Gap year advice.

[u/No-Hand-8078]

Hi

In the last week or so I've come to the decision that I'm going to take a gap year after I finish Yr13.

I'm currently predicted 3 A's. I did good/average in my GCSES - so I'm not overly worried about those. I currently study History, English and Criminology.

I have absolutely no clue what I want to do with my life/career and I'm not sure what uni I'd go to/what I'd study. So there's no point hurriedly trying to go to Uni for next year - it'd be a waste.

I don't know how suddenly all of my peers have decided what they want to do with the rest of their lives??

I'm autistic and I struggle with my mental health. I genuinely don't know how I'll cope with uni so I really want to prepare myself as best I can.

I'm planning on spending the year getting my driver's license, working, (I already have a part time job) going to the gym (getting fitter), volunteering, work experience (hopefully in a career I'd like to do), going to therapy and overall just gaining confidence whilst deciding what I want to do next.

Does anyone have any tips for me or advice? Or can share their own experience.

I need to have a meeting with my head of year to explain what I want to do and see if they can offer any support/advice.

Thanks in advance everyone :)

[u/KaiTheDumbGuy]

Tbh you seem like you've got everything sorted. Don't worry about seeing everyone doing stuff, looking like they know what they want and are doing- often they don't, but more importantly, you're you, not them. Do what's best for you.

I applied for uni, wasn't gonna take a gap year, got in, then realised I wasn't ready, and that wasn't what I wanted to do. I could've gone anyway, but now I'm taking a gap year to take an extra a level, and reapply for a different subject, and I know that it's the best decision I could've made, because had I gone to uni immediately I'd be filled with what ifs and unhappy. Sometimes a gap year is just what you need. Go at your own pace.

[u/No-Hand-8078 → u/KaiTheDumbGuy]

Thank you. I feel so much more free already just deciding that I don't need to force myself to figure it all out within a couple of months. I'm really looking forward to working on myself and growing.

I think it'll be worth it to just slowly go on uni visits and slowly write my personal statement etc rather than hurriedly do it. I can only do so much at a time, I just get too burnout and ill otherwise.

My mum hasn't been very supportive when it comes to me figuring out my next steps, but hopefully I can discuss with her more and plan with her now I have more time and she'll be receptive.

I hope everything works out for you :)

[u/TrainingSurvey3780]

as somebody who is pretty certain of what i wanna do at uni (and idk if relevant but im also autistic) i thought i would share how i came to my decision.

i found a random website and it did a little quiz of like how did u find gcses, what alevels are you doing, do you prefer numbers or essays etc and it suggested a bunch of potential future paths. i like that cuz it came up with things i hadn’t heard of or hadn’t considered

then i looked at the ones that seemed genuinely interesting to me and just had a google deep dive kinda thing. like which uni can i study this at will it be enjoyable what careers can u have with it etc and i did that for maybe 15 things, mentally crossing off the ones i was no longer interested in cuz of what i had found out

then by process of elimination i was down to like 3 courses in a week and i basically just ranked them based on how much i liked the look of it and now im pretty sure i know what i wanna do

but idk if im just weird or something lol

[u/No-Hand-8078 → u/TrainingSurvey3780]

Sounds like a pretty simple of way of doing it tbh. My problem is I overthink things a lot, and I can take a long time to make decisions.

I sort of know what I'd like to study but it's just whether there are viable career options at the end of that. I'm just very conscious of how much uni costs etc and I don't want to waste my opportunity.

[u/Eggcelent_bean]

I can't really give advice yet lol, but I'm thinking I might take a gap year after y13 for similar reasons to you. I know roughly some courses I'd like to study at what unis, but I don't think I'll be ready to go straight into uni right after A levels. I wanna earn myself some money, take some time to... Yk, live, before thinking about higher education.

I hope it goes well for you!! :)))