John Catlin

If you have it you will make it !!!!!!

If you have a Degree and have it you stand a slightly better chance of making more.

From a poor old retired bugger.

[Edited by John Catlin - 8/1/2003 5:22:06 PM]

weapon69

After a few years of messing up my education, i feel like i've been taking exams forever
Just wondered how many 'success stories' there were on here where people haven't gone to uni and still done well in employment. More debt does not appeal to me right now and neither does education until im 24!

suprabeast

it all depends on the type of person that you are and what line of work you want to go into. I know plenty of people who earn allot of money without a degree. It depends on if you need a degree or not to do your job or if you're the type to blag your way through while your still learning.

Thats what i reckon anyway

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

You'll also find people on here who DID go to uni, and NEVER caught up with mates who went into different jobs at 16, or even 18.
I'm not encouraging either of my sons there, it's a government scam to get the unemployment down.
Earn £400,000 more in your life if you DO go????Bollox!
Alcazar

what would scooby do

as above, I left college to go to work, mate went to uni - he never caught up on the missing years wages + he never got such a high paid job as me anyways.

Graduates=cheap labour in most industries

NotoriousREV

I didn't go to university and earn more than my sister and girlfriend, both of whom did. In fact I earn more than anyone I know who went to Uni, except one who is a pilot for BA (flash git). I have friends that earn the roughly the same as me and they are in skilled manual jobs.

PaulT00

I didn't go to Uni - got a bit distracted during my A-levels and got a B and 2 Es instead of the 2 Cs they wanted. That was nearly 20 years ago, but it hasn't stopped me ending up doing what I wanted to do as an IT bod.

On the other hand, it definitely does limit which jobs you can go for - sometimes I look at job adverts specifying a good degree plus xx years experience and think "I've got the experience and I could do that blindfolded, but they wouldn't look at me because I haven't got a degree".

Which sums up the stupidity of the system, really. The sensible employers are the ones who look at the whole person, not just how many bits of paper they've got to their name.

Wurzel

iTrader: (1)

No degree for me either on 8 CSEs and I am doing ok for myself with new future prospects looming, most of my mates went to UNI and none of them are on the same money as me or had the same experiences in life as me. I think UNI is a waste of time unless you want to do something like become a doctor, lawyer or pilot.

RichS

Very difficult question to answer because, as has been said already, it depends greatly on your own situation, personality, what you hope to get from it, whether you need to because of a chosen profession etc etc etc....

I didn't do particularly well at school. All my report cards read the same - "capable enough, but must try harder". Sound familiar?
When I left school, I was certain that I didn't want to go to university, because another 3 or 4 years of studying / exams was the last thing I wanted.

However, my parents had different ideas and eventually they wore me down.
So I went.
And I'm very glad now that I did.

I think I learnt and developed more as a person in those three years than I did in the three previous years or three years after.
It's not only about education and qualifications.
Although having a degree may give you more options (like it did for me), whether or not you agree it should.

Try, if you can, not to be put off by the exams. It's a challenge, but so are a lot of things in life! And you don't spend the entire time studying and taking exams. Some of it can be great fun too...

Of course, that's only my experience.
Yours may be different.

Rich

boxst

PaulT00:

You can get the degree for less than $1000 based on your "life experience"...

Steve.

NACRO

It's all about maximising choice in my opinion.

How many jobs specify "must be a non-graduate"?

How many specify that you "must be a graduate"?

Personally I'd do it because they will be some of the best yrs of your life- in my experience an unbeatable mix of drinking, sex and mind expansion (in lectures/seminars that is!) it will open up more doors for you. Means sod all though in the real world.

RichS

Okay - forget all the waffle I came out with.

NACRO put it much better than me...

KaraK

its about personal choices, my best mate didn't go to uni, he spent a coupla years in a really badly paid IT job and then movbed on to a better paid role at a law firm, He is very good at what he does and he earns ~16K a year at the moment. I went to uni and did my degree in computer science, I then stayed on this year and did my masters in Distributed Interactive Systems. As a result I'm definately a lot poorer than he is on a day to day besis (we actually have similar debt levels but he did pay about 3k or so more for his car than I did). Neither of us has any regrets about the choices we made as the academic thing simply wasn't for him and it was for me. I don't feel like I am any better qualified to do a real world IT job than he is I just have a different type of knowledge. As for life after university *shrug* who knows. I'm applying to do my PhD at the moment so if I get that then I won't have to find out for a few years.

As regards the difference in expected wages well if I do leave at the end of this year then I would expect to get a job earning around the same as my friend (if not the scoob might have to go!). But If I do stay on and earn my PhD than I would expect a big hike for that....

