Taking two year gap year before university, will this effect IB chances?

Hi

I am currently on a gap year before going to uni (warwick/notts), however I was interested in applying for some of the gap year programs some companies offer, I was wondering if it is looked down upon by IB recruiters I take 2 years off before university (even though I am spending the year gaining relevant experience)?

Thanks

Reply 1

CoolStoryBroo

I was also thinking about taking 2 years off for an apprenticeship aswell then go to uni but concluded that it was a bad idea, even though it was an analyst job which is related to IB

When you're 18 earning like £15k a year on a programme is good money but if you graduate you won't find any professional jobs that pays that little. All those KPMG, RBS, PWC are designed for people that don't wanna go to uni, so that's a good opportunity for them since it means they can work in that field without a degree. But you on the other hand will have a good degree by 21 so it's better to pick university over those 2 years programmes if you have the opportunity to go to university.

Reply 2

Indus

Depends. Why do you want to do this extra year out? What exactly will you have spent the two years doing? I know people who have taken two gap years and have found it fine applying for internships. As I say, it depends on what you will have spent yours doing though.

Also, have you still not firmed Warwick?

Reply 3

mohamed68

Original post by Indus

Well the first year of this gap year I spent retaking a few a-level exams to get into warwick and I have a few interviews for summer internships for this summer. The second year of my gap year I was planning on interning at KPMG (audit), Accenture (consulting) or BP (IST Trading), the pay for all of these is around 20k but I think it would just boost my CV but I don't want to risk it if it means I'll be at a disadvantage for taking two years out.

I've firmed warwick and put nottingham as my insurance :smile:

Reply 4

Indus

That sounds okay to me. The few people I know tended to travel for a year and then secure a gap year scheme for the next year. You just don't want to be working in audit for the whole 2 years or something like that. As if you plan to eventually go to university, that second year doing the same thing will not help at all in applications (the first year is enough for some finance experience) and if anything, just makes you look a bit confused if you happily spent 2 years in audit/tax etc then applying to front office.

The only other thing to think about is that you will be 2 years older once you get to university. In terms of securing a graduate job from a summer internship, you tend to only get one chance (between 2nd and 3rd year). So if you were unlucky and got some desks with no headcount, and hence got no offer, you would be forced to do another gap year or a masters the year after (unless you're confident in applying for graduate roles where each bank takes roughly 2-5 people per year across front office at the moment). So that would mean that you would be 6 years out of A levels potentially before you get a job. Just something to think about - it may not bother you hugely, but I know people who are a bit older at uni who are itching to get working. On the other hand, Europe might be growing 3% a year once you're looking for jobs!

Either way, you won't be disadvantaged by taking a gap year to get some experience.

Reply 5

Bencant

I'm in a slightly similar position to OP and was wondering if someone could tell me whether this would disadvantage me:

Taking a year out before uni on a finance related gap year programme and then taking a year abroad on the erasmus scheme (in Madrid) between my second and third year of uni. I would be 2 years older than my peers when leaving uni.