There has been some suggestion in the past that the gap year should more accurately be known as the Gap Yah, as it’s only the well-at-heel who can afford to go waltzing off around the world, safe in the knowledge that they have Daddy’s credit card should anything go wrong. Happily, this stereotype is almost completely wrong and of 230,000 18-24 year-olds who take a gap year, only a small percentage come from a rich background. So what could you do if you decided you wanted to take a year off?
You could see the world!
The part of a gap year most students are excited by is the chance to see the world. There are all different types of gap year travels and, although the average cost of gap year travels is between £3,000 and £4,000, depending on which experience you choose it could mean a massive difference in the overall cost – some could even see you earning money. Have a look at gapyear.com for a full range of options but here’s a sample of different ways you can see the world.
Volunteering
If you not only want to see the world but to help out too, then a period of volunteering – or voluntourism as it’s also known – could be for you. There are many organisations around the world that desperately need the help of young people to help with community infrastructure projects, medical aid programmes or work with endangered animals.
Organisations like Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) or Raleigh International run schemes around the world where they place you in a particular project that you can choose. There are also environmental expeditions, like jungle conservation, run by people like Frontier and Trekforce Expeditions.
Bear in mind that even if you’re helping out, you’ll still be expected to raise money to pay for your expedition, but there are many sources of funding available (such as grants from local business organisations). You’d be in good company too, this year 13% of Raleigh International’s summer expedition members were school leavers.
Summer camps
These holiday activity camps for children are particularly popular in the US, where they are often located in beautiful countryside and themed around a particular subject (religion, arts, sports, even weight!). Most of the jobs involve working as a counsellor, being responsible for teaching and looking after groups of campers.
You might expect to get a small wage, (approximately £350 per month) and you would work for three months over the summer. You get a lot of the admin side of your travel taken care of as companies often provide the visa, insurance, return flights, food and accommodation. When your work is done you can travel across the US and see the country with loads of new mates.
TEFL
TEFL stands for Teaching English as a Foreign Language, although confusingly it’s also referred to as TESOL - Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and ELT - English Language Teaching, they all refer to much the same thing though! Although you might think that you’d need a degree to go abroad and teach students how to speak English, for many positions all they ask for is some teaching experience (which you can get by taking a TEFL course) and a good standard of spoken English. As the language of the internet there is high demand for TEFL teachers across the world and providers like Cactus can get you trained and ready to go with a recognised international qualification in under four weeks.
Just travel
Although it’s great if you can use your year off to establish some level of employability skills and do something worthwhile there really is nothing wrong with just letting off some steam after nearly two decades in education. It’s an ideal chance to see things you’ve always wanted to see, meet new people and have the holiday of a lifetime. Just don’t drive your mates insane with a Facebook status that talks about swimming in waterfalls while they’re packing boxes in Tesco.
One recent development is that many students – perhaps mindful of not running up too big a debt – have taken shorter periods of travelling, interspersed with periods of working to build up the funds to go abroad. Don’t forget that there are plenty of seasonal jobs abroad (fruit picking in Australia, or working as a chalet maid in ski resorts are just two examples) that can help you earn your passage around the world.
You could go to work!
Sounds strange that you could take a year out and go to work, but then a growing proportion of the pre-uni gap years have some connection to work. One of the big operators in this field is the Year in Industry placements (YINI) who have seen a 10% increase in applications this year. YINI place young people with one of over 300 UK companies in science, engineering or technology firms for 9 or 12 months and get paid a salary of around £12,000 and a wealth of essential experience. You can arrange your own placement or just work on a casual basis, which could get you some skills and earn you hard cash to take you travelling.
Gap year opportunities
Have a look through our gap year opportunities to see if anything there tickles your fancy!
