Firstly, well done for doing this research. Few 18 year olds do more than accept the 'automatic path' dictated by their parents and peers. That you have done this is a good omen for your career.
1) On the question of 'should I do a year of travel': probably not. At 18, you aren't really in a position to appreciate it as much. Guys who do the typical 'gap year' at this time just do the standard shoestring backpacking circuit, and don't really achieve much beyond getting drunk and seeing beaches with their own cohort (other young foreigners). I'd go as far as to call it a wasteful mistake.
I'd say the optimum time to do a long tour is mid to late twenties. You're more on women's radar (esp. foreign women's), you have more money to throw around, you're more confident and independent, and you have more life experience and understanding with which to contrast the countries you visit. In this case, travel is very valuable for your development and is well worth doing.
2) On the question of 'should I go to university and what should I study': you should research this in detail. Get a profile of every type of degree you might be interested in studying. Write down the cost of each degree, in time and money. Then write down the benefits, by studying exit outcomes.
If people are graduating with a degree and are remaining unemployed for a sustained length of time, you might want to steer clear. If people are graduating and are rapidly landing jobs with high starting salaries, it could be worth it. Every young man should take heed of the 'PhD checkout clerk' as a dire warning of what happens when you make a mistake on this.
Other things to consider:
Also I might suggest you gather all this information and draw it up on a huge grid, as Masayoshi Son did. Worked out pretty well for him.
1) On the question of 'should I do a year of travel': probably not. At 18, you aren't really in a position to appreciate it as much. Guys who do the typical 'gap year' at this time just do the standard shoestring backpacking circuit, and don't really achieve much beyond getting drunk and seeing beaches with their own cohort (other young foreigners). I'd go as far as to call it a wasteful mistake.
I'd say the optimum time to do a long tour is mid to late twenties. You're more on women's radar (esp. foreign women's), you have more money to throw around, you're more confident and independent, and you have more life experience and understanding with which to contrast the countries you visit. In this case, travel is very valuable for your development and is well worth doing.
2) On the question of 'should I go to university and what should I study': you should research this in detail. Get a profile of every type of degree you might be interested in studying. Write down the cost of each degree, in time and money. Then write down the benefits, by studying exit outcomes.
If people are graduating with a degree and are remaining unemployed for a sustained length of time, you might want to steer clear. If people are graduating and are rapidly landing jobs with high starting salaries, it could be worth it. Every young man should take heed of the 'PhD checkout clerk' as a dire warning of what happens when you make a mistake on this.
Other things to consider:
- How difficult is it? Difficult degrees to complete (e.g. medicine or engineering) can be valuable because they are more resistant to entry. Easy degrees tend to be worthless. This is no guarantee though - I know a guy who did a 5 year difficult degree who after a long period of unemployment is now a construction worker because there was no demand for his specialty.
- What is the career of graduates in that degree like? For this, it is best to actually ask them. Stress levels, salary levels, bonuses and performance linked pay, opportunity for promotion, working hours, work environment, etc. Go to industry events for the different careers you are interested in (or might be), and talk to everyone there.
- Does it lock you into a career path, or teach you widely applicable skills? For example, a business degree could be useful to you if you later want to start your own business (I hear a law degree can also help). A specialized engineering or medical degree, on the other hand, tends to strongly entrench you into that career (high salary plus lack of transferability).
- Is that career cyclical? For example, dentists have steady demand for their work (even in a recession, people won't just sit on an excruciating tooth ache), but mining engineers are somewhat at the mercy of commodity booms and busts. This aspect basically affects 'how in control of you life you are', which can have psychological implications. The dentists income depends directly on his efforts; the mining engineer not so much.
- Do you have a particular passion? People who follow their passion can end up pushing the boundaries of a field, which can lend itself to monetization opportunities as long as you keep an eye to practical applications.
- Will following that career lead to other problems? This won't necessarily mean you reject that career, but could indicate other precautions you will need to take and plans you will need to make. Using the example of the mining engineer in Australia, you're going to end up in a dust bowl in the middle of nowhere with zero women. You would have to factor that into how your job will tie into your life.
A software engineer in the San Fran area might run into a milder form of this problem (e.g. bad sex ratio and female quality).
Also I might suggest you gather all this information and draw it up on a huge grid, as Masayoshi Son did. Worked out pretty well for him.