Careers advice live tonight on TSR tonight until 9pm!

Good evening and happy Wednesday! Adviser Rosy with you tonight to answer all your careers questions.

Want to talk about UCAS Clearing or Adjustment, options after your apprenticeship, career options or employment? I'm here to help!

Post in this thread or send me a private message to chat in confidence.

Come and join the discussion!

Rosy

Reply 1

National Careers Service

Did you know that Student Finance England are offering a new Doctoral Loan for students studying a full PhD course, starting in the next academic year?

If you want more information about the finance for any of your studies or professional training ask me now, live until 9pm!

Reply 2

blink.182

Hi, firstly thanks for taking the time to do this. So i am currently a year 12 student who is hoping to do a degree in philosophy but not sure where it would take me. I am not looking to do any joint courses even though they may make the career question easier to answer.

Reply 3

username3824906

Original post by National Careers Service

Hi so I'm intending to do a law degree but I don't know if I'd find it:
a) Too expensive
b) Too difficult
c) Too boring
Because it's so competitive, what would give me an advantage over others in a law career? My intentions are to become a barrister (most likely)-will attending to Oxbridge help that?
What GCSE grades and A level grades would I be looking at for law?
Also I'm considering writing too- I know to read and write but I don't know if my script (for a TV show) woild be good enough for BBC Writersroom for in about 18 months time- how much should I write and should I work to improve it?

Reply 4

username3824906

Original post by National Careers Service

When looking at GCSEs, what GCSEs do employers like? Obviously high grades but what other than cores? Do they like history? Do they respect languages? My French teacher said that languages were valuable when to came to employment- how true is this? What do they think of Drama? I know they'll barely look at this but if they did (although I know it'd be more grades focused).

Reply 5

National Careers Service

Original post by blink.182

Hi

No problem! First of all it is a really great idea to look at your career options after your degree so it's great that you are planning ahead!

Are their any careers you would like your degree to lead you to?

If you are just looking for the beginnings of some career ideas the Prospects website has a really useful link called what can I do with my degree which gives you two lists, one is careers directly related to your degree and one is a list of careers where your degree would be very useful.
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/philosophy

This is a great place to start and you could also get one to one, impartial, tailored advice form the National Careers Service by calling 0800 100 900 or going to the website where you can email, text and chat online to an adviser
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree/philosophy

Hopefully this will help you get started but there is no limit to the amount of times you can contact the service so if you get stuck you can always get back in touch!

Good luck!
Rosy

Reply 6

blink.182

Original post by National Careers Service

thanks so much

Reply 7

National Careers Service

Original post by Purplemonkeys

Hi there

Thanks for getting involved! To answer your a) b) and c) questions, this is going to be more of a case of opinion and getting an idea from previous students. One way you could do this is to start your own discussion thread to ask previous students. You could also look at the course content on UCAS or a university website to see if you find it interesting.

You could get an advantage over others applying for this career through relevant work experience - in particular, you should try to do at least three mini pupillages - a short period of work experience shadowing a barrister in chambers. You can find out more about this by going to the website below:
https://www.barcouncil.org.uk/careers/student-opportunities-and-events/mini-pupillage-hub/

Your A-Level and GCSE requirements for this are normally three A levels with very good grades in academic subjects, plus at least five GCSEs (A-C).

To look into how to improve your TV script you could look at the job profile for a screenwriter on the website below. This includes lots of useful links to improve your writing but it also includes a link to chat online with an expert careers adviser if you get stuck with anything:
https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/job-profiles/screenwriter

Hopefully this will help you get started!

Reply 8

HorusTheAvenger

Hello, I was wondering about how GCSEs will affect potential A-levels and future choices. Personally, I wish to study law at university- although the other option is Classics (seeing as I am very interested in Latin and Classical Greek, which my school offers). I am still undecided about which path I would prefer, but apart from the core GCSEs (maths, English (literature and language), triple science, French) I am also doing history, Latin and either Classical Greek/Further Maths. Do you think these choices are good enough for a career in law at a top university, what about Classics, and should I take Greek or Further Pure Maths? Thank you.

Reply 9

National Careers Service

Original post by Purplemonkeys

Hi,

Although you are correct in saying that English and Maths are the priority and grades are the main focus, GCSE's can also be a really great way of showing your other skills apart from your A-Level and degree specialism.

How useful they are may depend on your career but the skills you learn could be useful in a wide range of careers. For example if you can speak another language this can give you an advantage over other applicants to the same job. In the same way if you have an ICT GCSE this can show that you are competent with technology which is important to many careers, or if you have an RE GCSE this could be useful to show your understanding of cultural and religious differences in the workplace.

I hope this all makes sense but to sum up you can draw on skills from a wide range of qualifications and experiences to make yourself more employable.

Thanks and good luck!
Rosy

Reply 10

National Careers Service

Original post by HorusTheAvenger

Hey

Thanks for joining in, the subjects you have chosen (either the classics or law) are very academically rich which is a god sign for a law degree. To find out if these are the correct subjects to get into a law degree you could look at the entry requirements for your preferred university to find out specifically what they are looking for in their applicants.

It might be useful, to help you make a positive decision about your next steps, to work out what career you would like to have and then work backwards, so that your next step leads to the career you want at the end of your education. To get help figuring this out you can speak one to one with our expert, friendly advisers. They are open now until 10pm and open again at 8am and you can contact them on 0800 100 900.

Good luck!
Rosy

Reply 11

National Careers Service

Thanks for all your messages but that's all for tonight everyone! Don't forget you can always speak to an adviser from 8am to 10pm every day by calling 0800 100 900 or going to this website!

https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/contact-us/home

Have a great week everyone!