Do you reccomend going on a gap year before or after Uni?

i went on a gap year before Uni. It helped me with costs and living away from home. Its up 2 you a and you can always decide at the last minute to take a gap year, I only decided 4 months before I started Uni.

I think that it depends. If you think that you will need to get a job to fund your uni fees straight away then going before uni is best.

However, if you aren't bothered about paying uni fees straight away then a gap year can then a way of getting jobs and working with lots of different people. All of which employers will love.

Overall, I think that it is best to go before (which is what I am going to do) because it give you a chance to step away from education for a bit which will probably be beneficial in the long term.

I'm going after, because then I pretty much have unlimited time to travel wherever I want - I'm planning to get working visa's for various places to earn money, and slumming it when I'm low on cash. Also, I didn't think I was mature enough to cope with being in a foriegn country alone, so I'd rather learn to be a responsible adult in uni where everyone speaks my language and my parents are only a few hours away

I'd recommend after, unless you have a very specific plan of what you want to do, and the money to make it decent. I took a gap year before uni, and feel like it was a bit of a waste of time. If you go after uni, you have a larger time frame to do things in- you aren't restricted to a year. A lot of people I know had to work for six months, and then go off and do fun things for six months, and regretted that they couldn't do the fun things for longer.

It would be better, imo, to save during uni (it's possible, and you can get a part time job on top). Then you come out of uni and can go straight onto whatever you want to do, without having to find a well paid job for six months (which isn't easy) before you can leave. And that way you can spend as long as you like doing the fun bits of your 'gap year', not thinking "I have to be back in September, even though I don't want to leave this awesome place".

I did mine before university, but as fees are increasing, and a delay this year could cause you to pay £9,000 a year, I'd say after now.

I am in the first year of College, so even if I do not go on a gap year, I will still have to pay £9,000. So if I go on a gap year before Uni I will have to pay £9000 for Uni, but if I go after Uni I will still have to pay £9,000. So either way I am going to have to pay the £9000!!!

You say you'd pay off the debts you accumulated during the year, but where would you get the money from in the first place? If you mean an overdraft, you'd have to pay interest on it (possibly for a long time, since you won't be able to work that many hours at uni), which is obviously a worse idea that saving the money and then spending it. Eight to ten months in Asia is cheaper than backpacking around Europe, but it would still cost a lot.

Looking forward to uni doesn't mean you wouldn't be gutted to leave somewhere if you really like it. I know quite a few people who were super enthusiastic about uni, but still felt it was a bit of a disappointment to come back and start because they just found they loved their gap year locations that much. So it's something you really have to consider. Uni might seem like "another amazing place" at the moment, but that's compared to your life now at college in the town you've lived for ages. It doesn't seem quite as awesome when the place you're in at the time is basically all the fun of uni (lots of free time, the drinking, meeting new people) but with the benefits of no responsibility (no studying and essay deadlines, you can move on when you're bored).

Ultimately, it's obviously your choice. Just some things to think about. I guess if you're basically just doing a standard gap year and then carrying on in the UK going straight into work and on, then either before or after uni work as well as each other, if you have a viable financial backing. If you're more into spontaneous travel and 'seeing where the wind takes you' with regards to career etc then after uni is the obvious better choice.

One other possibility is to travel during the Summer. Since you get massive summer holidays when at Uni (I think it is 3 months), I could travel to some of Asia for 3 months, then the next year for another 3 months (and if I really wanted to, I could go again for a little bit after that!!)

That's a good idea, the summer holidays are long & I'm planning on maybe doing the same. The only thing is, will you need to work in the holidays to fund the next year living costs etc? That's something thats holding me back from just jumping on a plane!

Fair enough, it doesn't seem money will be an issue (lucky you!)

I think the summer holidays sounds like a good plan. I'm doing the same basic trip you're planning this summer (between second and third years), and I know people who have done South America in the same time frame, so there's definitely time to do it. You can then consider it a kind of 'trial run' to see if you'd actually enjoy long term travelling before you plunge into an eight month trip with no real prior experience. Lots of people simply don't like travelling for extended periods of time, so it would be a good chance to test the waters for yourself. And then if you did decide you want to go for even longer after graduation, you can do it knowing you'll love it! It would also give you ideas of where to go or return to if you do a longer trip.