Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

Is it worth going to university anymore?

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Why not? The opportunities there for a lot of people, the government are offering loans with a pretty much un-noticeable payback rate and you'll have a lot of fun in the process. I'm not going to Uni in September just to go and work and get a degree, I'm going to get out of this ****-hole of a town that I live in, I don't just want to go and get a job, I'm still young, I want to live my life a bit more. One of my good mates decided to drop out of college and get a boring 9-5 job - he's on ****e pay because of his lack of qualifications, he never goes out after work because he's too tired, so he's got the weekend to do the things he wants then it just repeats... why would I want this now? This is the sort of thing I want to be doing when i'm 23/24, not when I'm still a teenager.

There's also hardly any worth while jobs going at the moment, I don't want to pass up the opportunity of a degree to have no guarantee of work, or an incredibly poor job. Ever thought of Uni being an escape for 3 years from our current job market? I want to join the police, but guess what, there's a freeze on recruitment, meaning there's **** all chance of getting there for the time being. Who knows, in 3 years when i've graduated it could be open and I'll walk into a steady job due to having a related degree under my belt, something other applicants won't. If its not, I can apply for various graduate positions where what degree and where you got it from doesn't matter and already having 3 years retail experience under my belt, with I'm sure more to come I'll have a good chance of landing a decent job, with a decent starting salary - most likely the same as what it would of taken me if I was to start at your bog standard 9-5 role that I would take if I don't go and get a degree.

Have fun spending £50,000 on fees alone just while you wait for a decent job to appear... Definitely not the best reason to go and think you're probably taking someone's position who really wanted to go too, not just to move away and escape the real world! If you want fun take a gap year, gain some invaluable perspective - life isn't just about this one big rat race and to have an incredible paying job. Surely there's more to enjoy in life than a monthly wage!

Reply 61

SmallDuck

Original post by Megaross

Thats rubbish, most people with degrees can get jobs.

Lets say your degree costs a total of £30,000 in loans.
If you earn £1000 more from having that degree over your working life then you'll be quids in already.

Not to mention, without a degree you can't do a lot of jobs. Skilled work pays.

Of course even most lecturers will admit if you do degree in art or music, most of the people won't ever use it and the majority that do will just become teachers.
But most degrees provided you apply yourself will be worth something when it comes to postgrad employment.

"Most people with degrees can't get jobs" is just daily mail nonsense

It was the Guardian which claimed that half of all graduates within the last 5 years are stuck in non grad jobs, not the DM.

Reply 62

andrew2209

As a 17-year old who wants to take a STEM subject at a Russell group university, I think it's definitely worth going to university for me, as with the right grades coming pout of university, I'll hopefully have great career prospects. However, I do feel there's an attitude among some young people that uni's about having fun, and then they get frustrated when they come out with a 2:2 or worse, and then wonder why nobody cares about their "degree".

Reply 63

fastswift

I think a STEM subject, such as chemistry, programming, engineering, physics and maths, with a 2:1 is fine. There is a skill shortage for those people.

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Reply 64

SmallDuck

Original post by Romanorum-Hellas

Depends which university you go to and what degree you do.

Someone I knew got PPE at Oxford and worked as a bartender for may years... does it?

Reply 65

Smack

Volunteer Team

Original post by SmallDuck

Someone I knew got PPE at Oxford and worked as a bartender for may years... does it?

Well, the statistics show that graduate prospects vary quite markedly between different degrees, and the knowledge and skills gained during different degrees also have different levels of demand. It also depends on the individual, as in whether they are actually someone who employers would like to employ, and their "soft" skills too, yes. If you're not someone that others would like to work with, then even the most in-demand degree won't get you a job.

Reply 66

BabingtonGroup

It all depends on the area of work that you want to get into, obviously if you want to be a doctor, then a medical degree is essential; but most people are now considering the apprenticeship route, since a lot of graduates are unable to secure a job within their field of study.

Apprenticeships are available in a very wide range of job roles - you could even start as an administrator at a company you want to work for and build your way up through the company gradually. Yes this takes time, but it also shows commitment.

