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Job prospects with a degree at BRISTOL

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Reply 20
Original post by Princepieman
Following what's 'safe' usually leads to a quarter life crisis


I don't have much experience to go into music. Like I know I wouldn't mind working in law or investment banking as long as I don't have to do the same thing. I think I might do music as a side thing for a while and just gig about and see through work experience if i could really do those career paths for the rest of my life. I just don't know much about the job options out there as these are the only ones we've had talks on at school. Does BRISTOL have really good career fairs where I could go?
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Original post by honeysugar
I don't have much experience to go into music. Like I know I wouldn't mind working in law or investment banking as long as I don't have to do the same thing. I think I might do music as a side thing for a while and just gig about and see through work experience if i could really do those career paths for the rest of my life. I just don't know much about the job options out there as these are the only ones we've had talks on at school. Does BRISTOL have really good career fairs where I could go?


Yeah, loads of employers visit Brizzle

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Reply 22
Original post by Princepieman
Yeah, loads of employers visit Brizzle

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Thank you so much. I was just a bit worried as to whether I'd be employable. I might take up a few societies there. If I were to do a second degree, would I have to pay for it myself?
Original post by honeysugar
Thank you so much. I was just a bit worried as to whether I'd be employable. I might take up a few societies there. If I were to do a second degree, would I have to pay for it myself?


Yes you would.. I don't see why you'd need a second degree though?

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Reply 24
Original post by Princepieman
Yes you would.. I don't see why you'd need a second degree though?

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If I wanted to maybe do a PhD in chemistry. Also, is it possible to get internships in the states whilst doing an undergraduate degree in England?
Original post by honeysugar
If I wanted to maybe do a PhD in chemistry. Also, is it possible to get internships in the states whilst doing an undergraduate degree in England?


That's not a second degree, that's a step up from a bachelors. PhD funding depends a lot on the subject area, some have more funded places than others.

And yes you can, but you'd have to be competitive for the internship (i.e. CV has to be solid, you pass the interview processes) - technology companies are particularly open to foreign interns. There's also an intern visa called the J-1.

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If you want to do a PhD, wouldn't you just do a Masters rather than a second degree (not sure if I've misunderstood what you meant though!)?

Also, let me be the old sage here. I have a few friends who work for smaller high street law firms in London. They don't often make it home before 8pm.

I also have a few friends who are in investment banking and some who were in IB but have since moved on to working in private investment boutiques. I RARELY see them. They never leave the office before 10pm, though 2am is normal. They're also in the office on weekends. That means they have most of their meals at work. You will NOT have time for music no matter how adept you are at organisation and scheduling


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(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Random_PC_Errors
I got BBB and are categorically not resitting, out of principle.

I've never wanted to sell my soul to the magic circle and have always aimed for a high end regional firm in places like Bristol/Manchester/Leeds etc. Although I need to visit more law firms before I apply for the GDL, only visited one so far and was put off massively by the culture inside.

The benefit of the GDL I suppose is that you apply for T/C's after you graduate, logic would have it that the degree would be a better indicator of your ability than A-Levels you sat four years previous. A lot of (high end) law firms will explicitly state that they read applications in full and don't automatically rejected you for not meeting the A-Level requirements so those are ones to keep an eye out for.

Can't really comment on investment banking because it's not an area I've looked into, sorry :P


Interesting thing about the culture!

Slightly related: it's SO hard to find out what the culture is actually like unless you're there for a few weeks, if not at least 2 months. I worked at a charity, having previously worked somewhere that had a bullying culture, and at the interview specifically asked about the culture. Everyone lied through their teeth and said it's great. They all worked in my team and they were lovely and our team had great dynamics, but the wider organisation had bullying from Chief Exec down. Took me a month to realise it.

I think that's the worrying part about applying for grad schemes or training contracts - realistically, you won't know what the culture is like for each of them. A friend got a TC with a local high street firm was earning minimum wage, had to use his annual leave to sit his exams, but also was just generally undervalued as were many of his cohort.*

You're doing politics and/or history, right? Did you know before applying for that subject that you wanted to do a law conversion course?*

Also, are you applying to firms for GDL funding or self-funding it?

I think working in a high-end regional firm would be quite nice. London doesn't really have that niche, annoyingly.
Original post by stratagems


I also have a few friends who are in investment banking and some who were in IB but have since moved on to working in private investment boutiques. I RARELY see them. They never leave the office before 10pm, though 2am is normal. They're also in the office on weekends. That means they have most of their meals at work. You will NOT have time for music no matter how adept you are at organisation and scheduling


*


Pretty standard for IBD in the first few years anyway. Gets more lax as you move up.

