I need to talk to people about Uni.

foodpoison

foodpoison

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Hi guys.
This is quite a big, personal favour.
I'm 18, in my second year of college, and it's about that time of year that I need to get my arse in gear and start applying to Uni's.

I don't have anyone (apart from a few family friends) to talk to who has already been to Uni, so I'm throwing out a rope here.

I have a few dilemmas to make.

1. I want to go to Uni (to study Digital and Media Technology)
2. If I go to Uni, I want the Uni lifestyle
3. If I go to Uni, I don't want a massive debt around my neck, so best bet is to kick the accommodation. If I go to a local uni, I don't have to pay accommodation fees, and only tutorial/travel fees
4. I don't know if I want to go to Uni. I would quite like to go straight into work, simply because the prospect of the cost of uni quite frankly scares me

Now. Here's where you guys come in. Could you tell me:
-Where you went to uni
-If you lived on campus, near the campus (i.e. flat/house), or stayed at home
-If you lived at home, did you still experience the uni lifestyle?
-What you studied at uni and if it helped you to get where you are today
-How much it all cost
-anything else you feel is of importance

If you didn't go to Uni:
-Tell me why
-What you decided to do instead
-anything else you feel is of importance

I don't expect you guys to make the decision for me, not at all, but the teachers at my college want us to take the next step, and in their eyes the next step is uni. They generally don't want to consider work, therefore - biased opinions.
If you don't want to advertise it all over the forums, that's cool, just PM me.

Thanks to those of you who reply, this is greatly appreciated.
 
It is a tough choice and the debt is a big pain in the ass.

-Where you went to uni

Sunderland, arse end of no where, but actually quite a nice place, and somewhere I would never visited had I not gone to uni.

-If you lived on campus, near the campus (i.e. flat/house), or stayed at home

1st year - Halls, 20min walk from campus, but full of people in a similar situation, not as a big a party central as I thought it would be. On site security and stuff though was quite comforting for first time living away from 'home'
2nd year - Private rental about 2 mins from campus, pain in the arse having to sort out names for bills etc and trying to get a landlord to actually fix things, and the lack of security that was at halls - including the local chavs who found they could cut the entire power to our house from the meter outside!
3rd Year - Uni managed private rental, excellent as uni made landlords sort stuff, though still slowly they HAD to sort stuff and couldnt just ignore us.

My parents paid my fee's for me so I only had to find rent and I still managed to spend all my loan.

-If you lived at home, did you still experience the uni lifestyle?

I didnt live at home, but really dont think I would have had anywhere near the same experience. A student house is like no other really, we had christmas decs up all year round in the 3rd year, no real reason why, but Argon sold fake chrimbo trees as early as September, so we got some, then dressed it, then got some fairy lights etc...it was great :D Really wouldnt have got to do that at home, also parties, water fights, hiding in cupboards to scare people - all dont work living at home :p

-What you studied at uni and if it helped you to get where you are today

**** all - but then that was more my course/uni than anything else. Long story, but I got a 2:1 out of it.

-How much it all cost

I have £12k of student load debt :(

-anything else you feel is of importance

The best part of the whole thing for me was the lifestyle. Having some freedom it really makes you realise how a lot of stuff works in life and how to handle a lot of stuff you don't really encounter at home. I really would recommend moving out to go to uni. I know a fair few people who lives near Sunderland who got into halls etc during the first year as they realised they were missing out of stuff living at home.

That is only me experience though, it could be quite different for someone else. I guess it also depends on your parents :p mine are pretty easy going so wouldn't have objected to me turning up in the early hours, not sure they would have liked some of the other stuff though :p
 
Cheers for the reply, was very helpful. It has opened my eyes a lot, and it seems that rather than uni helping you for your future career, it is more the next step of maturing. You're an adult, and you have to act like one to sort out loans, rent, etc.
 
I have a few dilemmas to make.

