What would you do in my situation?

Right I'm not quiet sure how to start this but here it goes.

Basically I'm 18 years old now, at the end of year 11 I left school to work with my father. I worked with him for a year he was self employed and I'd tag along when he got a job. After that terrible year of my life I decided that I'm going back to education to try and work towards a ''dream career'', so I did. I decided that although my GCSE grades were good enough to do A-Levels or a Level 3 BTEC that I'd retake my GCSE's anyway.

I'm 18 now and have no clue were to go from here. My main two questions I'm desperate to have answered is if I was to go onto university and gain a degree would the two years I took out effect future employment. Would the time I took out also effect entrance to a good standard of university. The problem I'm facing is I can't use my dad as a reference and I'm unable to get a reference from the people who employed us due to loosing contact details.

I'm also desperate to know what my best option is from here on out. I have no future career in mind quiet yet. Should I continue on to A-Levels and try to achieve the best grades possible or should I perhaps try and get myself on an apprenticeship or the other option to me would be decide on a rough type of career and complete a BTEC. I'm not sure whether I will attend university it all depends were I go from here and what I manage to achieve.

What would you do in short? Please try and answer all the questions if possible.

Not sure this is posted in the correct place but help would be greatly appreciated.

Reply 1

GeneralStudent95

9

Original post by Ciaran Cobain

Right I'm not quiet sure how to start this but here it goes.

Basically I'm 18 years old now, at the end of year 11 I left school to work with my father. I worked with him for a year he was self employed and I'd tag along when he got a job. After that terrible year of my life I decided that I'm going back to education to try and work towards a ''dream career'', so I did. I decided that although my GCSE grades were good enough to do A-Levels or a Level 3 BTEC that I'd retake my GCSE's anyway.

I'm 18 now and have no clue were to go from here. My main two questions I'm desperate to have answered is if I was to go onto university and gain a degree would the two years I took out effect future employment. Would the time I took out also effect entrance to a good standard of university. The problem I'm facing is I can't use my dad as a reference and I'm unable to get a reference from the people who employed us due to loosing contact details.

I'm also desperate to know what my best option is from here on out. I have no future career in mind quiet yet. Should I continue on to A-Levels and try to achieve the best grades possible or should I perhaps try and get myself on an apprenticeship or the other option to me would be decide on a rough type of career and complete a BTEC. I'm not sure whether I will attend university it all depends were I go from here and what I manage to achieve.

What would you do in short? Please try and answer all the questions if possible.

Not sure this is posted in the correct place but help would be greatly appreciated.

1. You need to decide on your, "dream career path," before you, or anyone for that matter, can advise you whether go back into education or to follow the route of an apprenticeship. The answer to this question solely depends on what career you wish to purse so, for that reason, you need to get a clear idea in your head of where you want to be in the next few years. On the subject of a reference, it is not something which is really that important for university but may affect future employment.

2. As for how your time out of education will affect an application to university, you will need to be able to explain why exactly you took time out and what you learnt from it when asked by a university - be under no allusions, you will be asked that question. Be brutally honest - state that you fell off the wagon academically - so to speak - and, after working for a while, you realised that you wished to have another go. Turn your time out into a sort of catalyst which made you realise how passionate you were about a certain subject.

Good luck!

Reply 2

Ciaran Cobain

OP

2

Original post by GeneralStudent95

1. You need to decide on your, "dream career path," before you, or anyone for that matter, can advise you whether go back into education or to follow the route of an apprenticeship. The answer to this question solely depends on what career you wish to purse so, for that reason, you need to get a clear idea in your head of where you want to be in the next few years. On the subject of a reference, it is not something which is really that important for university but may affect future employment.

2. As for how your time out of education will affect an application to university, you will need to be able to explain why exactly you took time out and what you learnt from it when asked by a university - be under no allusions, you will be asked that question. Be brutally honest - state that you fell off the wagon academically - so to speak - and, after working for a while, you realised that you wished to have another go. Turn your time out into a sort of catalyst which made you realise how passionate you were about a certain subject.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice, so what you're telling is that in terms of applying for uni my gap from education needs to be explained. Will I be able to explain to them without some kind of contact details (which I can obtain) for the people I worked for. Also just to confirm, you're telling me that unless I have contact details for the people I worked for this could effect my future employment.