Markets roles are usually lower, and you're normally out by 6pm, but earlier starts.

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Original post by Abstract_Prism
Your university is more important than your A-level grades (good unis for law = Oxbridge, LSE, UCL, Bristol, Manchester, Durham), but your A-level grades are still important, and with ABB you won't be very competitive. If you are willing definitely resit. Make sure you get your foot in the door and do those vacation schemes. They are especially important for you because you will need to make yourself as competitive as possible.



Cheers - I'm planning to resit as I've done my A-Levels in one year.

For history, I only need 12 more UMS in an A2 unit to get a D grade up to a C grade = overall A grade. I struggled to revise even one topic in that unit fully in all honesty & its heavily weighted (120 UMS).

For politics, I need 20 UMS in an AS unit to get it from an E grade up to a C grade = overall A grade. I answered the wrong question/lost time going back & doing the right one. In one A2 unit, I was 3 UMS from an A grade, so I might resit that too.

But I'm unsure of how receptive firms will be pending the resits in order to even get my foot in the door for vacation schemes!
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 30
Original post by stratagems
If you want to do a PhD, wouldn't you just do a Masters rather than a second degree (not sure if I've misunderstood what you meant though!)?

Also, let me be the old sage here. I have a few friends who work for smaller high street law firms in London. They don't often make it home before 8pm.

I also have a few friends who are in investment banking and some who were in IB but have since moved on to working in private investment boutiques. I RARELY see them. They never leave the office before 10pm, though 2am is normal. They're also in the office on weekends. That means they have most of their meals at work. You will NOT have time for music no matter how adept you are at organisation and scheduling


*


I was planning on gigging at university just to get started. I'm not sure where to go as I haven't got much work experience in either investment banking or law. But I know investment banking has very demanding hours. Do your friends in those sectors have much holidays?
Reply 31
Original post by stratagems
Cheers - I'm planning to resit as I've done my A-Levels in one year.

For history, I only need 12 more UMS in an A2 unit to get a D grade up to a C grade = overall A grade. I struggled to revise even one topic in that unit fully in all honesty & its heavily weighted (120 UMS).

For politics, I need 20 UMS in an AS unit to get it from an E grade up to a C grade = overall A grade. I answered the wrong question/lost time going back & doing the right one. In one A2 unit, I was 3 UMS from an A grade, so I might resit that too.

But I'm unsure of how receptive firms will be pending the resits in order to even get my foot in the door for vacation schemes!


I'm planning on resitting as well. Do you know how to apply for the re sits or do we have to go through our old schools? I think our exams at BRISTOL end in May/June ish but I'm not sure. So I'll have to check.
Original post by honeysugar
I was planning on gigging at university just to get started. I'm not sure where to go as I haven't got much work experience in either investment banking or law. But I know investment banking has very demanding hours. Do your friends in those sectors have much holidays?


My understanding is that SOME places encourage their staff to take holiday / annual leave and almost force them to use their entitlement up.
I was able to plan a 2 week trip with a friend, but I think it's more that they're able to get away for one or two big trips rather than lots of mini/short breaks, if that makes sense.

Also, you have to apply via your exams office or via your teacher, so email them in Nov-Feb.

I've started revising the two units that I want to resit! That way I can 'touch up' on it instead of having to struggle with both my undergrad subject exams AND resits!

For law at Bristol exam dates were:

Summer exam period: 16 May - 3 June 2016 (9 to 13 May is revision week and some examinations may be scheduled during this week).
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by stratagems
My understanding is that SOME places encourage their staff to take holiday / annual leave and almost force them to use their entitlement up.
I was able to plan a 2 week trip with a friend, but I think it's more that they're able to get away for one or two big trips rather than lots of mini/short breaks, if that makes sense.



In the UK, everyone is fully encouraged (both by the company and by law) to take their full holiday's worth, regardless of sector.

You might be right about how long the individual breaks are (and this may of course vary) but everyone does still have pressure on them to take their holiday.

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Original post by Princepieman
In the UK, everyone is fully encouraged (both by the company and by law) to take their full holiday's worth, regardless of sector.

You might be right about how long the individual breaks are (and this may of course vary) but everyone does still have pressure on them to take their holiday.

