According to UCAS, the number of university applicants wishing to defer their place for a gap year fell from 7.7 per cent to 7.3 per cent last year. But the activities associated with a year out - adventures abroad, internships and paid work - remain a popular attraction for young people, many of whom nonetheless want to get straight into the thick of it at university after their A-Levels. Now though, students are finding it easy to glean the gap year experience without having to take a year out.

Cliched as it sounds, gap years are a chance to experience new things, learn more about the world, grow up and - if you're really lucky - gain a sense of direction in termso of what you want to do with your life. However they are essentially a luxury - not everyone has the time or cash to spend a year gallavanting around the world, or doing unpaid work experience in the field of their choice. But if money is tight or you are just itching to start uni after doing your A-Levels, there's no reason you shouldn't be making the most of your time off.

Starting university without a gap year does not have to mean a lack of travelling or one-off experiences; if anything, those who know they have time restrictions can often fit in far more than those taking twelve months off. “What is more important is not taking a gap year, but being proactive,” says Nottingham University student Tom Strange. “I know many people who spent nine months bumming around at home, which achieved absolutely nothing in terms of personal development. All it did was drain the bank-of-dad.”

There are countless ways of getting a "gap year snippet" during your summer break or the few weeks you get off university at winter and Easter. Hundreds of companies offer short-term ventures, placements or travelling opportunities, whether this is working in an orphanage in Africa, building a school in Asia or learning Spanish in Argentina. Campsinternational, who offer short travelling experiences, remind the student “a gap year doesn’t need to be a whole year. In fact, many of our gappers fit their gap year travel into a period of just one month.”

A further useful resource is Realgap, offering hundreds of activities abroad under 30 days long, including two-week long volunteer programmes in Asia, Africa and South America. “Four, three and even two-week trips are now a big part of what Real Gap Experience and Gap Year for Grown Ups do,” says Jennette Baxter, spokesperson for the website. “In the last year these shorter trips probably accounted for 40-50 per cent of the business, and this is growing all the time.” Their advice is to get involved. “It will certainly give you a taste of adventure, and then you can decide if the big trip is really for you.”

Louise Cossey, another student at Nottingham Uni, did her gap year in bite-size pieces, including a five-week project in Uganda with MadVenture. “The project lengths were really good,” she enthuses. “Long enough to settle but not too long you got bored or home sick.” These projects fit neatly into a summer holiday between A-Levels and university, but you do need to have almost £2,000 in your pocket. One downfall of travelling without a gap year is money: “For me earning the money to get there was part of my gap year. I learnt about the value of money and it was a great reward at the end of six months of working,” says Louise.

But you do not need to be Mr Moneybags to make the most of holidays. “There are three considerations,” says Oxford Classics undergraduate Dougall Meston. “Time, money and distance.” With the relative effortlessness, speed and low price of travelling today it has never been easier to go where you want. “You don’t need to take a gap year - it is so easy to travel now – we just popped over to Prague and inter-railed for a month for only £300.”

Commenting on travelling without a gap year Tom says: “I have travelled during university holidays for four periods of between one and three months, and have had amazing experiences. From climbing Mt Kilimanjaro and going on three safaris in Africa to swimming with dolphins in the Red Sea, elephant riding, bungee jumping, shark fishing and much more in between.” If you are determined and organised, the experiences that you might have missed out on fall into reach. The world really is your oyster.

On the other hand, having a gap year on your CV can look great, as long as you have planned well and it shows a good use of your time. When asked if planning was key to her gap year, Louise replied with a resounding yes. “It’s really easy to not apply to uni and get into the trap of never organising your year out, or doing things so last minute that you don’t get the full experience.” Dougall agrees “what was really useful were the Rough Guide books with pre-planned routes for particular times periods, setting out X, Y and Z. We squeezed so much into a very small space of time.”

Whether you are looking for a life changing experience or to discover a new part of the world, your options are plenty. “It may be a cliché but if you want culture then it doesn’t matter if it is only a month,” continues Dougall. “The ease of travelling, coupled with extensive guidebooks, makes short stints of travelling worth it. If you are determined, you can do it.”

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