Boards
Gap Year
Should I do it? As soon as I finished my GCSEs I was adamant that I'd take a gap year before university - I've always wanted to get away and experience so much more, and I felt if I didn't do it then, I probably never would. Mid-way through my AS year I even started working out everything that I wanted to do and see - and then I got my grades and they were good - and I thought 'I should probably just go straight to uni'. And since then I've let the idea slip my mind.
I was planning on going to South/Central America - doing some volunteer stuff for a couple of months - and then travelling for a further few. I've always had a really strong interest in the area (politically/historically/culturally) and it's a place I'd love to explore sometime. A lot of people told me at the time - "You won't get anything out of it" etc, and do it after university if you really want it. Then I got confused, and people said to me "Well, you should only do it if you're 100% sure about it", which is silly, because I've never been more than about 80% sure about anything ever. My life would be at a permanent stand-still if I abided by such rules.
So I'm in the middle of doing my UCAS application, and that 'defer' box is screaming out to me. I'm aware that it's going to be different for basically everyone - but really just about anything would help me at the moment.
And you're all helpful people. YOU ARE.