Having doubts...

Hi all,

I've applied for University (UEA) for 2012 entry, and am in the process of doing Student Finance at the moment. However, I've recently been having a few doubts about whether I want to actually take the next step up to degree level right now. I feel that we've all (or at least I have) been rushed by our college to apply for UCAS, to the point where I've realised that I've got no major motivation either way, and perhaps a year out (working and volunteering to build up some dough) seems like the way to go.

Its too late to apply for a gay year on UCAS obviously, but my question is, would the University that I'm applying for allow me to defer a year, after I get my results in August, even if I get the right entry grades for the course, and do you think they would be willing to keep my place (its an Ecology course, so is unlikely to be over-subscribed!)?

Obviously, the best answer is going to be to phone the Uni, but I'd be interested to know if anyone else is having the same doubts/turn of thought that I'm having? £9000 is a lot of money.

Cheers

Me too.
My circumstances financially suck at the moment and I'm really starting to consider a gap year to work and build up a bit of experience. I've applied to do history at UWE to start in sep 2012, but I'm not really sure if I'm ready mentally. Sure, I can do the work, but to my best? I need at least a 2:1 to get in to a PGCE afterwards aswell :s

And you're right, £9,000 is a lot of money, and I know it's only a loan and we can pay it back when we're earning £21,000 and over, but it's the worry of getting the most out of your degree for the amount your paying. I don't want to be in doubt when doing the course and paying that much.

You can speak to UEA at any time and ask if you can defer. The ecology course is likely to be popular as they're one of the best universities in the UK for ecology/environmental studies courses meaning it will attract a lot of good students, but that doesn't mean they won't let you take a gap year. This is particularly the case if your gap year plans include things relevant to the degree as getting a job in ecology is all about the contacts you have rather than your pure degree.

It sounds like you're making a sensible decision. You've got all of the time in the world to go to uni, now isn't the only time you can go and it's not fair that your college have been rushing you through the process. It could be that after a gap year you realise that you don't want to go to uni and would rather be doing "practical" ecology in a job (as a lot of people in this field do) or that you'd actually rather study something else.



Again, sounds like you've got some good ideas and reasons why a gap year would be good. A degree is hard work and you have to want to do it. There's no point in jumping into it now when you could do loads of other things first then start a degree later.

Its too late to apply for a gay year on UCAS obviously, but my question is, would the University that I'm applying for allow me to defer a year, after I get my results in August, even if I get the right entry grades for the course, and do you think they would be willing to keep my place (its an Ecology course, so is unlikely to be over-subscribed!)?

You're sure that's what you want?

You're sure that's what you want?