping, the case. As I read and reread the ruling , I realized the same swelling chorus of victims that made it possible for Mr. Weinstein to be held to account in the court of public opinion had somehow saved him in the court of law.

“What I tell my students is to think about the courtroom as an alternate universe,” said the legal scholar Deborah Tuerkheimer, when I called her to ask if I was crazy not to have seen this coming. A former Manhattan prosecutor and the author of the book “Credible: Why We Doubt Accusers and Protect Abusers,” she explained that, indeed, there is a tension between the principles of criminal prosecution — which tend to limit a defendant’s “other bad acts” or past behavior — and public perception of a credible allegation.

It is frustrating, of course, that the very reason there are so many women available to speak out is that the legal system has failed them from the start. In the Weinstein case, many of the accusations were about sexual harassment, which is a civil, not criminal, violation . Others fell beyond the statute of limitations.

But the legal system is not adequately set up to prosecute people accused of being serial sexual predators like Mr. Weinstein; it is, rightly, supposed to protect innocent people from being judged by their past behavior. (A person who has stolen once is not a lifelong thief, for one.) But sex crimes are more slippery than that, with patterns and power dynamics and less likelihood of witnesses. Which can leave prosecutors in a Catch-22: To any casual observer, it seems that Mr. Weinstein’s history of accusations of abuse should be admissible, and yet it was not.

Ms. Tuerkheimer noted that the closeness of the appeal’s ruling, as well as the back-and-forth from the judges , could (and perhaps should) revive debate about whether the rules for such convictions need to be updated. (In federal court, she said, there is a carve out for sexual assault that gives more leeway to prosecutors.) And yet, as it turns out, in some states — including California, where Mr. Weinstein’s lawyers plan to appeal next — they already have been .

Shortly after Mr. Weinstein was convicted in California in 2022, the former prosecutors Jane Manning and Tali Farhadian Weinstein argued in a guest essay for The Times that while trials should hold people accountable for bad acts, not bad reputations, the time had come to think about sex crimes differently. “Prosecutors should be able to argue something that tracks with common sense — that past predatory acts show a pattern of behavior,” they wrote.

If #MeToo could move the cultural conversation beyond a single case of “he said, she said,” isn’t it time the legal system allowed the same?

On Thursday, a few miles north of the criminal courthouse where Mr. Weinstein was convicted four years ago, the activist Tarana Burke appeared alongside Ashley Judd, one of Mr. Weinstein’s accusers, and urged the public to remember that movements like #MeToo are “long” and “strategic.” Even a decade ago, Ms. Burke said , “we could not get a man like Harvey Weinstein into the courtroom.”

“The bad thing about survivors is there are so many of us,” she told the crowd. “But the good thing about survivors is that there are so many of us.”

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

Follow the New York Times Opinion section on Facebook , Instagram , TikTok , WhatsApp , X and Threads .

Jessica Bennett is a contributing editor in the Opinion section of The Times. She teaches journalism at New York University and is the author of “Feminist Fight Club” and “This Is 18.” @ jessicabennett • Facebook