How to tell people I'm taking a gap year

Here's the gag. All my friends are going to uni and they're all smart
Like mostly 9s in gcse all A*s (or 7s in IB) and I'm like not that that smart.
I already feel like the underachieving friend in a group of overachievers.
Now I'm lying tell them all I haven't found out all my offers but I have 😭 I know it's my fault for not prioritising my ucat however I don't know how to tell my friends I'm not going to uni this year.
I feel like such a failure even thinking about it icl.
Should I just lie until the end of the ucat decision deadline and be like I actually want to take a gap year as if it's my own choice even though my only offer is psych at Durham 😭
Tldr; how do I tell my really smart friends who got all their offers i didn't get in/ im taking a gap year

Hi @mimibesticon!
I am sorry that you feel like you are in a bit of a difficult situation of whether you should tell your friends that you aren't going to university anymore, but I think you just need to be honest with them! (Easier said than done, I know).
Before I started uni I took a gap year, which turned out to be one of the best years of my life! However before deciding to do a gap year, I, myself had a group of mates, the majority of which were heading to uni straight away and a few of us that wanted to do a gap year and potentially consider university. It's understandable to feel like you do when most of your friends are going off to uni and you aren't but university really isn't for everyone, and that's completely fine!
I had absolutely no intention of going to university, but during my gap year after doing some amazing things such as travelling to Thailand and Australia, something in me just suddenly decided that when I was home I wanted to go to uni. I think a gap year is definitely beneficial so that you don't just do what you think people expect, instead you have time to decide what will be the best for yourself and make you the most happy. There are plenty of things you can do other than university aswell, it does not determine how smart you are whether you go or not that's for sure!
I hope this response has made you feel a-bit better about the situation, good luck with whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best!
Matt 🙂
Official LJMU Student Rep

Just tell them you want to take a gap year, it really doesn't have to be complicated.
Your life does not need to be compared with other people. Not at all. Not even a little bit.
There's more than one path through life, and going straight through the education mill, for all it's ingrained into many people as being the be all and end all, I promise you it isn't.
As for your friends, if they judge you then they're not really your friends, and people who aren't really your friends don't really matter at all. If they don't judge you then it's a non-issue anyway.