You can go into just about any generalist grad scheme with any degree, including a law degree. Also pharmacy does not guarantee a 60k a year job at all...I think you are suffering from "the grass is greener" syndrome. Worth bearing in mind on reddit certain forums used by medics bitterly complain about how much better paid their peers who did law degrees are than them.
If you have a genuine interest in and enjoyment of teaching younger students then go that route. Why do you think it's "lesser" and not "worthy" of your grades or degree? Someone has to teach the future generation, is that not an important enough job? Societally most would consider that far more important and worthy than working as an investment banker or corporate lawyer. So some of the issue might also be with your somewhat elitist attitude regarding work and degrees. Which isn't going to help you no matter how much you might want to convince yourself otherwise.
Also recognise also that in most areas of the UK, before the current cost of living crisis, the amount needed to live comfortably was less than £60k a year for a new graduate - in fact it was less than that for a mid career professional. Studies have also shown that earning more than that generally does not correlate to increased self reported happiness or life satisfaction. Money can't buy everything, and living in a smaller town in the midlands and doing something you love and having a comfortable salary while doing it is going to be much more rewarding than earning oodles of money doing a job you hate spending 2 hours commuting to London every day and working twice as many hours.
Talk to your personal tutor at uni, talk to your GP at your GP surgery, and well...get on with it. Get the 2:1 degree to tick the box that every graduate needs and grind through applying to grad schemes, which need not be legal training contracts. I guarantee you that you will begin to realise there is more to life than than the number of digits in your paycheque if you can keep a roof over your head and the heating on with some spare money left over. There's an entire psychological theory about it in fact.
If you have a genuine interest in and enjoyment of teaching younger students then go that route. Why do you think it's "lesser" and not "worthy" of your grades or degree? Someone has to teach the future generation, is that not an important enough job? Societally most would consider that far more important and worthy than working as an investment banker or corporate lawyer. So some of the issue might also be with your somewhat elitist attitude regarding work and degrees. Which isn't going to help you no matter how much you might want to convince yourself otherwise.
Also recognise also that in most areas of the UK, before the current cost of living crisis, the amount needed to live comfortably was less than £60k a year for a new graduate - in fact it was less than that for a mid career professional. Studies have also shown that earning more than that generally does not correlate to increased self reported happiness or life satisfaction. Money can't buy everything, and living in a smaller town in the midlands and doing something you love and having a comfortable salary while doing it is going to be much more rewarding than earning oodles of money doing a job you hate spending 2 hours commuting to London every day and working twice as many hours.
Talk to your personal tutor at uni, talk to your GP at your GP surgery, and well...get on with it. Get the 2:1 degree to tick the box that every graduate needs and grind through applying to grad schemes, which need not be legal training contracts. I guarantee you that you will begin to realise there is more to life than than the number of digits in your paycheque if you can keep a roof over your head and the heating on with some spare money left over. There's an entire psychological theory about it in fact.
Original post by Hannah123786
Hi, currently in my third year of my law degree and do not feel like doing any work and am very depressed as I feel I’ve picked the wrong course it’s so competitive to get a solicitors job and i know this isn’t a main thing but the pay is not good either. I’m thinking of doing a one year PGCE course after my degree and becoming a primary school teacher but then I feel as if my As in my A levels and doing a hard degree would be a waste. I’m regretting not picking biology and chemistry at a level because I’m the first in my family to go uni and didn’t know that what A levels you pick mean you can’t get into certain uni courses, I just wished I picked science subjects at college and went into pharmacy or optometry where you have a guaranteed job, I feel like this job would suit me more and it’s like 60k a year but idk I didn’t believe in myself to pick science when I now know I could have done it and then maybe even done a foundation year but yh i didn’t know that your a level subject choices are for your uni course 😭 need advice
hey girl, I'm sorry you're feeling like that 😭 I had depression throughout my time at sixth form and I know its really hard to concentrate on work even when you have a lot to do. Is your degree 3 years long? Depending on which university you go to I would say get in touch with your personal tutor and ask about doing a placement year as this is something a lot of universities offer. A lot if not most students on placement years end up getting some sort of offer of employment from the company at the end of the year, and if not 1 year working at a law firm would be super great for your CV to help you get a solicitor job. have a look on tiktok regarding work experience, internships and making your CV, there's loads of great stuff on there. Also, you're not defined by your grades. It's great you got A's at A level and that's impressive but it doesn't mean you're tied to a certain career path or expected to have huge goals or climb the corporate ladder, we only have 1 life and its pretty short so I wouldn't worry about "making the most of your grades" and try think about what you're passionate about, because if you choose something you're genuinely interested in it might make doing work easier if you feel more motivated.
If you really wanted to do pharmacy or optometry you could do a post grad degree however you wouldn't get the tuition fee for it and you would struggle a lot with the heavy science content in them at least in my opinion, if you didn't do science at A level. There are still a lot of high paying jobs that don't involve science or medical careers. A law degree is actually pretty flexible, I would say nowadays your work experience and skills/ CV matter more than your degree although you should try aim for a good grade, but if you try getting any sort of small position in a different area maybe it would help you to branch out and start looking at different career paths? E.g. social media marketing, business management, etc.
my main advice would be to please try keep going with your degree if you're almost done <3 I know you're capable and you're only going to get through to the other side if you keep going even if it's super boring. At least once you're done with the degree you don't need to go into law if you find it boring, but you might struggle to get into other careers if you don't have a good degree grade. get in touch with your tutor regarding a placement year maybe to get work experience so you'll feel less anxious about finding a job once you graduate.
hopefully this helps you slightly, please do pm if you ever want to talk more about it !!
