A gap year is supposed to be a road test of life opportunities for graduates prior to figuring out what important step to take next, but before they know it, it can become an escape from responsibility. Plus, with the current expenses it has become the privilege of the affluent few – thus creating another gap. My gap year was the result of one long year trying to persuade my unenthusiastic parents to finance it. On my way, I mostly picked places with free internet spots so I could follow the news at home. Only on my return did I realise I had neither met the real world nor the real me.
As the economic picture for graduates darkens, don’t start your work path without trying out the wonders of freedom. Yes, gap years cost, but funded programmes that fairly well level off inequalities on the social scale are widely accessible. A gap year spent volunteering or gaining work experience makes your job application stand out. On a more social note, by consuming the local products, staying in small guest houses, and using locally owned facilities you might be helping the locals in the country of your choice to put their children through school.
With the government announcing that it is going to raise university fees next year, the number of young people taking a gap year is expected to fall dramatically. This is for the better, since useful gap year work experience programmes might end up placing you hopefully hanging around by the photocopier or enthusiastically carrying trays of coffee at a law firm – admittedly overwhelming experiences! My friends dived into their gap year fearlessly, while I spent mine looking for an excuse to return home. Ironically, it took me a whole year to find one.
The necessary skills for camping in the wild while working on a preservation project are hardly something that three years of university could provide, but when I look back on the work I completed during my gap year, it makes writing a dissertation and academic deadlines seem more manageable. With such an investment of time and money, you must ensure your gap year is worthwhile. Expect the unexpected and don’t let yourself be surprised. Attend predeparture education programmes and choose organisers who accurately match their volunteers to projects of their interest.
Far from the deceptive holiday image of self-indulgent sunburnt teenage backpackers crowding Thai beaches whilst taking time to decide what to do with life, in reality, overseas volunteer project work is hard going and not for the faint-hearted. Yet a more concerning issue is that of impact. Somewhere along the line it’s been forgotten that the major point of volunteer trips is to benefit the community you’re going out to help. Now projects seem to have become far more about the benefit to the person making the trip, or the travel agency organising it.
Despite the present economic difficulties, there’s never been a better time to get away from it all by taking your well-deserved holiday in an exotic destination. The pound still goes a fair way in certain countries, and your initial dismay at the absence of the internet in remote corners of the world will turn into a rewarding excuse to cut yourself off from the news. My gap year made me the person I am today and no amount of work experience could have given me the joy of a summer sprawling ahead, with nothing but an open road and not a clue about what I was going to do from one day to the next.
Which person sarcastically refers to job preparation schemes in gapyear programmes?
Which person says they did not make any serious plans for activities during their gap year?
Which person says that a gap year can be mistaken for a vacation?
Which person mentions the benefits of a gap year experience for later academic work?
Which person says a gap year is an excuse for avoiding making life decisions?
Which person claims an administrative educational decision might prevent students from taking a gap year?
Which person says that gap year trends reinforce social inequality?
Which person claims that gap year students have better career opportunities?
Which person questions if gap year students bring any advantages to the places they stay in?
Which person says planning is crucial for a beneficial gap year?
Which person sees benefits in being uninformed about world affairs?
Which person says that they did their gap year unwillingly?
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