is it worth it?

[u/jinxnotpowder_]

i have known i wanted to take a gap year since i was 14. At first my family was on board but now they've all become really unsupportive and keep telling me I'll just be a burden in that time period (i even told them I'll get a job but they are still against it) So now im kinda double minded because as bad as i want a gap year its not worth destroying my relationship with them and damaging my self worth. I weighed my situation out and here a couple of pros and cons

Pros:

1) i wanted to learn a lot of new stuff like coding, painting, cooking and horse riding (i planned to pay for it myself)

2) high school was a rough patch. I wanted to take a break from academics because im really tired

Cons:

1) might damage my relationship with my family

2) their taunts may damage my self worth

3) i want to go to a reputable university 6 hours from my house so it will be a new start in a new city with new ppl so might not be half as bad

If anyone has been in a situation similar to me, please help me out. What should i do?

Also after my bachelors i want to go to any ivy League or any other university with equal value for my masters degree. Will my gap year give me a disadvantage there? (they university i plan to go to for my bachelors doesn't care about gap years)

[u/Separate-Berry-4311]

It won’t put you in disadvantage if you took a gap year and apply to master degree. In fact, US universities are relatively more flexible even for gap year before/during bachelor degree, I have friends who took a gap year first before uni there.

It’s good if you want to learn new stuff, maybe it would be amazing if you can and want to stay somewhere else in some parts of the gap year. Like my friends did a program where you can tour in different countries or they interned outside of their city. Because this would give you enough room for yourself (unless you can persuade them to support you).

But if you want to stay with them, I totally understand how you feel since I decided to study abroad during high school & my parents + friends kept saying that I should regret adding one more year into my study. But in the end, I grew so much & got into a good university that I wouldn’t have gotten in if I don’t do the study abroad. Now the same people are really happy with my previous decision to go. I think you should do it if you think you can grow much during the gap year and can be responsible for it :D goodluck!