GAP years? How was it?

Hey,

Can anyone who's taken a gap year tell me about you're experience?
*Was it worth it?
*If you could go back, would you do it again?
*What did you do in this time?
*Did you get a job/ work experience?
*How was it different applying to uni's compared to applying directly after sixth form?
*Lastly, why did you take a gap year?

Thank you in advance,
V

Hi @Voss.gloss20,

I went on a gap year before starting at UEA in 2018, and I could not recommend it enough! It was so worth it, I spent the first few months working at my part-time job, basically full time at this point! I then spent 3 months living in Malawi on the ICS scheme, which I loved as I currently study International Development so got to do some work experience for that. I then spent about 3 weeks working in Thailand with Camp Thailand as a teacher and did a lot of traveling there. I would 100% recommend Camp Thailand!

In terms of uni, I actually applied whilst I was in college and just deferred for a year, so I still had the support of my teachers for the application. I actually took a gap year because I had an operation at the start of the year but I was toying with the idea for a long time.

In the end, I would recommend because it makes you much more independent for university and gets you used to living somewhere other than your house and without your parents.

Any questions, please just ask!

Becca

Hey,

Can anyone who's taken a gap year tell me about you're experience?
*Was it worth it?
*If you could go back, would you do it again?
*What did you do in this time?
*Did you get a job/ work experience?
*How was it different applying to uni's compared to applying directly after sixth form?
*Lastly, why did you take a gap year?

Thank you in advance,
V

Hi ! I am doing a gap year at the moment
- From September 2019 to December 2019 I was in Latin America. I was a volunteer in two organisations linked to the preservation of biodiversity : a sea turtles conservation center in Costa Rica and a wild life rescue center in the jungle of Equator. In between I went 2 weeks in Cuba to visit my godmother who lives there.
- From January to February 2020 I was the organizer of the first TEDx conference in my home town. The event took place the 22/02/2020 and I am still working on uploading the videos of the conference on the TEDx youtube channel.
- Since the beginning of March I am in Ho-Chi-Minh-City, Vietnam. I am doing an internship in a IT company linked to the cars industry and I am improving my coding skills + learning the fundamentals of management.

I am still working in the company despite the virus. I wanted to do one other project here in Vietnam but I don't know if I will be able to travel around the country next month.

I decided to do a gap year because I wasn't 100% sure about what I wanted to study. Doing a gap year is really great because you can actually try the subjects you like in real life experiences before studying them. For example last year, before summer (still in high school), I wanted to become a wildlife vet but I was not sure (I also liked management). I said to myself "Well, let's try if I like it or not!", so I went to south America to become a volunteer vet for a few months. The time I spent there was amazing but I realized that I could not do this for the rest of my life. At the same time I was slowly starting to organise the TEDx event. That's when I realized that I wanted to pursue management studies because organizing a conference like that deeply involves management subjects (marketing, accounting, teamwork, leadership...).
I would definitely recommend you to do a gap year, but an intelligent one. Do it with goals for yourself in mind. It's the best time to learn about yourself. I can easily say that it has been the best year of my life so far.

+ (I am from France) I applied in January 2020 for the 2020 entry and the only difference is that I already have my grades (I graduated from high school last year). I think it is less stressful because I don't have to wait until the final exams to know where I will study next year.

If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Wow that sounds like a very productive gap year! You got so much done.

How did you know what you wanted to do in the gap year? If I wanted to do medicine, I’d have to organise something in relation to that which would be quite difficult at this time.

Alternatively, I’ve applied to uni to study engineering. So I could get experience in that field too?

Thanks for your response 😊 sounds like a very organised and busy gap year overall!