Thinking about taking a year out before going to university?Check out your gap year choices here and decide if it's the right decision for you... What is it? It's a year out between finishing senior high school and starting university in which you can travel, work and generally do mind-broadening stuff you will never forget. I don't want to travel, but I don't know what I want to do at university. You will have a good three months between finishing your A Levels and university Clearing  (when last-minute vacancies   on courses for the coming academic year are advertised): surely enough time to decide what to do. You don't need to take a year for that. I need to take some money before starting university. Fair enough. But don't get comfortable and decide not to get a full-time job. Spending a year on income support   will be depressing; you'll have nothing to say when future employers ask what you did in your gap year, and you'll have to put up with smug   post-gap year students comparing notes when you start university. I'd love to travel, but I can't afford it. Most gap year students work for the first six months and then travel, using the money they've earned in the second six months. I'm scared. Try not to let fear of the unknown put you off seeing the world. Earth is a big planet, but when you travel it seems much smaller (even the remotest countries have email access). Most students get money for their gap year trip  _  .
from their parents by borrowing from their friends from the government by working themselves