NotoriousREV

People talk about the "life experience" gained at Uni. Sorry, but I can ****, drink beer and take drugs as well as any o my Uni educated friends

I like to think I gained a lot of life experience buy doing a variety of different jobs before I decided on my career.

Horses for courses, the kind of person you are will decide your "fate".

ProperCharlie

i'm sure that's true - the only difference is that at uni you can do it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and you don't have to worry about getting up for work in the morning. It's like a three year holiday from reality. lectures? wot are they?

Jonny C

went to uni at the ripe old(?) age of 26. found i'd become stuck in a job. problem was jobs that interested me needed a degree. i did it to open up those other opportunities.

can't lie, it was quite a scary experience going back to education having been in a well paid job (computer oprator) for 5 or so years.

could probably be earning more money now if i hadn't gone but i would have missed out on the best 4 year holiday i've ever had I believe the degree also helped me get into my current job (web developer) so i'm happy.

super_si

Shut up Sooz and learn

[Edited by super_si - 6/17/2003 12:18:16 PM]

nkh

Going to uni is a complete waste of time if you don't finish your course. Only go if you truely intend to stick at it.

NACRO

REv said "People talk about the "life experience" gained at Uni. Sorry, but I can ****, drink beer and take drugs as well as any o my Uni educated friends"

But how often do you get the chance to spend time with a choice of over 500 18 yr old girls freshly liberated from the shackles of home and given their own digs to entertain you. In my freshers week I got to know 5 different girls very well indeed and my hit rate continued right up until I met my current girlfriend.
The beer is subsidised and as far as the drug taking goes if evrryone you know is doing it in a small area like acampus it enhances the experience no end (so I'm told).

Seriously though how many times will having a degree put a spanner in the works? The same can't be said for not having a degree.

[Edited by NACRO - 6/17/2003 12:21:10 PM]

weapon69

Thanks for all the replies
There are good reasons for going to uni in terms of meeting new people, more opportunities etc. But its not like i need the life experience, i've had more than my fair share of **** for someone my age, the only experience i lack is having money in my pocket
Wait for results i guess.

dnb

Assuming you get the degree at the end of uni, there's the minor obsticle of finding employment. It can be more difficult than you're led to believe.

On the positive side, I might earn the same (or less) as some of the non-degree'd workers, however, I work for 37 hours a week, while many others work for much more to get the same pay as me.

What can I say - I may be a bit lazy, but I'd rather have time to enjoy the fruits of my labour than to work 70 and 80 hour weeks like Dad did until quite recently.

On the whole, the 4 years at uni was worth it for me. I wouldn't recomend it for everyone.

weapon69

My friend left school at 16, got a job in I.T (it was his hobby really) and now hes self employed, earning 20k+ (ok i know thats not much) but for someone with no a-levels, not intending to go to uni at any point and isn't even 21 yet, thats pretty good.

GU5

I'm not going to tell you to go or not, but IF you do, do something that you enjoy and is relevant to the everyday world when you've finished. It's alright doing something like the 'history of Klingon as a foreign language', but is it really going to get you a £50,000 graduate job?
In my final year people were doing 6 hours contact time a week compared to my 20-25. They thought it was great dossin' at the time, but it's all reflected in salaries for first jobs

bros2

[Edited by bros2 - 7/2/2003 2:55:06 PM]

weapon69

Well i stupidly applied to Surrey to do Retail Management (obviously have a random day when i picked that course) and my bf now claims that id be a mature student! Im only 20!!

weapon69

You said 21 was too old!
Anyway, what is your opinion?

Brendan Hughes

If you get on with academic life, do it.
If you don't then it's up to you how much you want to struggle.

If you intend to be an employee, it's more relevant than if you are someone who is likely to be self-employed.

Worked for my degrees, got them, am happy with them. All the jobs I did in the last six years (the paying ones) specified graduate.

If you got statistics on how many grads and how many non-grads earn X by the age of 22/25/30, it still wouldn't show you about their self-motivation.

All I can say is more and more people are getting degrees, so you will be in competition with them. A degree proves (?!) you can stick at a subject and work hard to deadlines. If you think you can prove that without a degree, fair enough.

weapon69

One of the major reasons for me is debt. I already have some from being totally independent for a few years. At a guess, most people get financial support at varying levels from their parents (except mature students). I would be totally independent and the student loan company have said that unless i am declared an orphan (!) then i can't get maximum student loan. All seems totally wrong the way they judge it. How much debt would i be looking at over a 4-year sandwich course?