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There's de jure and de facto and in some sectors, staff often don't request as much leave as they're entitled to. Also, it depends on the employer - some employers allow you to carry over quite a lot of leave, others won't let you carry any over at all and when you lose it, they just put their hands up and say 'Oh well, it's gone now'. It's very much a company culture thing as to whether they actively encourage you.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by stratagems
There's de jure and de facto and in some sectors, staff often don't request as much leave as they're entitled to. Also, it depends on the employer - some employers allow you to carry over quite a lot of leave, others won't let you carry any over at all and you lose it and kind of just put their hands up and say 'Oh well, it's gone now'. It's very much a company culture thing as to whether they actively encourage you.


True, can't really disagree.

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Reply 36
Original post by stratagems
My understanding is that SOME places encourage their staff to take holiday / annual leave and almost force them to use their entitlement up.
I was able to plan a 2 week trip with a friend, but I think it's more that they're able to get away for one or two big trips rather than lots of mini/short breaks, if that makes sense.

Also, you have to apply via your exams office or via your teacher, so email them in Nov-Feb.

I've started revising the two units that I want to resit! That way I can 'touch up' on it instead of having to struggle with both my undergrad subject exams AND resits!

For law at Bristol exam dates were:

Summer exam period: 16 May - 3 June 2016 (9 to 13 May is revision week and some examinations may be scheduled during this week).


I still don't know what modules I'm resitting as I'm not in the country and haven't seen the breakdown of my grades yet. But I'm only resitting biology. I'll email them as soon as possible.
Original post by stratagems
Interesting thing about the culture!

Slightly related: it's SO hard to find out what the culture is actually like unless you're there for a few weeks, if not at least 2 months. I worked at a charity, having previously worked somewhere that had a bullying culture, and at the interview specifically asked about the culture. Everyone lied through their teeth and said it's great. They all worked in my team and they were lovely and our team had great dynamics, but the wider organisation had bullying from Chief Exec down. Took me a month to realise it.

I think that's the worrying part about applying for grad schemes or training contracts - realistically, you won't know what the culture is like for each of them. A friend got a TC with a local high street firm was earning minimum wage, had to use his annual leave to sit his exams, but also was just generally undervalued as were many of his cohort.*

You're doing politics and/or history, right? Did you know before applying for that subject that you wanted to do a law conversion course?*

Also, are you applying to firms for GDL funding or self-funding it?

I think working in a high-end regional firm would be quite nice. London doesn't really have that niche, annoyingly.

Technically self funding the 'GDL' although there's a major difference.


I'm only applying to firms that pay for the LPC (which is most at the high-end regional firm level)
I'm planning on doing Bristol's MA in law, which isn't the GDL but rather gives you the same accreditation as a normal undergraduate law degree. I'll self fund by studying part time over four years (I've got a few good reasons to stay in Bristol for a couple of years anyway) and four years also provides plenty of time to bulk out the CV.

Politics (joint honours with Sociology thanks to BBB), Politics and IR was my first choice at Bristol. It meant that I could still go to Bristol with average grades, if I wanted to study law at undergraduate then it would be off to the local polytechnic (no thanks). Although I don't worry about the A-Level grades because my sixth form was utterly incompetent. My first essay result in year 1 came back as a 72 (1st), which was a shock at the time. When I started Uni I thought everyone around me on the course with their A*AA/AAA/A*A*A* etc were better than me, then that result demonstrated that when on an equal playing field (and not in a s**t state school) I can match or exceed other people. This is why I will never resit my A-Levels.
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by Random_PC_Errors
I'm planning on doing Bristol's MA in law, which isn't the GDL but rather gives you the same accreditation as a normal undergraduate law degree. I'll self fund by studying part time over four years


When you applying for LPCs, do they ask about you GDL plans, ie if they won't pay for it, how you plan to bridge your undergrad degree and LPC?

4 years - you're brave!

Having tried to do A-Levels in a round-about way in order to work full time work (initially) and then part-time, & now having to do so for undergrad, I'm already looking forward to leaving studying years behind 😐

Good luck :smile:*
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 39
Original post by stratagems
When you applying for LPCs, do they ask about you GDL plans, ie if they won't pay for it, how you plan to bridge your undergrad degree and LPC?

4 years - you're brave!

Having tried to do A-Levels in a round-about way in order to work full time work (initially) and then part-time, & now having to do so for undergrad, I'm already looking forward to leaving studying years behind 😐

Good luck :smile:*


How long is a GDL typically? And what would you start working as in the law firm?

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