www.helpyouchoose.org - Norfolk's 14-19 Area Prospectus

People take a year out for a whole variety of reasons: a break from education, to make time to consider further options, to travel, to learn a new language, to increase confidence and independence, to broaden their skills and experiences. Increasingly, people are looking to earn money to help support them when they get to university.

A year out isn’t a soft option. It demands as much, if not more, thought than any other option. You still have to make a positive decision, make applications and, maybe, raise money to go on certain schemes.

What you can do

• Voluntary work
• Work experience or work shadowing. Ask your school or college to see what you need to do to arrange work experience or work shadowing. For some jobs and courses some form of work experience is a must. Think about doing this before you get into the second year of your course
• Part-time work. Every job, no matter how simple it seems to you, makes demands on you and adds to your experience – don’t undervalue what you do!
• Take a Gap Year or year out after your current course finishes.

Remember to keep a note of what you do and the skills you use – when you make your applications use it as evidence to prove you have what it takes.

Pros and cons

Advantages:

• A chance to earn money to support future studies.
• A one-off opportunity to do something totally different.
• Develop skills (e.g. IT skills or a foreign language).
• Gain work experience related to future employment or course.
• Take a break from academic study in order to sort out priorities and come back refreshed.
• Travel more extensively than is possible in ordinary holidays.
• Begin living away from home, develop confidence and maturity.
• Give something back to the community.
• Good for your CV.

Disadvantages:

• If the year is not well planned it will produce little benefit.
• A few university departments do not encourage students to take a year out – always check before you finally decide.
• You can lose motivation for academic work and your year out just drifts on into nothing.
• You have to pay to join some schemes. Check the details carefully.
• The year may cost more than you earn.
• A year out takes a year away from future earning potential.

More information and advice…

Click Get more help to see who you can talk to about gap years.