I am having an ongoing dialogue in my head about the pros and cons of a year out after my degree.  I can see the merits but can also see a lot of drawbacks.  I am only young once and should possibly cease the day, live life and have new experiences but I am afraid that if I do, people will question my activities on the year out and the merit they have to my final career.  Has anyone else had these concerns?  Have you been on a year out, if so how did it effect you post-event?

I'd do it, you'd only regret not doing it and I can never envisage you'd regret doing it!

I've never had a year out and do regret it a bit.

Believe me Kyle, life is too short.  If you have it in your heart already, then I say follow it.

I would go for it if it's something you have considered. It'll be a lot harder when you're in full-time employment to jump into a year out, so while you've got the time, I'd say do it!

Hi Kyle, I would say go for or otherwise you will definitely regret it later! It's not about being young once (depending on the type of travels you wish to do, obviously taking a bungee jump for example may be a bit more taxing on your body if you are 60 plus! ;-P) as there are plenty of people who decided to travel during their retirement years, but more the fact that you have less commitments and people that rely on you. I think that if you are worried about justifying your year out to future employers, that possibly you should aim to do at least part of your time volunteering or teaching abroad as you will gain a whole variety of skills that will be justifiable and useful to any future employer. For example amongst other skills volunteering will give you the ability to work in a team, adaptability and the ethos of getting stuck in where needed, and teaching will give you good presentation skills, confidence, flexibility as well as adaptability. I recently took a TEFL course with this company www.onlinetefl.com and found it brilliant. They also run volunteering trips so it may be a good place for you to start. But whatever you decide to do make sure you do you research and planning first (this is a good place to have a look www.working-abroad.com) , it shouldn't be something that you just rush into otherwise you won't get the most out of it. Good luck with your travel planning and rest of degree!

Came across this video http://tinyurl.com/ltyvsk which helped persuade me to go for it. Quite long but was good to get what employers will make of it - key is to do something useful!!!

Hey everyone, hope you are all well. I am a student at Brighton University, and I am studying the motivation to volunteer within a gap year. If anyone has volunteered during a gap year or travelling would you please fill out a questionnaire that will take no longer than 10 -15 minutes. I would be very grateful, Thank you :)

Becky

http://kwiksurveys.com/?s=LHJLJG_cedcc77d