Elizabeth Bodner took a gap year

Elizabeth Bodner, 21, Seattle University junior. Nursing major.

Gap year: Bodner left school from September 2005 to March 2006 to volunteer with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, working in a hospicelike facility for women and teaching classes for disabled children. She did fundraising to help offset the $3,000 cost of the trip.

Looking back: "I'm from Ohio and tend to be traditional. But I always wanted an international experience. My dad was hesitant, and wanted me to finish school first. But I had all my core classes and prerequisites out of the way, and I hadn't yet started my clinical classes. If I had waited until I graduated, I knew I would be 23 and wouldn't have had any health insurance.

Pros: "Working in India made nursing more real for me. It confirmed that I was doing what I thought I wanted to do. Now I know I would love to practice overseas at some point. "

Advice: "The novelty of traveling wears off quickly, especially when you're bombarded by culture that you can't understand. It can be very lonely if you don't have an ability to adapt. You need to be careful about how long you're going to be gone, and how extreme of a location you're going to."