Why I Took The Opposite of A Gap Year

Recently, way too many people have had way too much to say about Malia Obama’s very personal decision to take a gap year (including some very hateful comments on Fox News that make me embarrassed to be American).  But a lot of people have also used her as inspiration to encourage others to take gap years themselves.

A gap year is a wonderful opportunity to grow as a person, have adventures, figure out what you want in life, and get some real-world experience. I’m not anti-gap year. But I do want to explain why I didn’t take one and encourage those of you who don’t want one to dive into college head-first.

U.C. Berkeley's Clock Tower (photo: Joel Thai)

When I was 16 years old, a year younger than Malia is now, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I knew three things: I wanted to be in politics eventually and have the job her dad does, I wanted to compose and perform music, and I wanted to be a writer. The problem was that unlike Malia, I wasn’t in high-school. I was a senior at U.C. Berkeley and I didn't have the luxury of time.

So I did a “stupid” thing. I applied to law school.

Now, I rarely explain to people why I graduated from high-school so young. So let me backtrack. I didn’t know that college was something you do to get a job. I just wanted an education; I still do. I love learning, especially math and science and "hard" law, like Tax and Property. I’m a nerd (and strongly #TeamIronMan, not that you asked). I skipped grades, because I had to in order to take courses that challenged and excited me.

My parents did not push me. I led a double life, making friends who didn’t know how old I was in the classes I took, and friends who knew how old I was, but not what I was doing academically.

Let me be completely clear. When I started at U.C. Berkeley, I had already taught algebra, volunteered at lots of places, had leadership roles, and worked – for pay – at Fermilab and CERN (in Geneva, Switzerland). I had “work experience.” I was not a wide-eyed, na?ve freshman, and I knew what I wanted out of my undergrad.

But let me also be completely clear about another thing: I have great parents. I have well-off parents. I do not pretend that any of this was because I was some sort of genius; I was lucky enough to grow up in California, where untraditional schooling is supported, lucky enough to have parents who could afford to stay with a young teen in Geneva, and lucky enough to meet professors who gave me opportunities.

It’s easy to take credit in hindsight, but the truth is the working world and the educational world are both arbitrary. This is part of the reason gap years are hit or miss.

Back to 16-year-old me, a senior at U.C. Berkeley, applying to law school. The only thing I knew was that politics, unlike music and writing, required the degree in law. I had always planned on going to law school at some point in my life. The LSAT was a lot of fun to take. I wanted to learn how to think in sharper ways and become a better writer and advocate.

The flip side of that story is that I wasn’t sure I’d get in. I had a summer job in India and studied for the LSAT only on the weekends; I took it a week I had three other midterms. I applied on a whim. My parents wanted me to take at least one gap year.

Georgetown Law's Clock Tower (no competition here, I know)

Law school has been all of the things I thought it would be – and more.  It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Here are the best parts of it:

• I have made really great friends, genuinely, for the first time in my life. All my friends know how old I am.
• I learned what I wanted out of life, because law school is a professional school. I compose, I write columns and books professionally, and I want to work in cyber security and national security law. I’m finding a way to balance everything.
• I’ve learned that I’m worth it. I’m confident in who I am and what I can do.
• I’m way better at understanding people, forgiving people, and debating issues.
• I learned a lot about racism, sexism, and the culture shock that is living in D.C.
• I’ve gotten to know awesome professors, politicians, lawyers, and businessmen.
• I’m happy for the first time in a long time.

In other words, I got everything out of law school that people get in a gap year. A gap year without learning new things daily (40 pages of case-book reading a night, guys!) and sharpening my mind would have driven me insane. I love that I’m in the middle of cramming for finals and stayed up late to finish writing an article for the Boston Globe. Maybe it’s not for everyone, but “rushing” through education for me has given me a lot out of life.

So if you want to jump into college, jump in. Flailing around is often the best way to learn how to swim.

And who knows? Maybe when I graduate next year, I’ll finally take a gap before I start “working for real.”

#studentvoices, #lawschool

Isvari is a LinkedIn Campus Editor, writes business columns for The Boston Globe and political columns for The Washington Times, composes pop music, and is a Global Law Scholar at Georgetown Law. Her novel, The Eyes of Mikra, is about a spy with amnesia who's figured everything out about the war she's fighting, but nothing about who she really is.  Available, like everything else, on Amazon.