1. I want to go to Uni (to study Digital and Media Technology)
2. If I go to Uni, I want the Uni lifestyle
3. If I go to Uni, I don't want a massive debt around my neck, so best bet is to kick the accommodation. If I go to a local uni, I don't have to pay accommodation fees, and only tutorial/travel fees
4. I don't know if I want to go to Uni. I would quite like to go straight into work, simply because the prospect of the cost of uni quite frankly scares me

Now. Here's where you guys come in. Could you tell me:
-Where you went to uni
-If you lived on campus, near the campus (i.e. flat/house), or stayed at home
-If you lived at home, did you still experience the uni lifestyle?
-What you studied at uni and if it helped you to get where you are today
-How much it all cost
-anything else you feel is of importance
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Reading - Another arse end of the universe.
On campus and in a 14th C rectory 30 minutes away. Turn up on the 1st day of the year with no accommodation arranged and its pot luck.
Tbh if you want the social life and all the lifestyle stuff I don't see how you will manage that living at home. Black bin bags full of dirty washing (careful not to include anyone elses underwear - it just leads to awkward questions) are easy to transport in a car or on the train.
An engineeringish degree that taught me that I didnt want to be an engineer.
cost ? plenty - but I worked through my summers and did a year out (did that annoy the tutors! It wasnt part of the course but I'd had enough). In all cases doing 'real' work - I was paid more as a student than the graduates were, so I ended up without debt.
 
I can't really comment on the home v halls debate, as I went to uni locally as a mature student, however one thing I would say is research exactly what careers your chosen degree is suitable for and find out what the career prospects are. By this I mean look in the papers and contact companies you'd like to work for, don't take the word of the university or a careers officer that any particular degree is a good idea as their motivation in getting you to sign up for a course is completely different from your own. We were constantly being told that for graduates with our degree the streets were paved with gold and their would be queues of companies offering us fantastic salaries from day one, all of which was, of course, total nonsense.

Don't choose a degree subject because it "seems like a laugh" or will be "easy", you'll regret it later on.....
 
foodpoison said:
and it seems that rather than uni helping you for your future career, it is more the next step of maturing. You're an adult, and you have to act like one to sort out loans, rent, etc.
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But thats not what uni is for... you get that next step of maturing in any walk of life once you leave home.. Dont use uni for it
 
foodpoison said:
Cheers for the reply, was very helpful. It has opened my eyes a lot, and it seems that rather than uni helping you for your future career, it is more the next step of maturing. You're an adult, and you have to act like one to sort out loans, rent, etc.
Click to expand...

There is an alternative view that says that it helps prolong childhood.

It is actually a quite sheltered and supported way of leaving home. You are in an environment with lots of other people in the same situation, the uni has support staff to stop things going too badly wrong for you. There are lots of safety nets.
 
If you just want to leave home and be responsible for paying bills etc then just do that and skip uni. I think a lot of youngsters just see going to uni as a way to, as who? says, prolong childhood, with an added advantage of being away from the disapproving glare of their parents.
 
I may seem naive, and to some extent it's true, so thanks for all the comments people have made. It's really helping.

I haven't chosen the course because I think it's easy or will be a laugh. Not at all.
I want a career in the media industry and in ICT. What better way than to combine the two?

As far as Uni decision goes, it's one of 2 options.
1. Go to Uni, study Digital and Media Technology at Farnham or Bournemouth, gap year travelling America with my camera, finish with aims to get a job in Marketing and Advertising, as an Art Director or Marketing Planner.
2. Gap year, aim to get a job in Marketing and Advertising, as an Art Director or Marketing Planner.

Now, the question is, will a degree help me get the job, and give me a better understanding of the advertising industry?
 
As I said in my first post, you need to find out if the degree you want to do is one that is actually of any value in the advertising industry. Interesting that you say you'd like a gap year job as a Marketing Planner, especially if your not doing a marketing degree ;)
 
Flash In The Pan said:
As I said in my first post, you need to find out if the degree you want to do is one that is actually of any value in the advertising industry. Interesting that you say you'd like a gap year job as a Marketing Planner, especially if your not doing a marketing degree ;)
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Nope, I want a gap year traveling America. Not as a marketing planner.

I don't want to restrict myself to advertising and marketing, if I find it's not for me, hence I'm doing a more broad course.
 
