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Imagine a student traveling through Africa’s nature reserves, camera in hand, capturing the beauty of wildlife while raising awareness about conservation. Picture anoter student cycling across Europe together, pushing his physical and mental limits. Or consider a student taking advantage of a partnership between IÉSEG and the French Army, spending six months at the Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan Military Academy and discovering leadership, resilience, and personal growth in ways they never expected. These stories are not exceptions. They are the stories of IÉSEG students who chose to take a gap year.

Every year, nearly 1,000 students decide to put their studies on hold to embark on a life-changing experience. A gap year is not a break from learning—it is a year of acceleration, experimentation, real-world exposure, and personal development.

Why take a gap year?

Discover yourself

At the age of 20 or 21, many students are still uncertain about the career path they truly want to pursue. A gap year offers something increasingly rare: time. Time to step back, explore, experiment, make mistakes, and learn. Time to discover what genuinely motivates and inspires you.

More than simply “finding yourself,” a gap year is an opportunity to build yourself. By accumulating diverse experiences and stepping into unfamiliar environments, students gradually refine their choices and gain greater clarity about their future. It is a unique experience that can be undertaken at a pivotal stage of life—before entering the workforce and committing fully to personal and professional projects.

“Our students sometimes need to step away from the fast-paced life at IÉSEG, balancing classes, student activities, and internships. This time allows them to better understand who they are, ask the right questions about their future, and enjoy one final extraordinary experience before entering the professional world,” explains Camille Bulot, Gap Year Coordinator at IÉSEG.

Enhance your professional experience

The job market is evolving, and sectors such as auditing, finance, and consulting increasingly expect graduates to have completed several long-term internships before entering the workforce. A gap year provides students with the opportunity to meet these expectations while remaining aligned with the School’s academic calendar.

Beyond adding a few extra lines to a résumé, a gap year allows students to strategically shape their professional journey. They can complete two complementary six-month internships, explore different industries before committing to one, or confirm a professional interest they already have.

Experience international immersion

Many students use their gap year to fulfill the International Professional Experience requirement, one of the graduation criteria at IÉSEG. They do so by fully immersing themselves in another culture, working in an international environment, and developing strong language skills.

A popular formula is to spend six months in France gaining experience in their field, followed by six months abroad discovering a new business culture, while keeping their options open for their final-year internship.

Add purpose to your journey

More and more students feel the need to engage in projects that have a meaningful impact on the world around them and become true changemakers. Humanitarian missions, environmental initiatives, and community projects turn the gap year into an opportunity to contribute to something larger than oneself.

IÉSEG supports these commitments through various partnerships and opportunities. In France, students can work with food banks to combat food insecurity. Others travel to Costa Rica to help preserve local wildlife and ecosystems, including the protection of sea turtles. More broadly, international missions are attracting growing numbers of students through organizations that offer social impact projects around the world, enabling them to make a tangible contribution while discovering new cultures.

“Many of our students simply use their gap year to live something extraordinary. Launching a startup with support from the IÉSEG Incubator, training for an Ironman, creating a wildlife photography project in Africa, sailing from France to Australia, or traveling from Morocco to hike the GR20 trail in Corsica—these are all personal projects that might seem impossible within a traditional academic path but become achievable thanks to the gap year. It gives students genuine freedom while allowing them to maintain their student status and benefit from the School’s support,” says Camille.

Transform yourself through experience

A gap year is far more than a temporary pause in student life. It is a period of stepping into the unknown, learning in new ways, and growing on every level.

Students develop independence when managing a humanitarian project abroad without the support network they are accustomed to. Making decisions, organizing daily life, and solving problems become valuable learning experiences that build character.
Adaptability grows when joining an international team or moving between different industries during successive internships. Students learn new professional codes, discover alternative ways of working, and often communicate in foreign languages.
Project management skills are developed through real-world experiences: leading a humanitarian mission in Asia, launching an artistic project in France, or coordinating a team during a sporting challenge. Students learn how to plan, allocate resources, and achieve ambitious objectives.
Technical skills also evolve according to individual paths. Marketing students may design digital campaigns, finance students may develop business models, and aspiring entrepreneurs may test startup ideas and persuade potential partners.

Beyond these competencies, a gap year fosters essential human skills such as autonomy, adaptability, initiative, and the ability to collaborate in complex environments. In a rapidly changing workplace shaped by developments such as artificial intelligence, these people skills have become key differentiators.
On a personal level, confidence grows with every challenge overcome: moving abroad alone, successfully completing a project, or bouncing back from setbacks. A gap year also helps students clarify their professional ambitions, better understand what motivates them, and gain the confidence to choose a path that truly reflects who they are.

“Recruiters increasingly value students who have stepped outside their comfort zone and gained real-world experience. A well-designed gap year demonstrates initiative, forward thinking, and professional maturity. At a time when academic paths are becoming increasingly standardized, these experiences provide genuine differentiation. During interviews, these concrete experiences stand out—they bring depth to a candidate’s story and demonstrate adaptability, learning agility, and resilience,” adds Camille Bulot.

A highly popular option among students

The numbers speak for themselves: nearly 1,000 IÉSEG students take a gap year every year. The practice has grown significantly since the redesign of the School’s programs, reflecting the strong appeal of this opportunity.

The vast majority of students—around 95%—use their gap year to complete internships or professional work experiences. This is hardly surprising, as employers increasingly value practical experience. However, other motivations lead to equally enriching journeys, including humanitarian missions, impact-driven projects, athletic challenges, artistic endeavors, and entrepreneurial ventures.

Compared with many other European countries, where gap years remain relatively uncommon and often limited to a small number of students, IÉSEG has made the experience an integral and accessible part of student development.

Gap years are available to students enrolled in both the Grande École Program and the Bachelor in International Business. Whether students wish to confirm a specialization choice or strengthen their professional profile before entering the job market, the gap year comes at a pivotal moment in their personal and professional development.

Preparing a gap year that reflects who you are

A gap year is not a requirement—it is an opportunity that should be shaped around each student’s aspirations, goals, and ambitions.

Its purpose is to experiment, learn, face real-world challenges, and gain a clearer understanding of the future you want to build. Some students return with stronger professional experience; others come back with international exposure, a startup idea, an artistic project, or a major athletic achievement. All return with a deeper understanding of themselves and a stronger foundation for the next stage of their journey.

As Camille concludes: “The real question is not: Should I take a gap year? The real question is: What do I want to accomplish, explore, or confirm that I would not be able to do otherwise?”

*Photo credit: Arnaud GILLES, IÉSEG student