doing maths with a gap year

i'm pretty sure i want to do maths at uni, but i also have this amazing opportunity to go to Chile after i finish school and work in the Institute of Civil engineers. As this is kind of maths related i was hoping it would be an acceptable gap year as i would be using my maths throughout. One of my teachers said that unis might ask why i am not doing engineering at university instead..but i could explain in my personal statement. Also if i am going to do this do i apply this year (im going into yr13) for a deferred entry or do i apply while on the gap year? thanks

thank you but isnt it true that universities dont like giving out deferred places? or is that just a rumour

I apologise for the delayed reply, I didn't see that you'd written back. Please quote me with your reply so I can see that you've written back

I've never heard of this being the case, but I have also never really researched into it as I am not taking a gap year.

Most Maths departments at universities have a statement something like:

"Applications for deferred entry are acceptable and the same selection criteria will be applied. Application is made through UCAS in the usual way, although the UCAS form should be amended clearly to show the intention to defer."
(This was on Cardiff university's website - I have seen similar statements on many uni's websites.)

Some universities will state:

"Applications for deferred entry are possible, but generally not encouraged unless it is planned to spend at least part of the year out doing something with a high level of mathematical content."
(This particular statement I found on Oxford University's website - again I have seen this type of statement on many uni's websites.)

So as long as you prove you will be using your Mathematical knowledge a lot in your gap year (perhaps by saying you intend to study some more mathematics modules alongside your gap year project) it should be OK