Ah..right, you want a job at the end of your degree as a marketing planner or an art director? I have a marketing degree (honours) and I couldn't get a job as a planner when I left uni, best that was on offer was as a marketing assistant which paid something like £11k a year, whereas I could have taken a job putting posters up in bus stops (which requires no qualifications) for £3k more!

A lot of the younsters in my class left uni and started applying for jobs like the ones you're talking about and were disheartened when they got knocked back. Nowadays a degree, or even an honours degree isn't worth as much as it was maybe 25 years ago as there are far more people qualified to this level nowadays.

One of my friends (with a normal degree) ended up working for BA (in a call centre at £12k a year) and she said she was the least qualified person in her group at the training session - the rest of them had either honours or masters degrees.

I'm not trying to put you off going to uni, but you need to weigh up the pros and cons carefully, before committing 3 or 4 years of your life to studying...
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Ah..right, you want a job at the end of your degree as a marketing planner or an art director? I have a marketing degree (honours) and I couldn't get a job as a planner when I left uni, best that was on offer was as a marketing assistant which paid something like £11k a year, whereas I could have taken a job putting posters up in bus stops (which requires no qualifications) for £3k more!

A lot of the younsters in my class left uni and started applying for jobs like the ones you're talking about and were disheartened when they got knocked back. Nowadays a degree, or even an honours degree isn't worth as much as it was maybe 25 years ago as there are far more people qualified to this level nowadays.

One of my friends (with a normal degree) ended up working for BA (in a call centre at £12k a year) and she said she was the least qualified person in her group at the training session - the rest of them had either honours or masters degrees.

I'm not trying to put you off going to uni, but you need to weigh up the pros and cons carefully, before committing 3 or 4 years of your life to studying...
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That's exactly what I was thinking.
Perhaps Uni would get me in the right frame of mind for marketing, but experience seems far more important than grades.
 
My uni experience is a little different form most as I went to do my midwifery course. I studied at Manchester Uni but spent my 3 years in nurses accomodation in Stockport. Best 3 years of my life ever. I actually got paid to do it.. £360 a month iirc but had to pay accomodation, food, travel and books out of this. Yes, I was skint most of the time but TFI Fridays in Didsbury had an 80's night every week where all drinks were 80p :lol: I travelled back home to Yorkshire most weekends (but only cos I had a boyfriend there at the time). Would I do it again if I could go back in time? Hell, yes.

Uni has got me where I am today - and I'm just about to embark on a whole new chapter of my career in Canada earning about treble what I do in the UK :eek: Most places want degrees these days. Do your research carefully. The course and study comes first - the Uni lifestyle shouldn't be your main priority!
 
I agree with FitP.

One of the issues to my mind is that people are expected to make a significant choice at age 17 about which courses to apply for. That choice can really limit your future options.
If I were to start again I would prefer to go work for a couple of years and then go back as a mature student. It is much easier to motivate yourself to work at studying a subject when you are doing the study for a well understood reason. Too many people do degrees by default.

One thing I would say is that some technical courses are irrelevant. You may get a degree in a subject but it has no real value. A lot of the technical knowledge can be acquired for less cost/effort. Besides which much of the basis of a technical course can be out of date in a couple of years (where is smalltalk or snobol today?)

I would look closely at what the course is really going to give you. Dont be worried about asking detailed questions about the employment outcomes of graduates. Any decent uni will have the stats for where people ended up working after their degree. Be very cautious if there is a lot of hospitality (burger-flipping) or call centre stuff.

I think there is a strong argument for doing a course which gives you adaptable skills and teaches thinking approaches.

Do you really want to be looking at fine art or marketing?

Where do you think you want to be? Look at the CVs of people in those positions - what did they study?
 
I didn't do Uni, but my 19 year old son has just completed his first year.

We've worked with him as much as we can, but he'll have some debt when he comes out. He's taken IT Security at UWE in Bristol, and he loves the lifestyle, in fact he loved it so much he didn't come home this summer !!

His halls are in the City Centre, 30 minutes from campus by bus. He's got a job a local nightclub, working Fri & Sat nights and when he's not got a lecture the next day, he may work during the week.

He did a deal so that he could stay in his halls over the summer, cost him (us) about £50 for the extra 3 months rent. He's just moved into new halls just across the road with a couple of mates on the same course.

