My eldest was 16 when she finished her HSC and because she wanted to do medicine, I encouraged her to take a gap year to make sure it was what she really wanted. She volunteered at a nursing home and loved helping the elderly residents and she was well loved by them and their families, which were significant determining signs that she was probably reasonably well suited to a clinical career. She also travelled solo around the world visiting family in different continents (solo travel flights can be booked for minors, but solo hotel bookings can’t be made for under 18s) which transformed her into an independent ’adult’ which stood her in good stead to navigate the clinical years of the med course and JMO training.
She is now 25, PGY3, starting GP training, married with half the mortgage for their unit paid off (she and her partner worked and saved through Uni). She was in the fortunate position that she had parents who could bank roll a gap year (largely because all our kids went to our local public high school, saving us a fortune in school fees) but in return, I think it was a great investment, somewhat like a year of finishing school, but it was the ‘school of life’.