Original post by Hannah123786
Thank you very much for your reply it means a lot. I live up north do you think there would be grad schemes up here with a good salary. Also yeah I do like the job of teaching, do you think it’s a decent salary aswell to live a comfortable life. Also, do you have any advice on regretting not choosing science subjects at college and then doing pharmacy or optometry because I know a lot of my family are going to go down that route aswell after my advice and earn a lot
Since living costs in the north (especially rent/buying costs) tend to be lower (albeit the difference is smaller in bigger cities) the actual salary you'd need to live comfortably is probably less than for say, London or Cambridge or Bristol.
In terms of grad schemes, why don't you look. This is pretty basic research and if you can't bring yourself to do that then it's probably unlikely you will be able or willing to do the necessary preparation to be successful in applying to them anyway. I know off the top of my head the civil service has a number of major bases up in the north for example, so there are certainly civil service options potentially.
In terms of science subjects, my advice is to get over it basically? You can't change the past anyway. Also anecdotally, I didn't do science subjects, then did a science foundation year, then went into an engineering degree anyway. I then realised I hated it and never wanted to work as an engineer anyway, and any of the other jobs I could've applied to I could do if I'd done any other degree which I was actually interested in. So I took some time out from uni and then went back to do something in the humanities I actually find intellectually interesting.
Worth also bearing in mind studies have shown STEM degree graduates and non-STEM degree graduates have equivalent long term career outcomes, and even in "highly skilled STEM roles" about half of those positions are filled by those without a STEM degree anyway. https://figshare.le.ac.uk/articles/report/The_employment_trajectories_of_Science_Technology_Engineering_and_Mathematics_graduates/10234421
Original post by Hannah123786
Thank you very very much for the reply it means so much after how I’ve been feeling. With law even the teachers have told us how competitive it is to land a solicitors job even with so much experience and yeah it’s making me very sad. In terms of the pursuing pharmacy or optometry yeah I don’t think I’d be able to do another degree financially and like you said I didn’t pick science at a levels aswell 😭😭 so god knows if I’ll be able to do the degree, do you have any advice on not overthinking and regretting not picking science at a levels and going down this route as I know after my advice a lot of my family are going to go down this route. I’m terms of the primary teacher route I like the job and I know this isn’t the main thing but do you think it would be a job I could live off and do you think it’s a job people would think you’d need a high qualification for. Also yeah I am feeling very depressed and don’t feel like touching any work, your reply means a lot and I created this account today it won’t let me pm
no problem <3 you can definitely make a living off being a teacher, honestly the salary isn't that bad, and they've raised the minimum for teachers higher now in certain subjects too. moreover there's a lot of opportunities to make more money as a teacher, e.g. being head of a department would increase your salary, or eventually becoming a deputy headteacher etc, if that's something you're interested in. A lot of teacher's also tutor on the side as well as a source of extra income. Don't overthink the science thing, it sounds much better than it really is, the truth is science can also be super hard and the salary isn't as shiny as people might think. I'm trying to do vet med which is a 5 year degree on top of a bioscience degree I'm doing now which is around 8 years of study to start on a salary between 30-33k, which isn't bad of course but it's still a bit lower than people might expect from how long we study for.
if it was meant for you then it would've happened !! don't worry about the past, there's better stuff waiting for you in the future. seriously as a person studying science, screw science 😂 being a teacher is a super respectable job and it's something I also really wanted to do for a while, you'll be brilliant if that's what you decide to do. But for now, you got this !! keep studying so you can finish and be done
Original post by Hannah123786
Thank you very very much for the reply it means so much after how I’ve been feeling. With law even the teachers have told us how competitive it is to land a solicitors job even with so much experience and yeah it’s making me very sad. In terms of the pursuing pharmacy or optometry yeah I don’t think I’d be able to do another degree financially and like you said I didn’t pick science at a levels aswell 😭😭 so god knows if I’ll be able to do the degree, do you have any advice on not overthinking and regretting not picking science at a levels and going down this route as I know after my advice a lot of my family are going to go down this route. I’m terms of the primary teacher route I like the job and I know this isn’t the main thing but do you think it would be a job I could live off and do you think it’s a job people would think you’d need a high qualification for. Also yeah I am feeling very depressed and don’t feel like touching any work, your reply means a lot and I created this account today it won’t let me pm
I'm a secondary teacher but I love working with primary schools. Teaching young children the key skills they need - reading, writing and maths is really important. Without a good start my job is a lot harder ... you can live on a Primary school teacher salary
Original post by Hannah123786
Hi, currently in my third year of my law degree and do not feel like doing any work and am very depressed as I feel I’ve picked the wrong course it’s so competitive to get a solicitors job and i know this isn’t a main thing but the pay is not good either. I’m thinking of doing a one year PGCE course after my degree and becoming a primary school teacher but then I feel as if my As in my A levels and doing a hard degree would be a waste. I’m regretting not picking biology and chemistry at a level because I’m the first in my family to go uni and didn’t know that what A levels you pick mean you can’t get into certain uni courses, I just wished I picked science subjects at college and went into pharmacy or optometry where you have a guaranteed job, I feel like this job would suit me more and it’s like 60k a year but idk I didn’t believe in myself to pick science when I now know I could have done it and then maybe even done a foundation year but yh i didn’t know that your a level subject choices are for your uni course 😭 need advice
Don't get worried about getting a solicitor job it's honestly not that hard to get it, some of my older friends straight away got jobs so that's not the issue. Pharmacy is wayyy more boring than law you're essentially doing the same thing everyday collecting medicine and packing it etc. The pay is not that good that's a common misconception.
Law is definitely boring to learn but am sure once you get a job and finish your law course and start tackling variety of different cases it will get better for sure.
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