It wasn't the social stigma that made me not do an apprenticeship, it was partly not seeing any in areas that interested me as I'm more into the academic subjects e.g. History, Politics and partly not wanting to commit to working life and wanting the freedom of uni.
As far as the subjects go, back when I was taking my GCSE's and A-Levels (2006-2010) the main ones I saw advertised were in very practical subjects e.g. bricklaying. I'm absolutely terrible at practical subjects so I would never have considered them. I never saw any general business admin ones advertised which I could have actually done. Then as said I knew I wanted to study something like Politics, found most of the work experience I did while at school quite a miserable experience and the uni lifestyle appealed to me. Don't regret my decision one bit, it was great being able to study a subject I loved, being around so many people around my age for 4 years (I stayed on to do a Masters) and being able to decide when and & where I wanted to work to a great extent. It's only now, at 24 that I am finally excited by the idea of having a job (well paid internship) and earning money. And I couldn't have got the internship without going to uni.