Is it possible to take a gap year after the 1st and/or 2nd year of university?

Hi, I have a couple quick questions, if someone could please help answer for me, thanks.

Is it possible to take a gap year after the 1st and/or 2nd year of university? How hard is it to be allowed to take one? I've heard you can take years off if your sick. For a student who wants to take a year off between years so that he can work and save up money to pay for the tuition fees, is that a good enough reason (if gap years are allowed that is)? In case you know their specific policies, I'm hoping to get into either Qmul or Kcl god willing.

Thanks!

Hi there!

This will depend a lot on the university and degree program. If you send either of those universities an email regarding this, they should be able to give you some good advice on the subject.

In terms of leaving university, you can do that virtually whenever you want, all you need to do is discuss this with your department and they will sort things for you. Returning back to your course can be a bit awkward for various reasons. It is very easy to lose your studying/academic work ethic if you take even a single year off, so bear that in mind. Some departments may be happy to let you continue with your degree as normal after a year - any longer than that might be pushing it as they don't want students returning and becoming overwhelmed with the work.

Your grades before leaving may also affect things. If you are barely passing, and would like to take a year out, they may not let you progress. Whereas if you have a high GPA, they might be happy to let you take a gap year.

As has already been said by super_kawaii, the majority of these cases are due to medical grounds. If you are looking to take a gap year, it may make more sense to do that before starting university. If that's out of the question, it may be possible but you will definitely need to contact your university/advisor as soon as possible to discuss it.

Hope this helps,

Scott
Undergraduate Rep
School of Engineering

Thank you for the response! Very informative!

Okay i see, it makes sense that a university might be hesitant to let you off if you low grades, didn't think about that.

Ah yes well if i do pay for the tuition fees myself then i will definitely take 1 year off before university no doubt. But i need the years in between to save money again as 1 year won't be enough

Thanks again the you help!

Why are you so concerned about being able to afford tuition fees? Are you an international student or have you studied at uni level before? If not your tuition fees will be entirely covered by student finance and you'll only start paying back once you're earning over £21k per annum