Can't decide whether to work or go uni next year

If i do, this is my plan:

Do an apprenticeship in Banking and Capital Markets doing Assurance/audit at a Big 4. I intend to do this for a year to hopefully build contacts in the Banking and Capital Markets industry, earn about £20k before going to a Durham Uni/Warwick/Exeter to study History.

I have heard if you do a good job and leave after a year, its not uncommon for this firm to promise you a job after graduation. However, I really want to go into Investment Banking (M&A) or possibly S&T after uni, and was wondering if doing this year will make me the contacts I need to land a good job in these sectors?

PS. Is Banking and Capital Markets a good group in the Assurance sector, as opposed to Insurance and so on

If you're going to take the apprenticeship route then there's no need to go uni and it would make it pointless, since you'll be able to become a chartered accountant within 3yrs, and earn far more money. Also, going to uni does not in any way guarantee you a job after graduating: you will have to work hard to gain relevant experience during your time at uni (which is quite hard) by applying to internships, and build your skillset to set you apart from others (it's extremely competitive and the spaces available are limited).

If you want to go into IB, then you'll need to take a degree in one of their target or semi target unis. The other users here will offer better advice, as I'm not too familiar with IB.

It takes 5 years to qualify and I have no interest in becoming a Chartered Accountant, salary isn't all that great either

If i do, this is my plan:

Do an apprenticeship in Banking and Capital Markets doing Assurance/audit at a Big 4. I intend to do this for a year to hopefully build contacts in the Banking and Capital Markets industry, earn about £20k before going to a Durham Uni/Warwick/Exeter to study History.

I have heard if you do a good job and leave after a year, its not uncommon for this firm to promise you a job after graduation. However, I really want to go into Investment Banking (M&A) or possibly S&T after uni, and was wondering if doing this year will make me the contacts I need to land a good job in these sectors?

PS. Is Banking and Capital Markets a good group in the Assurance sector, as opposed to Insurance and so on

Why are you intending to go to university to study history?

If you do get a place on an apprenticeship, it can be a good opportunity to make a career in finance and make contacts, but leaving just after a year doesn't mean that there is a guarantee of a job offer if you return. Do you have a Plan B if you don't manage to get a place at one of the Big 4?

thats all in theory you sound like its guaranteed. problem is u might not even pass the online test let alone get the job
its an interesting one cos ur basically gonna go get a history degree take on the debt, use 3/4 years of ur life up all on the hope to get into IB. .also do u think history is the best degree to commit to? not economics, a+f, business? the only thing you gain is 'skills' but cant the skills be learned in any degree not just history alone? also how do u think that would appear to employers that u got this gold dust apprenticeship then left would that look good or bad on your part?

So basically you just want to take a gap year to work in? Yeah sounds doable.

Whoops, I made a mistake there: it takes 3 years for graduates, or longer if you have to retake an exam (hence why most accounting grad scheme are 3yrs) and around 5yrs in apprenticeship route. It depends on the route you take: lots tend to go into banking and capital markets where most the money are and make full use of their qualification, and others take on roles such as financial director, CFO. Salary wise, a newly ACA qualified accountant should expect to earn more than £40k+

If you have no interest in gaining the qualifications, you may as well just take the uni route and attempt to break into IB.

What job are you referring to? I got the apprenticeship offer in September already.

Debt is repayable only when you can afford it, 3 years doing something I want to vs 5 years following a career i have no interest in. Most jobs don't care what degree you get anymore, its more about the uni you go to these days. Banks and other institutions often actively recruit non-economics degrees, and business is a bit of a joke degree no offence.

Having a Big 4 name on the CV will always be a plus. Reason to leave was to go to university, thats a perfectly good reason.

CFO is late stage

My point was asking whether its worth waiting a year to try to build networks in the Banking + Capital Market and put uni on hold for a year, or is there not actually that much exposure with the Investment Bankers of these firms when dealing with the banks?

I mean, the question you should really ask yourself is: why do you want to study History but create contacts in the Banking industry?
Do you even know what you want to do for real?

Because I enjoy and am good at History but want to get a job in banking? You do realise doing a History degree doesnt mean you want to become a professional historian, right?

You do realise that being good at History doesn't mean you have to get a degree in it, right?

But you do realise you need a degree to get into IB graduate jobs, right?

And do you realise I didn't write "don't get a degree", right?

There's plenty of people out there with more relevant degrees and killer CV's trying to get into IB.
Kudos to you if you pull it off with a degree in History.