Graduating Highschool is a feeling of freedom and the thought of young adulthood is exciting, until you have to sign up for college classes. At first, I did not want to take any classes, because I had no idea who I wanted to be or what career to pursue. It didn’t help that my parents were against the idea of a gap year because they assumed I would never go back to college. 

Maybe they were right, but you can’t force someone to go to school just because it could be for the better. 

I, unfortunately, am terrified of my parents, so I first took two semesters of courses at LMC during the 2022-23 school year. It was one of my worst years academically and mentally. I felt so alone, shy, depressed. I even had a couple of not-so-pretty breakdowns in the shower. You know, just your average 18-year-old girl that goes through nothing crazy. I was not happy at all. 

I thought college was going to be something out of a movie. But I went to a community college, where there are no parties, no random romcom adventures or super cool hangout spots where you find the cool kids sitting.  

I had thought about this all wrong — so what was I going to do? Take a gap year or two. Did I tell my parents? Hell no! Are you crazy? I just told you I am terrified of them. Did I end up telling them? Of course, after that first semester was almost over. I could not keep up the lie. 

At first, I felt a weight had lifted off my shoulders of not having to stress about school. That was until I had to own up to the fact I lied to my parents about leaving college. I didn’t want them to know, because I was scared they would see me as a failure. 

You can only imagine how it went telling my Mexican dad the truth. How did he react?  He said nothing. For a man who tells you the truth, there was just silence, no words but full of disappointment. He just told me to wait for my mom to come home. 

Obviously, that would be worse. I got yelled at, as expected. This kind of pressure creates unnecessary stress in students, which either causes students to make the wrong career choice for themselves or they choose a major that won’t yield the right pay for survival.

I had no idea what career I wanted. So, I took general ed classes, but didn’t care about them. Once I took my two-year gap from college, I finally figured out that I wanted to be a part of the animal medical field. 

When I finally came back to Los Medanos, I took just two condensed versions of general ed classes, just to get my brain working with school material again. I felt so much more confident, asking questions, making friends with some classmates, doing my work on time and not at the last minute. I felt stronger than ever. 

Around 90% of students who take a gap year enroll in college within a year of completing their time off according to the Gap Year Association. I recommend that students take a gap year or semester off. You have time to recoup, come back stronger. And you still have time to get it all done!