Feeling really terrible about having to take a gap year

[Petrichor1]

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I wish I didn't have to take a gap year but it looks like that will be the case. And it's really depressing honestly.

I will be graduating from a good university with good grades and will not be able to find a good job because I only focused on studying during college and didn't major in engineering or business. My degree while personally fulfilling and useful toward my goal of becoming a doctor is not going to land me any jobs and my lack of internships (outside of research, I did not have any jobs) won't help either. I basically have no marketable skills outside of a chemistry lab or neurobiology exam.

My friends who are graduating will be starting medical school, working in finance in NYC or at top tech companies in SF and doing things with their life.. and I will be living at home struggling to find a job for my gap year that pays more than minimum wage. I feel like I will be on the sidelines as my friends go off into the world and do these amazing things.

I went to a very good university and studied hard to earn a high GPA and will still be working a job that I could have gotten without going to college.

It doesn't help that I am an Asian-American and have super-judgemental family members who are all overachievers..

Has anyone taken a gap year and found it to be a worthwhile experience? Is anyone else in the situation that I'm in right now as well? How are you dealing with it?

you make me feel so terrible for leaving my job...

 

[NotWayneBrady]

I wish I didn't have to take a gap year but it looks like that will be the case. And it's really depressing honestly.

I will be graduating from a good university with good grades and will not be able to find a good job because I only focused on studying during college and didn't major in engineering or business. My degree while personally fulfilling and useful toward my goal of becoming a doctor is not going to land me any jobs and my lack of internships (outside of research, I did not have any jobs) won't help either. I basically have no marketable skills outside of a chemistry lab or neurobiology exam.

My friends who are graduating will be starting medical school, working in finance in NYC or at top tech companies in SF and doing things with their life.. and I will be living at home struggling to find a job for my gap year that pays more than minimum wage. I feel like I will be on the sidelines as my friends go off into the world and do these amazing things.

I went to a very good university and studied hard to earn a high GPA and will still be working a job that I could have gotten without going to college.

It doesn't help that I am an Asian-American and have super-judgemental family members who are all overachievers..

Has anyone taken a gap year and found it to be a worthwhile experience? Is anyone else in the situation that I'm in right now as well? How are you dealing with it?

I took two gap years because I didn't decide on medicine until VERY late in college. This last year has probably been the best year of my entire life. Gap years can be incredibly enlightening and fun, and I would not have been prepared to get into med school (much less attend) had I not taken the two years to figure my life out a bit.

 

[moisne]

really depressing honestly.

Oh my... That's what causes your depression? A gap year? Cry over it for a night, then move on.

I only focused on studying during college and didn't major in engineering or business.

Yeah, I was engineering - but I still had to take a few gap years... I did a post grad and then 3 gap years after it.

My friends who are graduating will be starting medical school, working in finance in NYC or at top tech companies in SF and doing things with their life.. and I will be living at home struggling to find a job for my gap year that pays more than minimum wage.

You will always feel inadequate if you judge your life by comparing it to others.
Minimum wage? What? You plan on working at McDonalds? No... you said you can do chemistry. I tutored chemistry for 40+$/hour.

Asian-American and have super-judgemental family members

Yeah, so what? Aren't we asians all have super judgemental families?

Has anyone taken a gap year and found it to be a worthwhile experience? Is anyone else in the situation that I'm in right now as well? How are you dealing with it?

Yeah... Do what you like for a few years. How do we deal with it? Well, you inhale, and then exhale, then do whatever you gotta do.