The Student Room Group

advice on taking a gap year VS going to university?

I originally applied for medicine this year, but I withdrew as I felt that I had made the wrong decision and I wasn’t truly passionate about it or excited about going. I now have the option to go with my 5th option (psychology at a good russell group) or take a year out. My pros of sticking with psychology is that I do have a lot of options of careers to go into afterwards - I originally wanted to be a clinical psychologist/researcher but picked medicine wanting to do psychiatry as everyone said it would be too difficult
i also feel it could give me a base degree to transfer into other jobs like law, social work, occupational therapy etc. or even graduate jobs like HR or statistics. However my issue is I feel as though my grades I’ve worked so hard to achieve are going to waste by picking a ‘less respected’ degree like psychology, especially since I think I could’ve got into a higher ranked university that might’ve got me slightly better prospects? (cambridge, ucl, lse etc.) but didn’t apply as Id picked medicine (although in reality I think i might be overestimating the prestige of these vs my university)
Also scared I will regret it because of how difficult it is to get into well paying jobs with the degree (i’m completely up for doing a masters/doctorate tho)
My other option is to take a year out and explore other options - I’ve been thinking about dentistry instead as I did work experience there and quite enjoyed it (although this was in a private practice so maybe not the most representative) however I do feel this is more for the career stability + better salary prospects + feeling as though i’m putting my high grades to use - compared to psychology, but I know this is a bad reason to choose it (although I do like the idea of working with patients in a clinic setting, similar to clinical psychology) or maybe even something like vet science, as I’ve always loved the idea of working with animals.
Another issue with dentistry is that I would need to sit my UCAT right after Alevels otherwise I would end up taking 2 years out before university, so wouldn’t have the most time to decide if I want it or not. I’m not sure if it would be possible to start my psychology degree and do some dentistry experience alongside to decide if I want to do it, then drop out of the degree to pursue dent? or vet science? preferably at bristol since I could stay in the same uni? I expect they would tell me to finish and do it post grad :/
I also really do not want to take a gap year, as I would be left lonely with no friends as they will all be in uni, and generally want to move on with life and start university (also for personal reasons I want to move out ASAP)

If anyone has actually had the time to read through that big paragraph, any advice please??
Reply 1
You can move out, and take a Gap Year.
That would be the best solution if you are really this uncertain about exactly what you want to study and/or what career you want to aim at. The most common reason for students dropping out is that they didnt really think about what/why properly and 'went anyway, hoping it would be okay'.

Work over the summer, stash the cash and spend a year travelling/thinking - some ideas
Gap Year Jobs Abroad | Go Overseas
Gap Year Jobs And Courses UK and Worldwide (bestgapyear.co.uk)
Resort jobs search for winter or summer with ResortWork.co.uk
I'm a psychology student... I'll try to not be too offended by your comment of it being a "less respected degree" :mad: I'm not mad, don't worry, although I feel your impression is (incredibly) wrong. Trying to address everything in your post roughly in order:

If you still want to become a clinical psychologist/researcher, then psychology is absolutely the degree for you. It is not a "less respected" degree, in fact, it is very much a respected degree that allows you to jump into a great deal of many other jobs and even other academic fields, so knock that idea out of your head! And don't think that your grades are wasted in psychology or in a university just because there are those with higher entry requirements. You need to do what makes you happy, even if your grades allow for different paths. Also note that any perceived reputation universities might have actually bear a negligible impact on your future prospects post-university, instead the degree classification you achieve is the biggest predictor of success post-university, so go to a university that you like, regardless of how well liked or disliked it is by the rankings! This is backed up by data (that I now seem unable to find... :colondollar:)

Getting a well paid job in psychology is hard and it takes time, but there's something to be said about chasing your dreams rather than the money. That being said, if you want to chase the money, psychology does allow you to go into other fields that will probably pay better and quicker.

But you should still ideally chase your dreams. But you should sort out what your dream is first. You've just rejected Medicine, and are reconsidering old options as well as new ones like dentistry. You need to do your research and give it some long, hard thought as to what you want to do. That will probably mean making a decision already into your gap year. So, tackling the issues you've raised:

You can absolutely take the UCAT on the summer after your A levels. The summer is very long indeed and the UCAT test window closes in September, so you'll have plenty of time to recuperate from your A levels before tackling the UCAT. And since I assume you've already taken it last year for your Medicine application, you'll be more mentally prepared. At least I found I was more mentally prepared when I sat my UCAT for the second time around (and I aced it, and I didn't even give myself a break from my A levels before jumping into UCAT revision, so don't worry too much about it)

You can probably start psychology and do some dentistry experience on the side but this is ill-advised. You'd manage to do both alright, but I assume that dentistry courses, much like medicine, are very picky when it comes to students that have dropped out of other degrees. So you need to do your research on which universities you could potentially apply to do dentistry after having dropped out. I suspect you'll be able to apply to some places but your options will be severely limited. Plus, this way, you'd be getting yourself an extra year of student debt, which no one wants.

Gap years aren't bad at all. You can go see your friends at their respective universities and keep in touch. And taking a gap year is way to move on with your life. Maybe not in the way you want but it is still going forward. It's not like life is a race anyway. And it's only a year, it'll go by very quick and before you know it you'll be off to university. And you can use gap years to your advantage and do all sorts of great things in them.


