Taking a Gap Year

[Fissh]

So this year I decided instead of going to university I'd take a gap year, get some time away from education. Now (from what i can remember) I think my main motivation for taking one was

a) Having a year with mates having much laughs and good times
b) When not having a laugh getting a decent job relevant to what I want to do (aka bookshop work as I want something English based)

The reality of it has finally hit home as my last 2 friends have gone to uni now leaving me with

- No friends, now this may sound very "emo" but literally of the few people in my year left none of the are at all social in the slightest. People say "make new friends" but the problem is, where? at work? not many people I know well enough and its not like I have school to go to to make new ones.

- A rubbish job. I work at Waitrose stacking shelves. Now I have tried to get more hours there (seeing as how the other places I have applied to have all turned me down) but we have too much staff thus very little overtime can be given.

So all in all I am stuck for a year with very little monies and nothing to do.

(Realised this may seem like a massive mern but I need to get it off my chest)

So who else here is taking a gap year/has taken a gap year? What did you do?

[Martinus]

I was forced to take a gap year when my uni representative royally buggered up a placement position for me in Germany. As such I'm now in a class with a bunch of people I don't know which is a bit crap; by final year you usually know who the reliable class members are so you can study with them.

I spent a lot of time working, messing around on the wee projects that I'd wanted to do and being a bit aimless. In retrospect I'd much rather have stayed in uni.

[katox]

Your gap year sounds just like mine Fissh. :)

I was a bit scared of going to uni straight away after my art foundation as I wasn't sure if I really wanted to go at all and my head hurt. Basically I hated art and didn't want it in my life anymore.

I decided on a year out. All fine and dandy, but the place I was working at as a Saturday girl (whilst at school and college) wouldn't really give me that many extra days and the people I knew from college had all gone to uni. The people I knew at school who had taken a year out whilst I was doing my art foundation had all gone to uni. I was left feeling a bit of a lemon, on my tod.

So, I took some courses at my local college for a couple of afternoons/evenings a week. I did manicure/pedicure, reflexology and basic computing. They were just for a bit of fun really, but in retrospect they helped me be more confident with myself, put some extra skills under my belt, gave me the taste for learning again and I met new people. I managed to get the fees paid for as well. If this sounds interesting to you, perhaps going down to your local college for a chat about the courses and funding options would be a good idea. I also recommend you go into your local Connexions cos even though they are plonkers who send you a load of crap through the post (or maybe that's just ours? :rolleyes:), they have jobs advertised in the window specifically for people of school leaving age and may be able to give you some more suggestions on what you can do with yourself.

Good luck! :)

[Beef Magic]

I took a year out. In it I tried to get full time work, eventually getting something decent about six months before I had to go to university working at a lab. I went back there this summer.

What I had planned was save up all summer and then spend at university. But, as anyone will tell you, your first full time job will probably be the first time you would have lots of money; therefore, you'll probably do what I did and go "FUCK ME! CASH!" and spunk all but 2 grand just before. This year was even worse, I went to uni with about £600.

It's all good fun.

So yeah. Don't be tempted by lots of crap. Or even small purchases, because it's so easy to spend £100 on just nothing.

[katox]

So yeah. Don't be tempted by lots of crap. Or even small purchases, because it's so easy to spend £100 on just nothing.

Tell me about it...what I'm like at the moment. :p


I can't help it if I want everything. :angel:

[Smartie]

A crappy job is the key to being sure you go to uni next year.
Too many people can't be arsed to go abck and learn after they've been earning some wedge.
Don't get sucked into a plughole council estate office block cleaner life.

[FuriousPanda]

because it's so easy to spend £100 on just nothing.
This. Shit, for the last 6 weeks I've spent a weeks wages in a day leaving me poor.

Also, For gap year, lots of places do volunteering stuff, so its basically a cheap holiday helping orphans, making yourself feel good and having a laugh. I'm thinking about one. :)

[Luna]

For my gap year I want to go to the US and get a job as someone who takes cars from the East to West coast and vice-versa. Apparently there is a big demand for the kind of thing and I would love to see all around America.

[Soapie]

I took a year out inbetween school and college and spent most of that time working. It was pretty good, I suppose, because I earned some money, but it's pretty hard going from full time wage to part time and in education.

Also, stay with Waitrose until March haha.

[GorillaBearBear]

Yeah, I'm in your boat. I'm working 9 hours a day in a knackering job for which I still don't know if I'm getting decent pay - although it is actually a decent job. I work with a cool bloke and I'm learning a lot.

But all of my closest friends bar 3 have fucked off, and 2 more are sodding off in the next 4 months, leaving me with 1 mate and his friends. I mean, at least I'll have people to hang out with all year, but I won't have anyoneI know really really well. Just get through it, and when you have the cash visit your mates in uni for a messy night out. That's basically my plan.

Also: Buy an xbox 360 and cry yourself to sleep.

[basstard]

Make sure, whatever you do, you can justify it somehow in case anyone asks in the future.

In a job? Easy, you are earning money before uni (even if you are lazing about and spending it)
Travelling? You're exploring new cultures and horizons (even if you are just drinking around Europe)
Volunteering? Fairly obvious here.

Etc etc...

[Felix Barry]

I highly recommend a gap year.... Although it's very difficult to come back into the student scene.... Think about it.... You get a job, you have lots more money than your mates who are in college.... So you spend it and have a great laugh.... By the time comes to filling in the college application, you may see it as pointless.... And why not?.... You have a secure job that you love, you get paid well etc.... I'm just saying, could you spend a year in the workforce and still be able to go back to being a student full time?

This post is not meant to antagonize, merely point out the little things that I noticed when I had a gap year....

[EDIT] I forgot to mention what I did.... For my "gap year" I was with a pretty successful band, and we were doing the circuit around Ireland.... Problem was, after 2 months of the same kind of crowd everywhere we went, we started arguing and disbanded from the band..... Which happens.... After a week of sulking we all decided to do a bit of traveling and so we did.... We went across the pond to America and traveled across it using a VW Odyssey (Hippy Bus).... We also went to Eastern Europe and then I went to Stockholm by my lonesome.....

While I recommend a gap year for the whole "finding yourself and your place in the world", college was a bitch when I started off.... Mostly because I went from a happy state of financial well being to a state of financial coronary arrest.... I'm glad I stuck it out, but several of us couldn't deal with the college scene and are now working full time in music and book shops....