The Student Room Group

anyone regret going to uni after graduating?

i fell into the classic trap of being seduced by the student life style and the 'graduate premium. ' i had a nice time and got a solid degree. but could have just done an apprenticeship and by now would have been an say an accountant, a coder, an engineer. perhaps a chef or mechanic or some cool profession
Reply 1
what i did was get a degree which i didnt need with money i never or will ever have for a career that ill never achieve
Yeah I fell into the trap as well. Uni is just a big scam tbh. They lure you in with these incentives and trap you with a massive amount of debt that most students will never be able to pay to off. I should have done an apprenticeship where I could have gotten a nice job and be debt free, most jobs don't even need a degree, you could be a accountant, financial advisers, recruitment consultant, bankers etc.... without having a degree.
Yeah I feel a STEM degree was mis-sold as the best thing you could do if you did well in high school/ for people with ambition. But jobs are thin on the ground vs high numbers of (good) graduates. I'd say most "successful" out of who I went to school with are the ones with their own businesses now as electricians/plumbers or those who left early and did short college courses e.g. maintenance now earning £30+k on top of nearly a decade of earning income over and above a graduate. Also doing well are ones who joined police, military. Those who went to uni: scattered jobs in science, bartending, moving abroad to teach english as a foreign language

I think it is a step in the right direction to have degree apprenticeships that way there is a closer match of numbers of students to jobs. Effectively each place is sponsored by industry. Too late for me unfortunately as I am barred from doing them as a first degree holder.
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by swelshie
Yeah I feel it was mis-sold as the best thing you could do if you did well in high school/ for people with ambition. But jobs are thin on the ground vs high numbers of (good) graduates. I'd say most "successful" out of who I went to school with are the ones with their own businesses now as electricians/plumbers or those who left early and did short college courses e.g. maintenance now earning £30+k on top of nearly a decade of earning income over and above a graduate. Also doing well are ones who joined police, military. Those who went to uni: scattered jobs in science, bartending, moving abroad to teach english as a foreign language

I think it is a step in the right direction to have degree apprenticeships that way there is a closer match of numbers of students to jobs. Effectively each place is sponsored by industry. Too late for me unfortunately as I am barred from doing them as a first degree holder.


I agree with those who work as a tradesman made more money than graduates. There is an interesting article here how a self employed electrician makes £50k a year earning more than most graduates. It's funny how people mock these people who work in trade yet they make a decent income with no debt.
Original post by mr T 999
I agree with those who work as a tradesman made more money than graduates. There is an interesting article here how a self employed electrician makes £50k a year earning more than most graduates. It's funny how people mock these people who work in trade yet they make a decent income with no debt.

Even machine operator/production line work in certain factories is typically £25-28k (with rotating shift and occasional night shifts) straight out of school with a few highers.
Laughs in STEM
I graduated this past summer (1st in stem from a decent rg uni)

And now imma start working in a flippin stock room for £8 an hour if pass the interview

Welcome to life
Reply 8
Original post by Anonymous
Laughs in STEM

could have done stem apprenticeship
Reply 9
No

I prefer it to working

So 3 years of student + nice holidays was the biggest incentive

It hasnt paid off in getting a good job yet though, but i can only blame myself for that. I keep procrastinating
I'm the only one out of my friends that went to uni and now all of them are earning really good money as heating and gas engineers, electricians and plumbers, whereas I'm looking for graduate positions for about £20,000 or entry level for even less!!

It's going to take me years to earn anything near what they do

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