Do You Think University Prepares/Prepared You for Life?

I am a second-year student enrolled on a four-year-long course. I'm wondering from time to time whether my uni has been preparing me for job. I think that my work exprience showed me that I definitely learnt something useful in grammar and linguistic classes, but I feel that translation classes are not what translators' real job is.

I still have to compete more than a half of my degree, but the more I am at uni the more I realise how little I know about the world around me. I also guess I'll have to complete a postgraduate course in order to do the job I wnt to do.

Reply 1

Shelly_x

It depends. For the people who work throughout it and get work experience etc then yes it does a bit more than for people who don't do that.
But to be honest I don't think it does at all. Most people who have recently graduated know nothing of the job market and think they'll walk right into a job. In some cases uni wraps people in cotton wool before releasing them into the harsh realities of life.
(Coming from a third year!)

Reply 2

Glory&Honour

Uni is a free ride for people with low IQ's, probably about 70-80% of students at Uni right now. We need a system that separates out people based on an intelligence at a certain age and says you have a low IQ you will do manual labour, and people with high IQ's will lead.

Reply 3

wanderlust.xx

Lol no. It's basically a massive sixth form where you're allowed to drink and have sex if you pay them money and leave your parents. The people who treat it as higher education and really make the most of the experience find it easier later on (getting the highest degree they can achieve, taking on volunteer/paid responsibility at uni or working part time).

They find it easier not because their CV looks better, but because they can deal with failure and stress to accomplish their goals. They just have a higher tolerance for failure. That's pretty much it.

Reply 4

CUFCDan

No. It makes people too idealistic. They bang on about employability and you might do some things to put on your CV, increase your alcohol tolerance level and have a few good stories but when you graduate it'll be a hell of a surprise.

I work at a supermarket part-time as well as another job part-time, but the supermarket is basically a net for graduates who have failed to get a better job. There, no one gives a damn that you went to University.

I'm fearing graduating. I love my subject, I wish I could make a real career in it, but I know I probably won't. Over the holidays (like now) I work 9/10 hour shifts every day and I'm petrified that'll be waiting for me at the end of my degree. At least, unlike most, I'm ready for the possibility.

Reply 5

CUFCDan

Original post by Glory&Honour

I can't work out whether you're joking but if not, this is wrong and just snobbery. Not everyone who works manual/un-skilled labour is dumb. Quite the reverse. I know so many people who I work with that are much smarter than people I know from Uni, but either they weren't so privileged or it wasn't for them.

Reply 6

Kabloomybuzz

If you live away from home it teaches you a degree of independence, and the work you do can help make you a bit more self sufficient, but working for 3 years before starting uni prepared me more for life than uni has. If you're working alongside, it probably does more for you.

Reply 7

wanderlust.xx

Original post by Glory&Honour

Yes! Then we can get rid of the future Richard Branson's and Alan Sugar's and have a world where opportunity is scarce and living a happy and fulfilling life is impossible!

I would vote for you as president of the world and follow you to my menial job that won't allow me to study the works of Euler and Mandelbrot! I'd love that!

In case you were wondering, that's all sarcasm.

Reply 8

Sol1dShot

at uni i thought that actually doing the work was the hardest thing in the world.

ive spent the last 18 months in the "real world" working a "35 hour week" (read as 50) and im almost banging on the door begging to be let back in.

Reply 9

username1002982

Well, leaving home to work without uni is quite a similarly shocking experience, is it not? In fact, you could say that uni is better, as it eases.you into the adult world a bit more, rather than just dropping you in.

Posted from TSR Mobile