SoFi Blog

When Malia Obama took a gap year before starting at Harvard in 2017, her plan created a lot of controversy on the internet, especially here in the U.S. But students taking a gap year—before, during, or after college—isn’t new, and the trend is widespread in other countries.

The oldest gap year organization in the U.S., the Center for Interim Programs , has been around for nearly 40 years. While there are limited stats on how many students take gap years here, almost 25% of students in Australia take a gap year and American numbers, which used to be estimated at closer to 1% or 2%, appear to be rising.

Also known as a bridge year, a gap year or gap semester can come between high school and college, after college before starting grad school or a career, or even in between semesters while at college. The idea is to refresh yourself after all those years of head-to-the-books learning, explore potential career interests, and get some new experiences while the risks are low—and when you have no kids and no mortgage.

The idea is you then return to school—or start your job search—with newfound focus and intention. What you do while taking off a gap year depends on you. You can volunteer, travel, work, or some combination. Malia Obama almost 25% of students joined a cross-cultural exchange program to Bolivia and Peru, did an internship with a film and TV production company in New York, and traveled with her parents to Indonesia.

Now, you may not be able to pull off the same itinerary as Malia, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a great experience of your own. If you’re asking yourself, “Should I take a gap year?” then here are some of the options and logistics to consider.

When you moved into the neighborhood, everything was wonderful. You were so thrilled to be in a new home in a neighborhood that you loved. You had decorated it to perfection, and revelled in its well-ranked school district. It was your idyllic haven. That is, until you realized you had inherited some bad neighbors.

Housewives. CEOs. Titans of industry. Your favorite aunt.

It seems like just about everyone these days is trying to get their kids into elite colleges—by any means necessary. And certain elements of the wealthy and well connected don’t seem to mind going through the back door—or side door—as long as their child gets accepted.

You’ve probably seen a news story or two about admissions tactics that have gotten some high-profile parents in hot water recently. These approaches, the “side doors” as they were pitched, went well beyond traditional means of giving students a leg up in the college process.

For the rest of us, who can’t fund a building or get a coach to admit our son on the basis of a photoshopped water polo player, we have one option: the front door. And that just means helping your child get accepted the normal way—sans bribes.

After 19 years of education—12 years in primary school, four years of undergraduate study, and three years of post-graduate work—you’ve finally done it: You’re a lawyer. Well, almost.

Before any graduate can practice law, he or she must take the bar exam . After years of school and countless hours of studying, your legal career will come down to passing the bar exam. Typically, graduates walk across the stage in May, then take the bar exam in their state of choice the last week of July (although most states administer the bar exam during the last week of February as well).

Then, they must wait to confirm their bar results and start working as a first-year associate. And all that adds up to is a ton of time off with nothing to do between taking the bar and starting a job. Nothing to do but celebrate, of course.

What do students do while waiting on bar exam results? The time-honored tradition of “bar trips” takes place each year during those few weeks after the exam and actually receiving the results.

There’s a growing consensus these days that millennials are behind their Gen X and Boomer counterparts when it comes to investing trends. But is it true? Depending on which study you read, the answer is yes … and no.

While some millennials appear to be saving early and often, with their eyes on a seven-figure prize, others say they struggle on the daily just to pay the bills. But even for millennials who have money to bank, a hesitation to invest in stocks has left them a little behind the curve.

We can’t really blame them for being wary. The oldest millennials were in their late 20s and just starting their careers when the market crashed and burned in 2008. And if they had invested in the stock market up to that point, watching their portfolios disappear while corporations received billion-dollar government bailouts certainly gave them a reason to distrust Wall Street.