Hugely beneficial and very common in Australia. It’s great for a few reasons:

- 18 is a bit young to be taking on such a big responsibility. I was 19 when I started university and I was still one of the youngest people in my degree.

- It gives you a year to figure out whether university is really for you. Some people finish their gap year more excited than ever to start, others realise they’d prefer to carry on working.

- You get to save up money, and in Australia you can earn income to go towards qualifying for Youth Allowance.

And to answer your second question - no. I had no idea what I wanted to pursue as a career, I only knew what my interests were and that’s how I chose my degree.