Apprenticeship or University?

Hey!
So, I am going into S5 (I will be taking Human Bio, Chemistry, Bus Man, Maths, English and out of columns Mandarin). I am a straight A (Band 1)/ A* student and an internal scholar.
I am really interested in working in the finance sector and I am looking into apprenticeships at various companies.
So, I have a few options:
1. Apply for apprenticeships next year and leave school in S6. (Problem: I will be verrrrry young because I am already quite young for my year group as it is)
2. Apply for apprenticeships next year just to get a feel for the different companies' application process but reject them and stay for S6 (Problem: applying and then rejecting companies is like burning bridges)
3. Do nothing next year and apply for an apprenticeship for after S6 (Problem: S6 is pretty boring and at my school there is minimal teaching as it is more of a social year for people to enjoy their final time at high school which I personally don't mind missing out on)
4. Apply for uni for after S6 (either straight after or deferred) (Problem: Uni is really expensive in general).

Things to maybe mention are that if I stayed in S6, I would probably crash economics and take business and Mandarin (in-column).
I also have a question about people wanting to travel. I really want to travel to Asia but my only opportunity to do so would be if I went to uni and had a whole year travelling (deferred) or went a bit mad and travelled like crazy over the summer holidays (straight after S6 or before the apprenticeship starts).

Please give me your advice, I would love to hear what you have to say. I am a proper pickle.

Reply 1

y16koja_f

Original post by Lilee1323

Hey!
So, I am going into S5 (I will be taking Human Bio, Chemistry, Bus Man, Maths, English and out of columns Mandarin). I am a straight A (Band 1)/ A* student and an internal scholar.
I am really interested in working in the finance sector and I am looking into apprenticeships at various companies.
So, I have a few options:
1. Apply for apprenticeships next year and leave school in S6. (Problem: I will be verrrrry young because I am already quite young for my year group as it is)
2. Apply for apprenticeships next year just to get a feel for the different companies' application process but reject them and stay for S6 (Problem: applying and then rejecting companies is like burning bridges)
3. Do nothing next year and apply for an apprenticeship for after S6 (Problem: S6 is pretty boring and at my school there is minimal teaching as it is more of a social year for people to enjoy their final time at high school which I personally don't mind missing out on)
4. Apply for uni for after S6 (either straight after or deferred) (Problem: Uni is really expensive in general).
Things to maybe mention are that if I stayed in S6, I would probably crash economics and take business and Mandarin (in-column).
I also have a question about people wanting to travel. I really want to travel to Asia but my only opportunity to do so would be if I went to uni and had a whole year travelling (deferred) or went a bit mad and travelled like crazy over the summer holidays (straight after S6 or before the apprenticeship starts).
Please give me your advice, I would love to hear what you have to say. I am a proper pickle.

Hi, from my experience as someone who took a gap year to apply for degree apprenticeships, I had say the number 1 thing I wish I did in Y13 is attending many work experience days for companies that I might want to apply for in the future for a degree apprenticeship, so I can do work placements especially in companies that I want to apply for a degree apprenticeship there. Because that will look so good in your cv and you will have a referral which will speed up your application process and get you the role. Also, you need to be 18 years old before the degree apprenticeship begins as that is part of the eligibility criteria I keep seeing when applying to degree apprenticeships. So I had say for now, focus on getting as much as work placements through attending work experience days at companies you want to apply a degree apprenticeship there. For uni, I think its good to have a backup option in case things dont work out for degree apprenticeships as they're very competitive, so definitely apply for uni to keep your options open. For travelling, I really dont know. But I had say you can definitely travel even if you're on a degree apprenticeship or attending uni since you will eventually get enough off days to travel. Hope this helps :biggrin: