Gap year?!?

[WhereIBelong]

Hi all... DD18 just told us she has decided on a gap year - and we are flummoxed - what happens to her uni "process"? She has applied and received offers - not accepted any yet. Does she start/apply again when ready? Or does she accept now and "defer" (I word I have heard but not looked into). She is well on track to get the grades she needs.

I think it is more a "mental health" thing - she wants a time-out... she wants to get out and earn some money before continuing study - she does want to do a degree... eventually... as she wants to go teach English abroad - in the far East.

We will of course support her in her choices - she is an adult now (ish...) - just really never imagined her going down a different path to that which she had planned.

Has anyone got any advice?

[PoohBears#1fan]

Everyone I know who's kids took a gap year accepted their place and deferred it.

My good friend's daughter is having the time of her life working the ski season in France at the moment on hers and honing her already impressive ski skills, then she's off to Thailand with my DD to spend some time volunteering, including TEFL.

I think it's great for them

[novocastrian]

can she not apply now & defer any places/offers till next year ie/2020

no idea how this all works, in 5 years i will ! but asumed that is the way you do it?

[macadoo]

My friends dd accepted her place and deferred for a year.

[Tetrarch]

If she is happy with her current choices, all she needs to do is ring the universities to ask them if she can defer her place until 2020. If they agree and she meets the conditions this August, her place will be confirmed to start a year later.

If she wants to apply to some different universities then she can't still hold a deferred place and she she would need to go through the whole UCAS process again, updating her personal statement to reflect whatever she has planned for her gap year. She would need to ask her school/college to support her in this to provide a reference again, but that shouldn't be a problem for them. Applying to some of the same universities as she did this year isn't an issue and with her results in hand, any offers will be unconditional next time around, unless she ends up resitting something.

Debra

[alkel2730]

I can’t help with the formalities of it as I’m not clued up on that nowadays but I wanted to add a little reassurance. I deferred and took a gap year. I was fed up of education and needed to regroup. I worked and just enjoyed the extra income and time with my friends, I went on holiday but didn’t travel, I was, and still am, a homebody. In the ‘summer’ I took a bridging course to improve some grades (we are going back a while tho!) and then went to uni the following year. Ended up doing four years across two different unis and got a first class hons degree. I’m almost certain that would not have happened if I had continued in education, I was done at the time. Also met my now husband in my first year at uni and run my own business now around our little ones.

This also happened to a friend of mine, her daughter deferred a year and worked in disney in Orlando and then in uk. She travelled too. Think she took longer in the end. She then went to uni in uk and got a first too. She now works in marketing and is doing really well for herself. She’s gone from being really lost and confused to confident and successful as she took that time out to find herself.

Sometimes you just know. It’ll be ok.

[catlady]

My dd is currently in a gap year, like your dd she decided late in the day and we were quite surprised. She had a place at London College of Fashion and they do not defer places, you have to re-apply as the course is very competitive and over subscribed by 4 to 1 every year 🙁! Although I think the process is straight forward normally for non art based courses?

Have to say though that despite my reservations it's been great for my dd! She hasn't travelled except on holiday with friends but she has a job in the Disney store and has already been promoted! She's saving hard and has decided to apply for the cultural representative programme at Disney which opens for applications next week! She's so much more confident in herself and she has her spark back! 👍

I think she was pushed into applying for the course by her teachers as she is very creative. I'm not sure she really knew what she wanted to do! She's already talking about re-applying for a more business focused course!

[WhereIBelong]

These posts are very reassuring, thank you.

Just a bit of a shock to ask "When does the finance have to be sorted?" and be told - "I'm taking a gap year, so not for ages..."

oh well, we will see how it all pans out...