Your degree and your career aspirations - how do they match up?

you sound upset when you reply to these sorts of threads, maybe you come across that way on here but dont actually mean to

yes but you literally post on every single thread every created wrt career aspirations, telling the students they are delusional. id guess they arent, seeing as there are literally thousands of 30k starting salary jobs for graduates. most people here have put their realistic salaries too, which are well under 30k.

People who have a strong calling to help others follow careers that allow them to feel fulfilled on a daily basis and see their efforts making a real difference in people's lives. They don't just throw a bit of their salary towards a charity each month to salve their conscience. It's not all about money either - 99% of elderly people I've cared for just want someone to talk to or a hand to hold - throwing money at some issues isn't the solution. We've got plenty of resources and equipment where I work - that's not our issue, we just need people who actually care.

was stating something about people's motivations towards careers and your little speech about you being able to give back through banking more than a Doctor can through clinical practice really doesn't wash with me at all and just makes you sound totally deluded. Is that REALLY why you wanted that career - to give your salary to good causes? Would you have dared to say that in an interview? Don't patronize me with that.

I don't think I've ever been upset as a result of an online forum thread!



I work from personal experience (mine and peer's) and reported averages.

Indeed; most are very realistic. I commented that my own at that age was not, and others (not all) have posted equally unrealistic figures.

did you feel you deserved that salary at 21 because you had a degree? or were you on the exec of a society, a campus ambassador, doing voluntary work, getting high 2.1s in your modules, and developing your commercial awareness from year 1 of your degree?

people who do the above are extremely realistic, students on here do this stuff and hence feel extremely comfortable with the salary they feel they deserve. there is a difference between the students who do the above, and the ones who think they will earn 30k because they have a degree.

Degree: Biomedical science
Jobs/ Career of interest: Used to want to go into research, but since being at uni I really do not want to go into science. I just want to live a simple and relativity stress free life.
Graduate salary expected: No idea, but 20k or over gross salary and I'm happy.

My heart really bleeds for you because you're so misunderstood.

Pulling splinters out children's fingers? You really have no clue at all about the work of doctors and nurses. A great deal of us handle life and death situations and chronic disease - day in day out. You play with numbers and no it doesn't make me feel ''fuzzy'' seeing a toddler on a ventilator - and that's not why I do it, to feel ''fuzzy''.

I was asked why people go into banking. I said for money. No one's proved me wrong yet - the only people who have replied have gone off on tangents and tried to make out that I'm saying banking is evil etc - no where have I said that.

I was stating something about people's motivations towards careers and your little speech about you being able to give back through banking more than a Doctor can through clinical practice really doesn't wash with me at all and just makes you sound totally deluded. Is that REALLY why you wanted that career - to give your salary to good causes? Would you have dared to say that in an interview? Don't patronize me with that.

People who have a strong calling to help others follow careers that allow them to feel fulfilled on a daily basis and see their efforts making a real difference in people's lives. They don't just throw a bit of their salary towards a charity each month to salve their conscience. It's not all about money either - 99% of elderly people I've cared for just want someone to talk to or a hand to hold - throwing money at some issues isn't the solution. We've got plenty of resources and equipment where I work - that's not our issue, we just need people who actually care

There are probably a few thousand jobs that pay that amount. But there are hundreds of thousands of graduates - both from the UK and the EU (and even beyond - considering those high paying jobs can often be filled by non-EU applicants through work permits).

The reality is less than 3% of UK graduates will earn over £35k when they leave university.

This place has got a higher proportion of people who are clearly career focused and ambitious, but the reality is the majority of people are likely to be disappointed if they expect a salary of £35k or above within a year of graduating.


Posted from TSR Mobile

I don't think simplicity and stress-free go hand in hand in a single job unless you have in-demand skills. What do you plan to do when you graduate? Will you actively search for something that you like or will you just live at home?

Chart 2 - https://www.hesa.ac.uk/sfr217#sfr217chart2

Taking into account this only represents those students who are in full-time employment, so does not take into account those who are unemployed or working part-time, the percentage is likely to be even lower than 3%.

You said 'on qualification' which is after 2 years of training, hence the £30k+ range. I'm well aware most Scottish firms pay in the £18 to low £20s for first year trainees.

Yeah, I understand that but it's quite rare to train 'in-house'. Most often you'd train in private practice (at a firm) then qualify as a solicitor before moving in-house. Hence why it's a good idea to find firms with decent practice areas surrounding healthcare.

As for £60k 5+ years after qualifying, that seems somewhat reasonable but I'm not sure whether in-house salaries ramp up as much as private practice ones do.

EDIT: Ok, it's more £45-55k in-house in Scotland after 5 years.

Degree: Depends on results day - Currently opted for Biochem but potentially looking at Comp Sci
Jobs/Careers of Interest: Startup, Tech Startup, Freelance Programming
Graduate Salary Expected: >40,000 in 3-4 years after graduating.

Startup and Tech Startup? I thought the former assumes it's tech.. It's rare to find high growth, early non-tech startups.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Ya its bad now but I am hoping the industry picks up in a few years time when I graduate. From what I gather, this happens once every decade or so.

Chart 2 - https://www.hesa.ac.uk/sfr217#sfr217chart2

Taking into account this only represents those students who are in full-time employment, so does not take into account those who are unemployed or working part-time, the percentage is likely to be even lower than 3%.

Still shows the vast majority will not be earning over £30k and that's after three years of working!

There are bound to be some issues with the data (there usually is), but this is one of the more accurate ways of looking at the issue compared to other headline stats that are used.

I think the issue is more with the "sample" of answers you would get from this site. I suspect that would be skewed to a certain demographic more than the HESA data.

Startup and Tech Startup? I thought the former assumes it's tech.. It's rare to find high growth, early non-tech startups.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Would you consider a Tech Startup yourself, if the opportunity arose?


Posted from TSR Mobile