He loves being at Uni, he's grown up a lot in the last 12 months, and enjoys his independance. He knows that he "has" to get a good result at the end of the course as a lot of people now go to Uni and employers can take their pick, his even considering an additional year to take a 2nd BSc, so he'll stand out.

I think it's what you make of it. Alex makes friends quite easily and has always been a socialite, but he also knows that he'll get the full backing of us, whichever decisions he makes (I may get a bit p'ssed off if he came home after 2 years though!)....

My advice is talk with your parents, get them involved and find the course you want to do and then check out a few Universities that cater for it. He could of gone to Kingston, which is less than an hour away, but he wanted to experience living away from home.

On a personal note, it makes for good times when we go and see him, or if he comes home for a weekend. As they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder....

Steve
 
minimeeze said:
Uni has got me where I am today - and I'm just about to embark on a whole new chapter of my career in Canada earning about treble what I do in the UK :eek: Most places want degrees these days. Do your research carefully. The course and study comes first - the Uni lifestyle shouldn't be your main priority!
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In the line of work I want to do, it's more experience than degrees.


Cheers for all your comments guys, it's really helped, and after a long chat with my Dad, I've decided not to go to Uni.
I feel good about it, too.

I really was only looking at Uni because I didn't know what else to do, but as with most industries, the biggest, hardest part seems to be getting your foot in the door. Perhaps I'll need a degree for that, but I can wait and see. I can always go to Uni if I find a degree is extremely important.

Most of the jobs I've researched have asked for experience in various aspects, and have only seen one mention of a degree, and that was only in passing ("degree? great. no degree? don't worry about it.").

I've got it planned out, what I'll do after college, and for the first time in the past 2 years I feel good about what I want to do.
If it is successful or not is another matter, but time will tell.

Cheers for the comments, and support, and for most of you, bringing me back down to reality :p
You've given me a valuable insight which I wouldn't have got anywhere else.
 
After high school I spent 6 yeas in the Merchant Navy before resigning and going to University.

I am in no doubt that if I had not gone to University I would not be in the job I am in now, but likewise if I had not worked first I would have not gotten as much from Uni.
 
foodpoison said:
In the line of work I want to do, it's more experience than degrees.


Cheers for all your comments guys, it's really helped, and after a long chat with my Dad, I've decided not to go to Uni.
I feel good about it, too.

I really was only looking at Uni because I didn't know what else to do, but as with most industries, the biggest, hardest part seems to be getting your foot in the door. Perhaps I'll need a degree for that, but I can wait and see. I can always go to Uni if I find a degree is extremely important.

Most of the jobs I've researched have asked for experience in various aspects, and have only seen one mention of a degree, and that was only in passing ("degree? great. no degree? don't worry about it.").

I've got it planned out, what I'll do after college, and for the first time in the past 2 years I feel good about what I want to do.
If it is successful or not is another matter, but time will tell.

Cheers for the comments, and support, and for most of you, bringing me back down to reality :p
You've given me a valuable insight which I wouldn't have got anywhere else.
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I had a similar chat with my parents and in the end didn't go to uni, but a few years later I realised I had missed out, so i went back and did my degree and that option is open to you too. If you go as a mature student you will have practical/life experience which will help you no end in your studies.

One thing though, these jobs that say "no qualifications necessary" are, in general, not worth going for. In business it's not really what you've studied that matters, what a perspective employer is looking for is evidence that you can knuckle down and do the work, which (in theory) is what a degree is proof of....
 
What are you really wanting to do? Are there other things that would be more useful to you at this stage?

I think that the old apprentice system had a lot going for it - people learnt real skills.

If marketing then what are the requirements for the professional body? CIM? Think about targeted learning.
 
Experience is a wonderful thing, and great to have, but it depends on the experience. If you are a grafter, work hard and gain a lot of experience doing progressively more complex and responsible things over your first 3 years - then as an employer when faced with a choice between you and someone with a degree and no work experience I would have to think hard.

If you get three years experience of doing the same thing, I would not hesitate to take the graduate.
 
who? said:
What are you really wanting to do? Are there other things that would be more useful to you at this stage?