I think you need to think what you want to do and come up with an answer, however long that takes. If it means that you want to do psychology at Bristol, then by all means accept that offer and go to uni. But if that's not what you want to do, or you're unsure, or you want to go elsewhere, you should absolutely take a gap year to buy yourself time to think about what you want to do and come up with the answer. Don't rush into a decision you'll regret.

McGinger has given you a few nice links of things you can do in your gap year that means you can move out during your gap year. Here's another one which also allows you to do something nice for the planet, if you're into that sort of stuff: https://wwoof.net/

I hope that this post was at least somewhat useful, and please don't hesitate to ask for more assistance in TSR if you feel like you're in need of it :smile:
SY
Reply 3
Original post by Scotland Yard
I'm a psychology student... I'll try to not be too offended by your comment of it being a "less respected degree" :mad: I'm not mad, don't worry, although I feel your impression is (incredibly) wrong. Trying to address everything in your post roughly in order:

If you still want to become a clinical psychologist/researcher, then psychology is absolutely the degree for you. It is not a "less respected" degree, in fact, it is very much a respected degree that allows you to jump into a great deal of many other jobs and even other academic fields, so knock that idea out of your head! And don't think that your grades are wasted in psychology or in a university just because there are those with higher entry requirements. You need to do what makes you happy, even if your grades allow for different paths. Also note that any perceived reputation universities might have actually bear a negligible impact on your future prospects post-university, instead the degree classification you achieve is the biggest predictor of success post-university, so go to a university that you like, regardless of how well liked or disliked it is by the rankings! This is backed up by data (that I now seem unable to find... :colondollar:)

Getting a well paid job in psychology is hard and it takes time, but there's something to be said about chasing your dreams rather than the money. That being said, if you want to chase the money, psychology does allow you to go into other fields that will probably pay better and quicker.

But you should still ideally chase your dreams. But you should sort out what your dream is first. You've just rejected Medicine, and are reconsidering old options as well as new ones like dentistry. You need to do your research and give it some long, hard thought as to what you want to do. That will probably mean making a decision already into your gap year. So, tackling the issues you've raised:

You can absolutely take the UCAT on the summer after your A levels. The summer is very long indeed and the UCAT test window closes in September, so you'll have plenty of time to recuperate from your A levels before tackling the UCAT. And since I assume you've already taken it last year for your Medicine application, you'll be more mentally prepared. At least I found I was more mentally prepared when I sat my UCAT for the second time around (and I aced it, and I didn't even give myself a break from my A levels before jumping into UCAT revision, so don't worry too much about it)

You can probably start psychology and do some dentistry experience on the side but this is ill-advised. You'd manage to do both alright, but I assume that dentistry courses, much like medicine, are very picky when it comes to students that have dropped out of other degrees. So you need to do your research on which universities you could potentially apply to do dentistry after having dropped out. I suspect you'll be able to apply to some places but your options will be severely limited. Plus, this way, you'd be getting yourself an extra year of student debt, which no one wants.

Gap years aren't bad at all. You can go see your friends at their respective universities and keep in touch. And taking a gap year is way to move on with your life. Maybe not in the way you want but it is still going forward. It's not like life is a race anyway. And it's only a year, it'll go by very quick and before you know it you'll be off to university. And you can use gap years to your advantage and do all sorts of great things in them.


I think you need to think what you want to do and come up with an answer, however long that takes. If it means that you want to do psychology at Bristol, then by all means accept that offer and go to uni. But if that's not what you want to do, or you're unsure, or you want to go elsewhere, you should absolutely take a gap year to buy yourself time to think about what you want to do and come up with the answer. Don't rush into a decision you'll regret.

McGinger has given you a few nice links of things you can do in your gap year that means you can move out during your gap year. Here's another one which also allows you to do something nice for the planet, if you're into that sort of stuff: https://wwoof.net/

I hope that this post was at least somewhat useful, and please don't hesitate to ask for more assistance in TSR if you feel like you're in need of it :smile:
SY


thank you so so much for such a detailed response !! i really appreciate your time in reading my post and helping me out ☺️ i’ve firmed the psychology offer & will take some more time to look into careers throughout the next few months !! it’s exciting to be looking into new options outside of medicine that i’d been pushing aside thinking medicine is the best option i had

and i definitely feel more reassured about psychology, tbh the negativity around the degree is what put me off in the first place but i absolutely love the subject + don’t mind doing extra degrees and training so i think my gut feeling is to go for it atm !!

PS. you said you sat the UCAT too, i’m just wondering if you were also planning on medicine before going into psychology , or was it for something different ? :smile:
Original post by elizabethtec
thank you so so much for such a detailed response !! i really appreciate your time in reading my post and helping me out ☺️ i’ve firmed the psychology offer & will take some more time to look into careers throughout the next few months !! it’s exciting to be looking into new options outside of medicine that i’d been pushing aside thinking medicine is the best option i had

and i definitely feel more reassured about psychology, tbh the negativity around the degree is what put me off in the first place but i absolutely love the subject + don’t mind doing extra degrees and training so i think my gut feeling is to go for it atm !!

PS. you said you sat the UCAT too, i’m just wondering if you were also planning on medicine before going into psychology , or was it for something different ? :smile:

Glad to help :smile:

Yes, I wanted to do Medicine but ended up applying to do psychology during my gap year!

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