This is the second of two posts that are reflections on college. This focuses on the gap year I took, and the previous one was on teaching.

One of the most defining components of my college experience was the time I wasn't in college. I get asked about this a lot, so I figured I'd given a brief explanation of how it happened and then some thoughts on the experience. I won't be discussing any of the individual internships in detail, as I've already written about them in other posts.

Table of Contents

• Timeline
• Reflections

Timeline

I came into college during COVID. It was a time when people were at home, embracing remote work. College students were doing remote internships and taking time off school.

Internships were challenging to get, so I was applying to a lot of roles. I was shooting my shot at all opportunities I could find, including off-season roles (during the spring/fall).

Towards the end of sophomore year, I went with a friend to San Francisco to pick up some shirts for a campus event - primarily so I could grab a few for myself. I talked to some people there for a bit, and ended up missing the actual event on campus. I did go at the end, though, and asked if they had fall internships - why not? They said they might, I applied, and I ended up getting an offer.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to - at the time, I was already interning. This would mean I couldn't graduate in 3 years like I had been planning to (given my AP/IB credits) and return. But the role seemed interesting (engineering at a cool startup with good pay), and I was excited. I decided to take it for the fall.

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Very briefly, I did consider dropping out and trying to find a full-time role. We've all heard the stories. But I decided against it, partly just so I could get a college experience, and from the sunk cost of completing courses already.

The initial plan was to return to school the following semester, but just for fun I applied to a very small number of roles in the spring - it was the last gap semester I could take, as there was a mandatory class in the fall I needed to go back for. I got lucky and got an offer, made some calls to find housing, and embarked to Palo Alto. It was a good team, interesting work, and a company that I had always wanted to work at.

I wrapped up the journey with one more internship the following summer, and then returned to school to finish up my degrees.

Each time, I withdrew from my classes, and then re-enrolled when I came back. Coming back entailed writing a bit about what I learned and my course plan for finishing up school, which luckily was similar both times.

Reflections

Overall, it was a great experience, and something I'd recommend.

1. I learned so much being in industry in different roles, teams, and kinds of companies, which I even came back to guest lecture about at Berkeley.
2. I had a fun time working on some cool stuff, living in various places, and meeting new people.
3. It was a nice break from school, and a big reason why I didn't have senioritis like in high school.
4. I got a lot of career clarity and figured out what I wanted to learn more about.

There were two major downsides, though.

1. I didn't get to see my friends as much. I came back weekends when possible, but it was quite challenging commuting from Palo Alto to Berkeley without a car.
2. I had to take the bare minimum number of classes, double counting requirements wherever I could. A combination of bad enrollment times (determined by number of semesters completed, which was 2 less for me as a senior) and time (2 degrees in 3 years) made it challenging to take graduate or other interesting, popular classes.

The key thing, in my view, is that this was all because of a company shirt I wanted. I didn't plan on taking time off, but it happened from a combination of preparation from coursework, projects, and past experience with opportunity from applying to internships.

Paradoxically, it's easy to plan carefully, for it gives a sense of control over the unknown future. Yet, opportunities come from the unexpected, and there's a certain comfort in that.