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I keep seeing on here that one should take a gap year to work and travel. That's usually led with a question on if it will help them in admissions. Which is normally responded with a 1 year gap year will probably do nothing, but you should do it for the experience.

I definitely see the benefits to gaining experience but does a 1 year gap year really do nothing? Almost every top school boasts on their student profile what percentage is 1+ year out of undergrad. This leads me to believe it at least is somewhat of a small boost, even if you're just waitressing or something. Or am I completely wrong?

dontrogerthat wrote:I keep seeing on here that one should take a gap year to work and travel. That's usually led with a question on if it will help them in admissions. Which is normally responded with a 1 year gap year will probably do nothing, but you should do it for the experience.

I definitely see the benefits to gaining experience but does a 1 year gap year really do nothing? Almost every top school boasts on their student profile what percentage is 1+ year out of undergrad. This leads me to believe it at least is somewhat of a small boost, even if you're just waitressing or something. Or am I completely wrong?

I think you might be right, but I don't know the percentage of people with no time off who are applying. I assume it's more than the percentage that get in though.

Not sure about being a waiter or waitress, but one year of meaningful work experience can be a small boost. The trick, therefore, is to define your gap year work as meaningful, in my opinion.

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The aspect of the gap year that no one talks about is the part where it's the last chance you'll have to take a year off for quite a while.

Before law school, it doesn't matter much if there are holes in your resume. You can just say "I was traveling" and nobody cares. Starting at the end of 1L, you need to substantively account for any out-of-place hole larger than 45 days. If you "take a year off" after graduation, you will have a hell of a time trying to get back in to a legal career.

I know that doesn't answer your question about admissions, but that's part of why there are a lot of us who throw out the gap year on here. We wish we had done it.