Reply 3

Tillybop

18

Original post by Ciaran Cobain

Right I'm not quiet sure how to start this but here it goes.

Basically I'm 18 years old now, at the end of year 11 I left school to work with my father. I worked with him for a year he was self employed and I'd tag along when he got a job. After that terrible year of my life I decided that I'm going back to education to try and work towards a ''dream career'', so I did. I decided that although my GCSE grades were good enough to do A-Levels or a Level 3 BTEC that I'd retake my GCSE's anyway.

I'm 18 now and have no clue were to go from here. My main two questions I'm desperate to have answered is if I was to go onto university and gain a degree would the two years I took out effect future employment. Would the time I took out also effect entrance to a good standard of university. The problem I'm facing is I can't use my dad as a reference and I'm unable to get a reference from the people who employed us due to loosing contact details.

I'm also desperate to know what my best option is from here on out. I have no future career in mind quiet yet. Should I continue on to A-Levels and try to achieve the best grades possible or should I perhaps try and get myself on an apprenticeship or the other option to me would be decide on a rough type of career and complete a BTEC. I'm not sure whether I will attend university it all depends were I go from here and what I manage to achieve.

What would you do in short? Please try and answer all the questions if possible.

Not sure this is posted in the correct place but help would be greatly appreciated.

I'd say that you should think about what career you want to do first. Maybe get on a relevant apprenticeship if you think it would help you. I don't think your time out would affect you - I believe most unis offer to mature students. If all else fails you could choose to study via open university - you don't need as many qualifications, and you can be an older entry.

I'd say do some a levels, choose your career path, then decide what to do from there.

Reply 4

GeneralStudent95

9

Original post by Ciaran Cobain

Thanks for the advice, so what you're telling is that in terms of applying for uni my gap from education needs to be explained. Will I be able to explain to them without some kind of contact details (which I can obtain) for the people I worked for. Also just to confirm, you're telling me that unless I have contact details for the people I worked for this could effect my future employment.

Your university won't want contact details; they will however ask you why you took time out of education, what you done during that time and what you gained from your experiences. You need to be prepared to have answers to all of those questions if you are called for an interview or you are speaking to someone over the phone. It may also be worth mentioning this on a personal statement.

Future employers will look for a reference from any previous jobs; you either need to get contact details for a reference, state that you worked with your dad and only he can vouch for you or lie and say that you have never been employed before, which would be a very bad choice. Your best option is to try and get a reference from someone who will be able to vouch for you during this period of work. If you do that it will sort the issues which may arise with later employers.

Hope that helps :smile:

Reply 5

Ciaran Cobain

OP

2

Original post by GeneralStudent95

Your university won't want contact details; they will however ask you why you took time out of education, what you done during that time and what you gained from your experiences. You need to be prepared to have answers to all of those questions if you are called for an interview or you are speaking to someone over the phone. It may also be worth mentioning this on a personal statement.

Future employers will look for a reference from any previous jobs; you either need to get contact details for a reference, state that you worked with your dad and only he can vouch for you or lie and say that you have never been employed before, which would be a very bad choice. Your best option is to try and get a reference from someone who will be able to vouch for you during this period of work. If you do that it will sort the issues which may arise with later employers.

Hope that helps :smile:

Thanks so much that was everything I needed to know. One more question though, do you think that having done a years work and then re-took my GCSE's, even if my A-Level results are good will work against me and put me at a disadvantage.

Reply 6

GeneralStudent95

9

Original post by Ciaran Cobain

Thanks so much that was everything I needed to know. One more question though, do you think that having done a years work and then re-took my GCSE's, even if my A-Level results are good will work against me and put me at a disadvantage.

Definitely not; as long as you get good grades it shows that you are dedicated and committed to your studies and don't simply give up. Get your grades and a career path in mind and then get speaking to universities directly :yy:

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Reply 7

Ciaran Cobain

OP

2

Original post by GeneralStudent95

Definitely not; as long as you get good grades it shows that you are dedicated and committed to your studies and don't simply give up. Get your grades and a career path in mind and then get speaking to universities directly :yy:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Ok thanks a a lot for all the advice and help!

What would you do in my situation?

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