You can work your way through an apprenticeship, gaining higher level qualifications as you progress, even to degree standard. You also get first-hand experience in the field that you want to work (therefore not having the worry of having to find a job once you're qualified), you develop invaluable workplace skills that you wouldn't get from sitting in a lecture hall, and you're not piling up a debt for yourself - you're earning a wage.

Reply 67

WeddingPhoto

You see, I can agree with you, I went to university for 1 year then took a break, started my own business,
now I am seen as lucky because my business took off, there really was no need for me to go back to university at this point because all I was doing was waiting time and money I could have been put into my company, but then if the person who asked this wonders if they can do the same as me I would say no,
I run a wedding photography service and I spent the first year at the office sleeping under my desk until I worked up enough money to be able to rent and later buy a house as well as keep all my employees payed and also keep the office.
So unless you have a unprecedented (So to speak) amount of dedication like me (The reason I had this much dedication is because the idea of having a boss was the most repulsive thing in the world to me) then I would recommend you stay in university,
And good luck in your further education!

Reply 68

z00ser

Original post by chrislpp

Humanities students epic mad.

Really, why in the hell would you study humanities at university? Most of it is out there to discover and no job out there you will be looking for couldn't have been attained with a real subject degree.

My brother studied History, graduated a few years back and now earns £50 + bonuses.

/closed

Reply 69

flower124

I have been wondering the same thing recently and have even started researching apprenticeships. I have also considered just getting a job for a few years, in the sort of thing I want to go into, and then going off to University with a bit of "real world" experience, to work my way up. I like working with kids and thought I would just be a teacher assistant, which I would probably enjoy just as much as being a teacher (like I would be with a degree). However, for me personally, I feel that University is the best option. My rationale for this is 1) I feel I am underconfident as it is. I took the gap year that I am currently on in order to gain in confidence, by working and going out into the "real world". However, I feel that I am still underconfident and this is affecting, or has affected in the past, my performance "on the job". I feel that rather than keep being dragged down by this as I would be if I just took the working route, and thus it become a bit of a spiral (not being able to get jobs that would build confidence, due to not having the confidence in the first place) I will throw myself in at the deep end, go to University where i'm forced to socialize with tons of people I've never met before, take up any opportunity I can, build my CV by volunteering in the area i'm hoping to go into. This would give me a more stable opportunity to build my confidence rather than it constantly affecting everything 2) If I was a TA without a degree, then id be stuck doing that forever pretty much. I don't want to end up at 40 wishing that I had gone to university and being denyed the chance to better myself and become a teacher because I didn't go. you can't enter teaching without a degree so even if I were to be a TA for a while to build experience, i'd still need to go to university in the end to be a teacher. studying is better done sooner rather than later before you have dependents. it is true that once you start working you find it very difficult to go back into education. 3) at the end of the day, university does provide you with a great experience and the experiences you have often shape you into a completely different person, changing your attitudes, teaching you how to think for yourself, so that when you leave university you will come out with a much more solid idea of who you are and you might have a completely different idea of what you want to do than before your degree. however if you didn't go to uni and just worked 9-5 everyday, you wouldn't really have chance to explore other avenues and may be left later on in life wishing that you had gone so that you could do x or x career. at the end of the day, enjoying life is important, and while university comes with an enormous price tag, if it raises your overall success and enjoyment in life, then go for it.

Reply 70

Geeky_Reader

It is worth it because it's about doing it for yourself, and even if you can't get a job here, you can go abroad. I'm sure there a loads of people that want employees that have studied in the UK.

Reply 71

It'sIrrelevant

Going to university isn't just about getting a job afterwards. It's about learning about things you haven't had the opportunity to, e.g. politics, literature, religion.

STEM subjects are fine, but there is a need for people in society to study the humanities- things like Literature, Modern and Ancient Languages and History are the way we can understand why our lives are the way they are, and how we can improve society.

Going to university is a way for many people to gain an understanding of their society, their lives, their history and how they can change it for the better.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 72

JamesyC

It is not worth going to University if you are banking on a "graduate" job. Few of them exist and the competition is unrealistic for most people. Grad jobs make up a very small percentage of the jobs available and sometimes don't even pay as much as they should for the workload.

It is worth going to university if you want to know more about the world, your subject, and have a stepping stone to get a job. I never bothered with graduate jobs and I'm glad I didn't.