You Don’t Need to Take a Gap Year to Travel—Here’s How to Do It During Your Uni Degree

To gap or not to gap?

This article is presented in partnership with Monash Business School. You can listen to the full podcast on Spotify, Apple Music, or right below.

If you’re graduating high school soon, you’ve got some big decisions to make.

As your fellow peers head to tertiary education, straight into the workforce or overseas, you’re probably wondering what the best path is for you. And a gap year can sound super appealing.

But it’s not always the straight-forward decision people make it out to be. That's why we’ve teamed up with Monash Business School to bring you a special five-part podcast series called “What I Wish I Knew About Studying Business”.

In our fourth episode, we welcomed Georgie Wildoer to speak specifically about her experience travelling it up—all while completing her degree at Monash Business School.

Meet Georgie.

At only age 22, Georgie had travelled overseas numerous times, completed her Marketing and Arts degree at Monash Business School, made life-long friendships, and secured a graduate program with Victoria’s Big Build. Yes—it is possible.

It all kicked into motion after finishing Year 12.

“I went overseas and travelled all summer, then got my VCE results in Vietnam. And then found out I got into uni in Japan,” she said.

Georgie chose Monash Business School because it offered the double degree she was seeking.

“I knew I wanted to do marketing. And I thought doing a double degree with arts would give me that breadth to really discover what I wanted to do.

“Plus, Caulfield campus has such a good rep for being so awesome—so it was kind of a no brainer,” she said.

After getting involved in the uni scene, making friends, and attending lots of society parties, Georgie found out how to fit travel into her uni years.

To gap or not to gap?

“I knew I wanted to travel but I didn’t really know where. And I don’t think I was ready to take that big step and go it alone,” Georgie told us.

“Once I got into uni, I realised that you could travel while there.”

There are several ways to do this while at Monash Business School—one of which includes just going on a trip during one of the long summer or winter breaks.

“In first year, I went off to Thailand in the mid semester break, and by second year, Europe was the destination,” Georgie said.

But Georgie found the key to a double whammy when she came across the Global Study Program.

How does a ‘global study program’ work?

Georgie completed the global study program as part of her Marketing degree at Monash Business School.

“It’s a three-week intensive unit that took us across three continents. We started in Dubai, then went to Mumbai in India, then over to Prague, Paris and Milan in Europe.

“In each city, we would meet with marketing executives from really big companies—like, we’re talking Emirates and Asahi breweries. They talked us through their marketing strategy and what challenges are facing their industry, which was incredible for our own development.

“Then during the rest of the time, we would experience the culture—go out on bike rides, make pizza and go to cultural centres. It was just incredible.”

What are the benefits?

Georgie explained that the Global Study Program made the most sense to her, rather than a gap year, because she could still progress with her degree.

In fact, the credits you earn from completing the program will benefit you in the future.

“We had some assignments prior to leaving, did a big group pitch in Milan and then had a final report when we came back. It meant that we had a unit done over the summer—so in my final semester of my final year, I underloaded and it was really breezy,” she explained.

Advice, please.

Georgie has no regrets about not taking a gap year.

“By the time I was working, I felt ready. I had lived experience. I had travelled the world and I had two degrees—so absolutely no regrets.

“Those soft skills that I developed over the program were invaluable—I mean, you’re meeting with executives and that’s a really daunting task, especially when you’re beginning full time work.

“I would say just get on campus, and just say yes.”

Monash knows that a lot of their students really want to travel, and they have now a global immersion guarantee. If you’re thinking about your options, wondering, “do I want to go to uni? Or do I want to travel?”, check out more information here!