Waiting to go to University and Gap Years

Hi All!

Recently I've been doing a lot of research into universities, courses and personal statement information because I'm off to uni next year hopefully and I just got thinking about why I chose to not to go to uni right away and why some other people might choose not to. This post is just a few reasons why people may want to take a gap year or why it might be a good thing to take a gap year, and a few reasons it isn't a good thing. So lets get right down to business, I hope you find this useful.

There are a number of reasons that people might want to take a gap year and a number of reasons why people don't want to but it can't be denied that, if spent productively, that time can be really helpful for University later on or just life experience in general. Gap years or choosing not to go to university right away gives you the opportunity to:

• Travel and experience new places
• Teach or study abroad
• Work or live abroad
• Save some money for university
• Prepare yourself physically and emotionally for university
• Get work experience

Personally, I took time out before Uni to try and get my health improved, in sixth form I was constantly ill and I was in and out of hospital a lot so I thought that it would be a good idea to take some time out to get my body and mind into a better place before I went to university as it can be a stressful time. I also took the opportunity to undertake another course and gain some more qualifications in the subject I'd like to continue at university, health and social care. If you're thinking of taking some time out before university there's a few things I would recommend you consider.

• How easy would it be for you to settle back into your studies? Some people find it much harder to get back into the routine of revision, coursework and exams whereas others have said that gap years and time out made them feel refreshed and revitalised before getting back to the hard stuff. You don't need to make life any more difficult for yourself so really consider how that period of getting into a routine would affect you.
• What would you do? It's a good idea to have some thoughts on what you'd like to do in your time out, learn new skills? Travel? Earn more money? At least that way you will have less chance of just wasting the time that could've been spent productively. 
• Why are you taking time out? Are you doing it simply because everyone else is or because it's what you truly feel will be best for you? You may find that if you do it to follow the crowd and you end up easting that year/s you'll regret it.
• Are you prepared? If you're thinking of travelling or going abroad to study/work are you prepared to leave home and be completely independent? Lots of students tend to go on gap years and while they eventually end up enjoying it they find that leaving home for such a long period of time is unnerving or worrying. Think, would you be okay with long times spent from home? Are you financially prepared to travel or work unpaid in order to get experience? Is that a realistic goal for you?

Overall gap years aren't always a good idea definitely not if you're only doing it because A) Everyone else is B) You think tattoos or piercings will be cool from some exotic land C) You simply can't be bothered with uni just yet D) You want more time to party. 

However, gap years or time out can provide you with so many new opportunities you can gain life experience, work experience, earn your own money, explore the world or your home country and one of the most important factors for me personally, that time can give you an awful lot of scope to truly consider what you want to do with your life. Since I started college I've been shown hundreds of jobs I never even considered for myself, I went into that course determined I would become a midwife, I've swapped to wanting to be a dentist, health visitor, social worker and now I believe I have finally settled on a career I wish to pursue. I want to eventually become a university lecturer of health and social care. I hope you all enjoyed reading this and have taken something useful away from this post. 

Love Katherine. X

College Vs. Sixth Form: My Experience

Hey Everyone!
Since it's officially my first week back to college after being ill I thought this would be the perfect time to do my comparison between sixth form and college as I've had the privilege of experiencing both environments.

Image not mine, from Google

This month it will have been five months since I and thousands of A-Level students received their final set of A-Level results. For many it will have been extremely daunting, it know it was for me! I've never excelled when it comes to exams, I get that pre-exam nervousness that then tends to linger until the end of the exam and then post-exam panic begins to rear its ugly head. I can't win.

I was utterly convinced that I would be running out of my sixth form centre with tears spilling down my face after my horrendous results had been exposed to me (and the little hoard of friends I had with me at the time) but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had done rather well; better than I had expected. I say I had done better than expected because after finding out what it was really like to be an A-Level student at a sixth form centre, I was not expecting anything good at all to come from my A levels.

