Hi guys, I'm considering taking a gap year between my A-levels (final school exams) and going to Uni. In the year I would study for an extra Further Maths A-level qualification and travel for a few months while working odd jobs before applying to Uni in the following year. My ultimate goal is to get a job as an analyst in BB IB. Is this a good idea? Do banks look poorly on this? Will it affect my job chances?
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Banks won't care in the slightest. If anything, it might be a good thing as it will give you an extra year's life experience and more to talk about in interviews.
There’s not many times in your life where you can go away traveling for more than a month. Take advantage of it, you’ll have a blast.
Absolutely nothing wrong with it. I think we get so caught up in setting ourselves up for the future that we forget that we should ultimately do what we want to do first, and a gap year is well worth it in my opinion. I went abroad during my summer for 2 months and now I'm in uni again I keep thinking about putting my life on pause to just go travel - but that's not attainable for me now. If you have the means to do it, don't let up on this chance since it'll give you clarity on what you really want to do with your life and give you a lot more perspective that's critical in life and your career (given you travel to Asia as well and not just Europe) - I guarantee you'll reconsider if you even want to do IB.
100% take it. I'm currently on a gap year before university, and while I'm from the States, I have met plenty of British kids doing the same during the past year. It has really been nothing but beneficial for me. I am far more focused and clear on what I want to study when I return next fall, and have so much more motivation for studies than I did finishing up my last year of high school
If you have any questions or want any ideas for a gap year I'd be happy to help I'm been working for a non-profit and travelling the world in my free time, I'd certainly be happy to help.
Thanks for the advice! Sorry I haven't been online for a while. I have been considering working for my uncle who is a former Director of Investment Banking at Credit Suisse in the 1990s. Would this be relevant experience to a BB? He invests in various companies, property and resorts.
Don’t rush to start working. At the end of the day whether you become a banker at 21, 22, or 23 it won’t matter. One year is a drop in the bucket of your professional career, take the gap year to learn in way you never could at uni.
My advice as someone who wanted to graduate in two years and realized how dumb that was
Take a gap year, go travel, do sth interesting.
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