What do the Universities really think of GAP years?
As in other areas of the Oxbridge admissions, there is no standard policy and the answer is down to individual tutors making subjective choices. There are, however, some guidelines. With some of the ‘hard’, technical subjects (Maths, Physics, Medicine etc.) there is sometimes a fear amongst tutors that applicants will go ‘off the boil’ in their GAP year as these subjects are harder to keep up to speed than some of the arts subjects (which can be supplemented with outside reading). Engineering is an exception; some Cambridge colleges actively encourage a GAP year (check the prospectus for which ones). By requesting a GAP year you are asking the tutors to save you a place without knowing the quality of next year’s applicants. So if you are applying in 2007 for entry in 2009 (i.e. asking for a GAP year), you have got to convince the tutors that you’re not only amongst the top candidates they are interviewing this year – relatively straight forward for them to decide – but also that you wi