After surviving years 7 and 8 at my lower school and achieving good results in most of my exams I was determined to continue my education after year 11... that was until I hit year 9 and the 'Gateway exams' arrived. I'm sure all of the people who read this that are currently around the age of 17 or 18 will remember the moment your teachers told you about picking your GCSE's and having to take the 'gateway exams', I personally was very excited about taking Music and Business Studies, music didn't turn out too well but one can't complain when the rest of the GCSE results we're, for me, fantastic. My GCSE results made the decision to continue education concrete. So, I chose to attend a sixth form college and chose my subjects, Health and Social Care, Religious Studies, Sociology and Psychology. That was when my journey as an A-Level student began. My first day of sixth form was SO exciting, I was looking forward to many more free lessons, more independence and being treated like and adult with respect by teachers. After the compulsory 3 day orientation I was really motivated that I would do well that year, I would focus more, revise more, I would get good grades and most importantly it would be easy! No. No. No.

Oh my was I wrong. Yes, despite the 6 or 7 free lessons I had per week and freedom to wander out of school in those lessons I still spent most messing about or revising for exams. Sixth Form is, excuse the language but it's bloody well difficult! If you think it's going to be just like your GCSE's you'd be wrong, the jump from GCSE standard and A-Level standard is absolutely huge! We weren't informed this before choosing out A-Levels as a group of potential students; when I discovered a C at GCSE is an E at A-Level I'm pretty sure my heart stopped and I lost the ability think for a moment... Me, an average student who barely scraped a C in maths and Science at GCSE taking heavy workload subjects such as Sociology and Psychology. WHAT WAS I THINKING?! Never the less I pushed through the first few months of sixth form preparing myself for the January exams which came and went with all of the usual exam stress, panic and hours and hours of endless revision. The results were more than disappointing, I was disheartened more than I have ever been (which is saying something for me because I'm easily disheartened, or was I should say) but I am thankful for those dreadful results. Why? Well I shall elaborate. Those results shocked me, panicked me and scared the living daylights out of me! If I didn't get my head down, spend more time revising, keeping on top of the enormous amounts of work I was, and you will be, given as an A-Level  student I would fail, I wouldn't have the bright future I'd always dreamed of; so, that's what I did. I concentrated, gave up a big part of my social life, spent my time keeping focused and grounded and it did pay off. When you are able to get your head around the immense changes in the work standard, load and quality you will be given and must understand and feedback to your tutors you will be fine at A-Level. A few reasons that sixth form isn't for everybody:

• There's a huge amount of pressure put on you.
• Lots of essays and assignments due.
• Many exams and mocks the can become stressful.
• You don't get as much freedom as you'd expect.
• Often you may need to drop a lesson you enjoy in the second year. 

Image not mine, from Google

With the right attitude A-Levels will be much easier to deal with; personally I absolutely loved the free lessons I had in my final year of sixth form. However, I chose not to attend university for my own personal reasons and opted to take two years out and take up a place at a local College, now after experiencing sixth form and, to be quite honest, the very little freedom you do actually get, I was shocked as the whole dynamics of what I thought education was like, completely changed. Everything went from, teachers being on your back constantly to having your own independence at college, it was a wonderful feeling, the facilities on my current course are far more advanced than any facility in my previous sixth form centre; the opportunities offered will provide many a fantastic experience, more opportunities to gain extra qualifications. Now my current course is BETEC and admittedly this is a better type of course for myself given exam stress and such but I simply can't fault my college experience, the variety of people I've met is wonderful, I've been given opportunities for course representative positions, LGBT officer positions, board member positions and so many more chances to take positions that are never offered to you in a sixth form environment. Personally, and many of my classmates I've spoken to agree that their experience at college has been wonderful and has given me the opportunity to gain a whole new level of individuality, independence and qualifications, so I have to say if you're planning on continuing your education, don't bypass the thought of college, it may not be in your comfort zone or you may want to stay in a place where you have friends, you know the teachers and such but take some time to think about what you really want to gain from your educational experiences and what you really want to do. Yes, Sixth Form provides a good foundation for independence and opportunities but often college goes above and beyond the chances for personal and professional development. Consider college and sixth form, I have to say my experiences of both have been positive however College is a wonderful place to gain a deeper understanding of yourself and others around you. 

Thanks very much for taking the time to read my blog and putting up with my opinions.

Love Katherine. X