Learning, then college

Organization and Ideas

1. In first paragraph, the writer mentioned "taking time off before college" so that the readers can expect the following paragraphs will be related to the gap year.

2. Paragraph 1：When the writer was 17 years old, she decided to take time off before college rather than going to college directly.
    Paragraph 2~9：Gifford explained what the gap year is and analized its advantages and disadvantages. And then, she talked about the feelings of making this decision. Then, the she mentioned what skills did she learn during the gap year. All of these things happened when she was 18 years old.
   Paragraph 10~11：When Gifford was 20, she attended college.

3. She discovered life skills, found independence and a new self-esteem, got jobs to get the experiences, and explored what she needs.

4. Pros：Gifford wrote this essay in time order and gave a lot of good examples and ideas.
    Cons：Some paragraphs are too short that should be combined with the other paragraphs.
    Thesis Statement：What did she learn by choosing the gap year.

5. To me, the most persuasive part is that we can get jobs to acquire the experiences in the gap year.
    Because there always some differences between what we learnt from university and how to apply this knowlwdge to the work place, I think getting a job can let us know what kind of skills or traits we don't have. After getting jobs, we can improve ourselves and be more competitive.