By Community Correspondent Olivia Cripps At a time when unemployment rates for 18-25 year olds are at an all time high and we’re suffering an economic crisis; it probably isn’t the best time to be looking for a job. This, however, is the situation that fellow Gap Year students and myself find ourselves in at this moment in time. Having worked hard for two years and completing our A-Levels, many, like myself, decide that earning some money and then going travelling before going to University next year, is the right idea.

Having days filled with job-hunting, CV writing, UCAS applying and don’t forget, being poor, is an endless task that even the most strong-willed person threatens to give up. Even when you’re relaxing, pressure always manages to find you. Even downtime on Facebook is ruined by photos upon photos of Freshers weeks; your former friends moving to all over the country and plastering what fun they’re having all over your previously favourite website. You look, but not for very long.

Lots of people regard a gap year as a waste of time, as it’s not the recognised thing to do and for some it seems to be an opportunity to do nothing for a while. However, the increasing number of people taking one shows that there are many advantages to taking a year off from education.

Some universities have even gone as far to specify that they prefer students to take Gap Years, as the idea is that they return more focused and are sure of what they want in life.

You’d be surprised how much someone can learn in a year if they really put their mind to it.

Getting a job and earning your own money helps you to realise the value of money; save up and possibly go travelling. Once travelling, you gain independence and skills such as organisation and managing your finances. Then, realising whether you’re on course to do exactly what you want to do, you apply to university with your A-Level results, as opposed to the predictions your fellow applicants have, giving you an immediate advantage. Not only this, but once you get to university, you’ll be older than a lot of people, something that, as I mentioned before, more and more universities are starting to favour.

Feeling like I wasn’t following the routine path straight to university, along with being one of five in my year taking this route, didn’t make taking a Gap Year a very easy decision to make. Even now, there are certain reminders and questions that I dread because compared to some people my age, taking ‘a year out’ is the soft option.

One of the most saddening events that occurred to me in the past two months was a simple tick box. It read; ‘Current Occupation’. Shame took over as I scrolled through the options; passing ‘Student’ and ‘Employment’ before selecting ‘Other’. Other? Why can’t they have an option that reads ‘On a Gap Year gaining life experience and becoming worldly wise’? This seems much more appropriate than just ‘Other’. Yet another of the daily traumas one goes through when on a Gap Year; feeling someway inadequate to the Students and people who get their own tick boxes.

Being asked what you’re doing with your life is one of those questions that I’m not fond of, as some people will always think a Gap Year is an opportunity to take ‘time out’ and delay any sort of hard work. However it’s up to the individual to prove those people wrong and whilst there are still thousands of people who go straight to university after school and love it; it’s not for everybody, and this needs to be recognised.

A Gap Year is not about avoiding anything. It’s a positive choice to acquire new skills and experiences; all preparing to make yourself a better student, more focused on what you want to do and eager to succeed.

So don’t doubt fellow gap years’ and myself by thinking a Gap Year is the layabouts’ choice, because that’s simply not the case. Instead, wish us luck, and we just might surprise you.