[Sapphire_Eyes]

(Original post by bammzie)

I'm at Uni, but I'm a below average student (I get C's in practically everything right now. Going into Third year so I'll change my tactics later this year.) I doubt I'l end up getting a job in my preferred sector (Botanical Conservation) without getting some hands on experience.

Luckily, my dad is second in command of a Country Estate and has said he'll see what he can do towards getting me a semester's placement.

But even with the placement, without a degree, I doubt I'd get a job as easily as I will with it. There's so much I need to know that doesn't just involve landscaping or filling out logging quotas. I need to know what soils are best, their chemical makeup so I can say whythey're the best for their plants.

What I'm trying to say is it's better to have a mix of both. Maybe you have a friend who is going into the kind of work that you want to go into, maybe he's further on than you and knows some people.

There's plently off jobs in plants in laboratory stuff as well and had a lot of lectures on pathogenics and on biological aspects on plants.

There's also alot of funded PhDs on crops and conservation aspects as well its a popular area to go into. Are you doing a independent study on botical conservation as well?

I get it I cant do genetics or conservation genetics without a MSc/MRes and a PhD

[Smack]

£18,000 per year isn't a lot of money outside of fields like retail, administration, etcetera - it's less than I'm getting even on my internship. Jobs of that pay level aren't on an elite pedestal that is usually reserved for graduates.

[dinrah04]

my mother doesn't have a degree and gets more than 30k pa and we're not even like remotely rich or well off, I can't understand how 18k pa is even good, my step dad who was worst at school than my mother (doubt he's even done a full college course) and does a ****ty job gets more than that. 18k pa, I'd be quite depressed.

[IRL]

It's often who you know to get a good job. Opportunities are really all over the place. You have to be assertive and tell as many as people as you can what you want. Think about it a lot and things will fall into a place. I take home over £18k (after tax) and none of the jobs I do require a degree, or even a GCSE for that matter.

If you just want money, look around, there's plenty of good jobs.

[ProStacker]

(Original post by IRL)
I take home over £18k (after tax) and none of the jobs I do require a degree, or even a GCSE for that matter.

If you just want money, look around, there's plenty of good jobs.

Yet elsewhere you tell us you are on benefits and not working.

[08rbut]

Yes, 18k is a lot, but from a degree, you could be earning more than that.... Although, as said before, if you are hard worker, you will do well.

[math1234]

is education all about earning money? where does the knowledge stand?


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[CurlyBen]

I made near enough £20k (without overtime) working as a temp in a factory after I left uni, and that wasn't in London. My first grad job paid considerably more! But most importantly the factory work bored me to tears (though it was hard to just quit as the money was good) and the grad job was interesting and challenging - so just on that basis, it was worth going to university.

[IRL]

(Original post by ProStacker)
Yet elsewhere you tell us you are on benefits and not working.

Incorrect. I have been on benefits but only during the back end of 2011. I said that I had not been in official employment, that does not mean I have not worked.

[sarah-clara.jones]

(Original post by MrHappy_J)
The cost of living in London is much more you mean.

I meant if I was living in London I wouldn't necessarily think 18,000 was a lot

[sarah-clara.jones]

(Original post by Astronomical)
And that is what makes London so fabulous. The rest of the country seems to be more than happy to settle for mediocrity and benefits, especially where I live in the North East.

You seem ambitious, good luck to you!

[Socmyoligy]

<sarcasm>Oh, wow. 18k.</sarcasm>

[IRL]

£18,000/year is a fair chunk of money. If you can't comfortably live off that, you have problems managing money.

[MrHappy_J]

(Original post by sarah-clara.jones)
I meant if I was living in London I wouldn't necessarily think 18,000 was a lot

That's because 18,000 really isn't a lot when you're living in London.

[Astronomical]

(Original post by sarah-clara.jones)
You seem ambitious, good luck to you!

Indeed, I like to think so.

[IRL]

The difference in living costs between the North-South is massively over exaggerated. I've worked a lot in both regions and food/drink isn't that much different. Property may be expensive in high end regions of London - but there are also a ton of utter ****holes you could stay in for a fraction of the price.

Same up North - there are cheap areas and expensive areas of every city.

I go up to Scotland quite a bit and even though it is noticeably cheaper for a lot of things, you're not saving that much money on the basics.

People just have problems managing money.

[M1011]

(Original post by IRL)
The difference in living costs between the North-South is massively over exaggerated. I've worked a lot in both regions and food/drink isn't that much different. Property may be expensive in high end regions of London - but there are also a ton of utter ****holes you could stay in for a fraction of the price.

Same up North - there are cheap areas and expensive areas of every city.

I go up to Scotland quite a bit and even though it is noticeably cheaper for a lot of things, you're not saving that much money on the basics.

People just have problems managing money.

Most people aren't happy to have their worldly possessions fit in a backpack either, which I seem to recall you are. I think you need to accept that you have a, erm, unique outlook on the world which not many share.

[yozzo]

(Original post by TheEnigmaUK)
It makes me feel like what's the point of considering University, especially when he's earning that as a starting salary in the job. As far as I know, it's an Admin type assistant job, which his sister referred him to at her law firm in London. Maybe it is "who you know" and not "what you know" because he's seem to have done okay out of it. He used to work in a Factory doing different duties, from office work to helping in the main factory lifting/carrying/manufacturing etc.

I know he's a single case, but is it even worth getting into debt and going Uni these days? Especially when people can earn £18,000 starting salary in a job like that.
To be fair though, he is 24 years old working in an admin assistant job, but at the end of the day he's earning a decent salary, which could increase. He hasn't even got a degree, he was just working at the same place for a few years before his sister referred him to his new job.

I feel like c**p, because I'm 23 and considering going back into education for 4 more years, yet he's earning a decent salary without a degree or much college study.

What do you think..?

You don't go to university for the career prospects - you go for the student experience. There is nothing like being a student. Nothing on earth can replicate it. It is like a microcosmic world. You are totally FREE for three years. It is ****ing Amazing. I left uni with a 3rd class two years ago and have been on the dole for 1.5 years. Do I regret going to university? Do I crap.

[kat91s]

A friend of mine is on 28k a year, and he's 24. He bought a house when he was 20. He trained with the MOD and has worked all over the world including Iraq and Afghanistan.

Makes me feel kind of pathetic as a BA undergrad with experience in just a handful of restaurant and bar jobs, and a bit of teaching abroad!

[Deep456]

I think there is more to a degree than just employment. A certain amount of prestige comes with it, you build friends/contacts. Add to that, knowledge can never be taken away from you.