Kaitlyn Hughes | news editor

After not being ready to apply for physician assistant programs, Aubrey DePaul decided she will take a gap year when she graduates in the spring.

She has a plan for the next year, working full-time as a Patient & Family Concierge at UPMC Passavant, but she still has some worries about the future.

“It’s going to feel strange not being in school because my two other roommates will still be in school,” DePaul said. “I might feel weird or unfulfilled.”

Still, she knows this will be a good time to build her resume and gain experience to stand out on applications.

DePaul is not alone in her experience.

About 40,000 students take a gap year every year in the United States and Canada, according to a study done by the Gap Year Association in 2020.

The decision to take a gap year has become a more common trend, said Bethany Gary, assistant director and a career consultant for the center for career development at Duquesne.

“It ebbs and flows,” Gary said. “There are some years that it’s very popular, there’s other years that it’s not.”

She said that everyone takes a gap year for a different reason. Some students are not ready for graduate studies yet. Some students just want to take a break from school, and some students want to develop their professional skills.

Gary said that during a gap year, students can complete a volunteer program such as the Peace Corps, study for a standardized test such as the MCAT or shadow a professional in their field.

Gary, who took a gap year herself, said that it was a good time for reflection on the past, and it allowed her to decide what her next step was.

“I think that was very much a benefit for my mental health and just for my career trajectory,” she said. “All the way up through senior year of college you’re told who to be, where to go, what you’re supposed to do.

It’s very structured. And then all of a sudden when you graduate from college, you’re supposed to just figure it out.”

Gary said that a lot of students will take gap years to ensure they are doing the right things for themselves, and not just doing it because society tells them to.

As a developmental psychologist, Elizabeth Nickrenz, associate professor of psychology, said she is in favor of students completing a gap year after they complete their undergrad.

She said it is important for students to know who they are prior to entering a graduate program because of the vigorous curriculum.

“These years of emerging adulthood — the window of time between being an adolescent and feeling like a full-fledged adult — is a time when young people can do a lot of really important explorations about who they are,” Nickrenz said. “If you’re in [grad] school, there are going to be some long, cold winters when you have many papers to write and you are far from home, and it is really helpful to know how to cook yourself a big batch of soup.”

Despite the benefits, gap years can come with some challenges.

Beyond any feelings of being unfulfilled, DePaul also has financial worries.

“I am definitely stressed in terms of money because you only have so much time before you’re expected to start paying back your loans,” she said.

Gary said another obstacle students pursuing a gap year may face is the stigma of not immediately proceeding to what society deems as the next step.

“It’s like a taboo. If I take a year off, I’m gonna lose speed. And so there’s people who feel the pressure to rush into what’s next,” she said.

Nickrenz said there should not be a stigma surrounding gap years, and that having a set idea of what the next steps are may help get over societal pressures.

Gary also warned that a gap year can feel isolating at times. While pursuing an undergraduate degree, students are often surrounded by friends, but when they graduate they do not always have that sense of community.

To make the most out of a gap year, she recommended that students plan ahead of time and have a set daily routine.

“A lot of times trying to figure out what you want to be when you grow up is just trying different things, so use that year as an opportunity to just test some stuff out,” she said.”I think one of the biggest things is being confident in why you’re taking a gap year.”

Like Gary, Nickrenz took a gap year. She said that although the process was scary it was worth it because of the growth she underwent during that time.

“Understand that it’s going to be hard, but that the difficulty of it is what makes it worthwhile,” she said.

Gary said that students having trouble deciding whether or not to take a gap year can schedule an appointment with their career consultant.

Additionally, the career development center will host their annual Be the Change event in February, which allows students to talk to about 30 different organizations about volunteer opportunities.

Kaitlyn Hughes can be reached at hughesk10@duq.edu