Gap year

Gap Year – Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages:
 You learn more about the world/other countries/other cultures;
 You broaden your horizons;
 It increases your self-confidence and sense of responsibility;
 You gain a year of work experience, which is always good;
 You can try different careers before you make up your mind;
 You can build up a large variety of new skills and contacts;
 You can do some volunteer work and help the others/people living in poverty;
 You can help the environment;
 It’s a good way to give something back to society.
 It is a chance for a break and to do something different after education has been essentially all that you've known all your life
- Many people find that it helps with their self confidence, assertiveness and also helps develop personal skills, depending what they do with their time
- It can help you focus and work out just what you want to do at university if you apply during the gap year, where you will also know your grades with certainty
-Once you enter the world of work and responsibility it can be hard to have the chance to take time out of your career again until retirement
Disadvantages:
• It may be a year lost;
• You may forget what you have learned at school;
• You may never return to school
• It may be expensive if you are not paid for your work;
• You may have to leave your family and friends

• A gap year is constructive time out - it can be anywhere, anytime, doing anything. You could be building a school in Chile, doing some work experience, basking on a beach in Fiji or simply working for a year to save enough money for university or a new house - or even taking time out to change your career. It is about living life to the full and realising that there is a world of opportunity out there just waiting to be explored...
In the UK a 'gap year' was traditionally viewed as the activity of taking time out before university. The word on the street was that it involved travel for