Peedee

iTrader: (4)

So, every year this comes round and every year it winds me up a bit.

What am I talking about?......the constant barrage of 'University' promotion on TV / radio etc. IMO, far too much emphasis is put on people going to university, almost to the point where I feel youngsters feel they have failed in life if they don't get the grades to be accepted into uni. I also notice that, rather conveniently, the subject of uni fees is often overlooked by universities being promoted. For example, anybody see 'This Morning' today?

Getting a degree is most certainly not a golden ticket to a prosperous life these days, quite the opposite when you take into account the amount of debt most students will get into. Added to the fact that so many people have a degree so the amount of graduate job applications is through the roof for each position, and the odds are most certainly stacked against going to uni.

I feel that actually getting a job / working up the ladder, apprenticeships, Armed Forces, police etc doesn't get anywhere near enough airtime at this time of year.

I am not against going to uni and getting a degree, but other options just aren't broadcasted enough (or is it that uni is shoved down our throats too much?) which is a shame, because no doubt there are some potentially great coppers, RAF helicopter pilots, business entrepreneurs etc out there that will never be found because they've wasted their time going to uni (I don't see it as a waste of time for everyone BTW).

hodgy0_2

Mmm, the pressure is immense

My daughter feels like a failure, she has just received her A level results

A* in history, A in Spanish and a B in maths (we will get the B remarked)

She did the worst out of all of her contemporaries

I am soo proud she worked so so hard

LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

I got a C, D and E for my A-level results 7 years ago and I then went to Uni afterwards because it seemed the "normal" thing to do. I was never the type of person to sit down with a pen and paper or to revise/study for hours each day for an exam. I would have done much better going to college to do a more practical course. Anyway, after 2 years at Uni I left to work on my Fathers farm, which is very successful may I add and I haven't looked back. Defiantly too much emphasis on Uni like you say.

I actually always wanted to be a Police dog handler but was put off by the media to a certain extent. I even did work experience at the HQ. I do have a working line GSD now though and guns to match .

Tidgy

i got **** all A levels, and now manage people that went to uni hahaha

LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

Just watching the 6 news. I see your point- it's completely crazy the amount of coverage A-levels and universities are getting. What's going to happen to future labourers?! There's defiantly going to be a shortage in 10 years and then colleges will be in high demand and the labourers will be charging more for their services.

Rescue Dude

iTrader: (11)

The daughter of a friend of mine is doing an apprenticeship at the moment and she's been told she has to retake her English, maths and IT A levels as they're not valid after 5 years.
She's asked around a number of people and they have confirmed this. Not worth the paper they're written on.

LSherratt

iTrader: (1)

I've developed an opinion that results mean diddly-squit. Yeah who cares if a student studies 6 hours a day pushing pen on paper to get A*'s. That means nothing if you can't communicate with people, have a lack of confidence, can't think on your feet or problem solve, have no practical thinking etc etc.... I've seen it with my old school friends who I still regularly see. A lot of them got A's and was one of the guys near the bottom of the results tables yet now we're all pretty much the same.

Cpt Jack Sparrow

iTrader: (14)

I wasn't going to post on here as the whole uni thing just winds me up. However after reading the above............ You've hit the nail on the head for me.

When I went to Grammer school only the elite few went to uni, the rest went out and for a job.

Now everyone seems to have to go to uni and only the elite few don't and get a job.
The new elite few don't start life with massive debts either

LostUser

It said on the radio this morning that Richard Branson didn't do his A Levels and look where he's got to. Although it also said Joey Essex didn't do his A Levels either so I'm not sure what point they were trying to make now.

DYK

My thought is uni has become just the cool thing to do.couple of my friends went to uni but that was about twenty years ago and did make a success out of it.Another of my mates got an apprentership doing welding fabrication,stuck at it with the same employer for years,he went on to be one of the top dogs at the company.Nice house Range Rover sport etc.Think apprentership is the route to go,and although I didn't stay at the job I trained and qualification in.Just going out there getting stuck in,reckon I've learned much more about people and life skills,being in a work environment and gaining the experience as you learn,jobs and how businesses operate,than being sat in classroom at uni.Not saying uni is totally bad choice to make,but youngsters now seem to be given a false hope,that will get a degree and go straight to the top at a company.

tarmac terror

iTrader: (2)

Law, Medicine & Engineering are the only careers which require attendance at university, and the only degrees worth anything in my view.

I find that those who leave university and enter the workplace, have ambition by the truck-load, but little or nothing by way of ability. My employer does take students on placement, it is accepted that the most useful thing they will learn during their placement are interpersonal skills and get a feel for what it is like to deal with people.

lozgti1

There were Polytechnics as well in my day. Lol. Everywhere is a University now

I got a huge 2 A levels 29
Years ago. No one ever really got more than 3 ! Hah

I feel a bit thick now :-)

Turbohot

Look, going to university expands your life experience as well as your knowledge. It's not a bad idea for the ones who want to attend university education, and can afford to do so. But if you are able to do both without attending uni, then that's great.

I intentionally didn't include 'job opportunity' merit, because I agree, you can have good occupation with good money coming in without having to go to uni. But I have to say that employers are now more keen to recruit well-read qualified peeps for high level/better pay band jobs, but then again, perhaps work-based NVQs, apprenticeships, regular CPDs with much shorter courses rather than full degree programmes can fill for that.

