2024 Hawai‘i College Guide: Advice From a Recent College Grad

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Photo: Courtesy of Alicia Lou

Despite being raised by a rigorously traditional Asian mother, I somehow turned out to be remarkably unconventional.

My first semester at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa was in the spring of 2013. Instead of graduating in 2017 like most of my peers, I took a “gap year” that turned out to be five times longer than I thought it would be, and I graduated from UH in May 2022—five months shy of my 30th birthday.

The first semester I was at UH, I took anthropology, oceanography, history, women’s studies, philosophy and psychology—basically, everything that I was remotely interested in, in a failed attempt to home in on a major. I was 18 years old and had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.

So, when I got an opportunity to leave O‘ahu and work on boats, I didn’t really think about it—I just said “yes.” I thought I would be gone for a year, at most. In my excessively long break from school, I worked in the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Panama and several other countries and cities on the mainland and in Europe. I also became a dive instructor. My mother did not approve.

When I started diving, my fascination for the underwater world made me see how polluted the Earth really is, and all I wanted was for more people to be aware of it and care about it the way I did. It made me realize I wanted to be a journalist and that I wanted to go back to school.

It was strange, walking into a classroom on my first day back, knowing that I was much older than my peers. But I stopped worrying about it. I sat in the front row. I was excited to ask and answer questions. I took homework and feedback seriously, and I never missed class. I was grateful to be there—a complete 180 from when I had enrolled the first time. I’ve always been capable, but back then, I lacked the direction and focus I needed to apply myself. In my last two years of school, I got almost all A’s and made the dean’s list a few times.

I don’t regret going to college right after high school, though I do wish I took off before I tanked my chances at a 4.0 GPA. But if I hadn’t felt so lost at UH, I wouldn’t have left to work on boats, which means I might never have tried scuba diving, and I might have continued through life unbothered by single-use plastics floating in the ocean, wrapped around the reefs and scattered on the roadsides.

After graduation, I got the chance to intern at Honolulu Civil Beat and HONOLULU Magazine, and right now, I’m working on my master’s degree in writing at Johns Hopkins University. You will either read this and think that you’ll do whatever it takes to not be a 30-year-old intern, or you’ll think what I did sounds like something you’d like to do, too.

It’s OK if you don’t know what you want to do for the rest of your life; you’ll figure it out in your own time. Taking a gap year isn’t for everyone, but when you don’t have a goal, it’s dangerously easy to be indifferent. So, sometimes, it’s better to take a step back and figure out what you really want instead of trying to rush forward. Even if your mother doesn’t approve—I think she’ll come around.

Courtesy of Hawai‘i Pacific University

Things to Consider Before Taking a Gap Year:

• Whether you’re taking your gap year before or in the middle of college, check out your school’s gap year policy. The Gap Year Association is a great resource to compare deferral policies for universities and programs across the country.
• If you received a scholarship, find out whether you’ll be able to transfer it to a future semester before you make any major decisions.
• If you’re worried about taking longer to graduate, look into gap year programs in which you can earn college credits.
• Be intentional about your time off from school. Ask yourself what you hope to accomplish and write down some realistic steps you can take to get there.