There is no denying that while college is a time of growth, finding new friendships and forging meaningful connections, it is also an incredibly unpredictable journey. The Covid-19 pandemic has only aggravated the uncertainty college students grapple with, and has left many feeling increasingly stressed and overwhelmed. To facilitate situations where students might want to take a break from university workload and focus their energy elsewhere, NYU Abu Dhabi gives students an opportunity to take up to two semesters of Leave Of Absence.

A LOA can be requested by accessing the Request Term / Total Withdrawal option on the homepage of Albert Student Center. The form asks for the student's reasons for a LOA and signatures from the student and their faculty mentor, considering the decision’s possible impact on transcripts and financial aid. Once the student’s decision has been communicated to the Dean of Students Office and the required meetings are completed, the LOA request is processed.

Over the years, LOAs have been taken by students for a multitude of reasons, ranging from the need to focus on one’s self and spend more time with family to getting access to better mental health treatment.

For Matthew Tan, Class of 2021, who is currently on a LOA, this decision was prompted by a need to focus on himself.

“I sort of wanted to take time off to focus on non academic roles. Sort of like staying healthy, getting enough sleep, exercise, all these basic things that I just avoided in the first couple of years of college,” Tan shared.

Zaina Awan, Class of 2023, explained that at the start of her NYUAD journey, she felt like she was not ready for university yet. Therefore, she took a LOA after her first semester.

“I didn’t have the option of taking a gap year prior to coming to university so [LOA] seemed like a good opportunity to take a step back,” Awan said. “I feel like university is quite fast paced so sometimes I had no idea what I wanted to do and felt kind of lost.”

Awan was initially confused about what career path she wanted to pursue, and felt that this opportunity to refocus has made her four year plan more ordered. She also suggested that she is now better equipped to manage her university work.

Similarly to Awan, Liam Jansen, Class of 2023, also took a LOA after his first semester to focus on healing. “During my freshman fall, I was really struggling with my mental health, depression specifically,” Jansen said. “Managing classes and severe depression was not going well, and I needed to get higher levels of treatment than the university could offer.”

Being able to focus on taking care of himself and getting better was something that was incredibly necessary for him and helped him get into a more stable place. “I spent pretty much the entirety of it undergoing mental health treatment. I did a lot of day treatment, which included a lot of groups. I was hospitalized a couple of times. Honestly, it wasn't great or exciting — five months straight of mental health treatment is exhausting,” he shared. “But I also got to spend more time with my dogs, explored a lot of different trails to take walks, and eventually was able to work for a few months.”.

Other students spent their time away on projects and opportunities that helped them build their professional networks and let them advance in their career prospects.

For Mehak Sangani, Class of 2021, this decision was made to seize a once in a lifetime opportunity. Sangani, an archer, was selected to her country’s national team to train for Olympic Games’ selection trials.

“That is something I always wanted to do and I am probably not gonna get [this opportunity] again,” Sangani commented. “If it doesn’t [work] then I just graduate a semester late. The benefits outweighed the risks by a lot.”

Others chose to take a LOA due to academic purposes, such as Mar Jaramillo, Class of 2021.

“I chose to take a LOA because I am a Computer Science major and the classes that I needed to finish my major were not being offered this semester,” she explained. Jaramillo also believes that as a Computer Science student, she already has most of the tools required to build a competitive job application and she could better utilise her time at home completing various projects independently.

Tan expressed that LOA has made him realize how difficult it is to stay motivated without the pressures of school work, and has taken on other projects, including an internship with an organization that focuses on domestic violence cases. This experience helped him recognize the importance of establishing a network of people wherever you go in order to take advantage of all available opportunities.

Similarly, Awan, who spent her LOA interning at a human rights law firm in Pakistan, found that her internship connected her with many new people in the field that she is interested in. Along with building professional networks, a break from university also allowed students to reconnect with family.

For Tan, who is Malaysian but grew up in China, taking his LOA in Malaysia gave him a chance to reconnect with home and spend time with his grandparents. Jaramillo, who is spending her semester away from campus at her home in Colombia, echoed similar sentiments.

“Right now I am working, but I am also doing a lot of yoga, spending a lot of time with my friends and family,” Jaramillo said.

However, taking a semester long LOA means that students will graduate off cycle. Consequently, the Post-Graduation Practical Training Program (PPTP), an opportunity for seniors graduating in May to work full time on faculty research projects, is not available to students who have taken a semester off during their time at NYUAD.

“[The PPTP] is a really valuable research that NYUAD provides for the recent graduates so it is a really good time to earn some income and also get some experience in the field that is relevant to you,” Sangani expressed. Beyond the implications of not being able to participate in PPTP, off-cycle students also face problems in terms of the classes that they can take as well as the consequences of falling behind on capstone projects.

“I had already completed a full [capstone] proposal in Junior Spring but because I am taking a LOA during what would have been Senior Fall, I fell behind and my proposal is no longer valid as it was an ongoing investigation. So, I have lost all the progress I had made on my project,” Jaramillo remarked.

Moreover, Sangani shared that being away made her feel like she was missing out on all the fun that her peers were having on campus, and that sometimes made her question whether or not she had made the right choice. It also meant that she lost touch with a lot of peers so it took time for her to feel comfortable in social settings after returning to campus again.

Another issue faced by many students who had taken a LOA was the transition back into academic university life.“When you take a LOA, it is easy to use this time as a big holiday and get far from work. And when I first came back I was a bit overwhelmed with all the work that I had to do for classes,” shared Tania Zani, Class of 2021, who took a LOA after her Junior Fall semester.

Despite the drawbacks, many students looked favourably at their time away from university and advised those who are considering taking a LOA to really look into whether there is something that they can occupy themselves with. If taken, the LOA can be an opportunity to learn more than you would expect, take a break and focus on yourself.

“Taking care of yourself is the most important thing,” Jansen commented. “Even if you think you'll get through uni[versity] either way, it's a lot easier when you're physically and mentally healthy, rather than being burnt out and running on empty.”