The ones I know, almost every managing director or top end employee has at least a Masters, if not a PhD. Some have achieved their Masters even at 30+. Not everyone is Richard Branson.

DYK

Its not just about getting that fancy degree though is it.Look at companies who advertise and will almost always say need two or three years experience.place I work at we do contract work for caterpillar so are on their sites around the country everyday.The guys/girls that fix them quarry trucks etc,the company trains them at their college near kings Lynn.Apprenterships are a good thing and uni isn't the only option.Just seems that youngsters have this pressure put on them that uni is a must.And if they don't get in then they are a failure.

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

Somebody didn't get the results she wanted

Ciaran

iTrader: (16)

Agreed I also never went to uni.
Don't regret it for a second and the things I have learnt since leaving school (2000) I very much doubt I would ever have learnt. May possibly do an open uni degree in the next few years.

Peedee

iTrader: (4)

Erm, I left school in 1999 bud lol. You remember back then don't you? It's when university wasn't forced down our throats and kids went out looking for jobs whilst not expecting everything to be laid out on a plate in front of them.

I Messed around for a year after my GCSE's, went to college, got a few quals In Engineering, joined the Royal Engineers in 2001 and been here ever since. Of all the people that I went to school with that stayed on for A-levels and a degree, from what I know, only 3 of them have actually made something of their lives. 1 is a lawyer, another is a Lynx Pilot in the Air Corps and the other runs his own engineering company. All the others are either bogged down with kids or have mundane 9-5 jobs and sit on Facebook moaning all day about their lack of disposable income.

I completely agree with the above post ref. the three types of degree that are actually worth something....engineering, Law and Medicine.

Edmondo

I have worked with and managed many a ex Uni bod and have found them to be great with the theory and absolutely rubbish in practice yet as I am "in between jobs (I am a temp / contract worker)" everything seems to be geared towards Grads even the really rubbish paid stuff. Do employers not learn that taking on a Grad, rather than someone with experience, is a false economy as they will be off in a year or 2.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

It's simply a continuance of the scam perpetrated by Lying Labour to get kids off the dole for three, or four years.

hodgy0_2

Whilst I agree with the general sentiment that a Mickey Mouse degree at a Mickey Mouse uni is mostly a waste of time and money

The stats are pretty clear, a solid academic degree at a Russel Group university and you out earn people you don't have one in your earning life time

legb4rsk

I do like Branson & he did see his opportunity, but it is far easier to strike out & take risks when you don't have to worry about where your next meal is coming from or that you wont be without a roof over your head.

For those that don't know,he comes from a very wealthy family

c_maguire

Reading this, either you are so out of touch with reality (or the demographic on here, at any rate) or you're playing a game for your own amusement. If I take your post at face value then your daughter needs to get a grip and man-up and you need to get some perspective as regards the 'we will get the B remarked'. Is it so hard to accept that your daughter isn't perfect? Who cares, the grades will get her onto a decent degree course anyway. Although what sort of combo is History, Spanish and Maths? Certainly not any combo back when I was mucking about with the other fee-payers and wishing the school had some girls in it. Long before Blair came along and decided that suddenly 30% more were degree candidates than before, and devalued the qualification in quick fashion.

A Russel Group university.
Three cheers for cliques, back-scratching and all the other pretentious garbage that goes with it. Where the privileged few that aren't really qualified to do anything useful pat each other on the back, do some 'deals', and keep the rest in line.

jacob360

iTrader: (6)

I'm currently a second year uni student, and have to say I would recommend it to any one, it's also the only way into the carrier I want (studying motorsport engineering) and have to say not any old person can stick it, watched loads drop out finding it too hard. But I have to say it's the most fun I've ever had to date. And to be honest the debt doesn't scare me at all, would recommend uni to almost anyone

lordharding

iTrader: (1)

I had to leave school at 16 with just O levels and find a job

Didn't take me long to earn enough that I could retire whenever I want
Boy was the same 5 and was kicked out of the 6th form as he was behind in his studies
3 years training as a mental health nurse and he is in Australia doing very well for himself

His friends that studied are all In poorly paid jobs / massive student debts and envy the boy

Best qualification is
A good handshake
Eye contact
Pleasant personailty
Smartly dressed
And greed and passion
That's what makes the money to survive now

Saying that I got myself a Micky mouse diploma a couple of years ago for my part time board job then got made redundant
But the certificate looks nice in my money room

Fabioso

I did a degree the hard way, part time over 5 years while continuing a full time job. On the plus side, starting the degree helped me change career and I came out of the 5 year slog with a BSc and absolutely no debt and with a new career that paid rapid dividends.

The effort I put in during those years was a real sacrifice but in my situation it was worth it. I'm not sure I could recommend it as an approach in general though, especially these days.........

Qualifications can help but at the end of the day you cannot "polish a turd.....only add a little glitter here and there......". The most important thing is the person/candidate, regardless of the certificates and letters after their name.........

Turbohot

Not seen/heard much about pressurising kids to attend uni, and if they don't, then them getting labelled as a failure in this side of the world, but over the years I've certainly heard from people here that the ones that go to uni are cleverer. I hear from some: "I wasn't clever enough to go to uni". I tell them that that's incorrect, as someone's ability to study uni material isn't enough for anyone to be assessed as the overall intelligent people. Some high flying PhDs are quite dense in many other areas of life.