I think that the old apprentice system had a lot going for it - people learnt real skills.

If marketing then what are the requirements for the professional body? CIM? Think about targeted learning.
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I had a go at the CIM course and found it quite hard going - and that's with a degree in the subject :lol:
 
I ddnt go to university, I lost interest in education somewhere half way through A-levels and decided to finish them asap and go find a job. That was what I wanted at the time, I got a job in trainee management, which led onto another similar job wth better pay, etc. The I got married, had kids, ran my husbands business, finally got divorced, went back to college as single parent, did 2 years and met Mr LL and finally moved 200 south to a new home, new lifestyle, and ended up beig a partner in the business - in all those years I have looked back with some regret that I didnt do university when I was 18. Not a seriously depressed regret, just a mild niggle that I could have had that opportunity and threw it away. It is still my plan to do a degree one of these days...one of these days.....
 
Yv said:
It is still my plan to do a degree one of these days...one of these days.....
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I did a motor trade-related dissertation, it's handy when a phonecall to your contacts at the manufacturers can get you all your research material :lol:
 
Why not do both?? Decide which course is best for you. Work you ass off in your A-levels and get the best possible grades you can and get onto your course. BUT defer your course for a year. It means you have a place at uni doing the course you want, and in the meantime get yourself a job. Get a job so you can live at home, and save money (either for lenses or to live on when at uni), and make sure the job is a job in the field that you want to work in, even if it is just as a dogsbody. You don't have to tell them you are going to Uni in 12 months, you just quit when the time comes. Or not. You don't have to start the course if you find you enjoy working, or are starting to get places in your job. Or you keep the job to work in the holidays, days off etc. and go and do your course, which would be relevant to your job so would benefit your employers (they can stick you in the brochure as a flexible working employee, aspiring for great things). And if you want to go off to uni, you have a years work experience when you finish to stick on your CV to fill the "experience needed" bit on the job app.

Also, if I remember correctly, when you have a place at a uni, you can easily swap courses at the same uni (you are money to them, they want you at their uni), or go back and re apply for a different uni. It will not be thought badly that you have taken a year out at all.

I took a year out before I went to uni, worked as an accounts assistant in a motor factors, in a supermarket and in a callcentre. I ended up working in the callcentre all through Uni, as it was flexible hours (could work when not in uni part time, and do full time in the holidays).

I have managed an office of a multinational (ok, car rental) but had 10 staff and was responsible for taking on staff. Degrees help, but so does experience, but mainly what I was looking for was the right mentality, and it sounds like you have it.

I went to King Alfred's college in Winchester (now University of Winchester), and wish I had gone somewhere bigger, cos it was quiet at times. My mate went to Bournemouth and enjoyed it. I studied (if that is what you call it) Geography and Business studies, and in my second year had 3 days in uni, and 2 days in my third year. Got a Desmond, but as my recruitment consulant told me, they just put you have a degree on the CV, no one cares about the result (and this is in Banking!).

On the flip side, my wife got on a training scheme with a supermarket, worked in customer services, and then after working for a large retail chain in customer services got moved to there marketing department. She ended up booking radio and newspaper ads, putting together ads, working with agencies, choosing models etc etc. before she had the kids. She dropped out of uni after one term due to medical problems and it hasn't done her any harm. Apart from me reminding her that I have a degree and she doesn't:)

If you can't decide what to do now, then at least apply for uni, and then you can change your mind.

Having done the uni thing, and seen others do it, it either makes you grow up, or go back to being a toddler. Another benefit of the year out option is that you can visit your mates at uni every weekend and sample the lifestyle. It also gets you around the different uni's they are at.

Oooh and one of the Uni guides list the male to female ratio.....(no coincidence Winchester had 8 females to every male........)
 
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I'm currently in uni, and i'm now just starting my final year at liverpool university, and i'm studying electrical engineering and electronics.

-Where you went to uni

University of liverpool, nice uni, it's a campus uni, with everything in easy reach, and a bus to the halls which are located off campus, about a 40 minute walk from the guild

-If you lived on campus, near the campus (i.e. flat/house), or stayed at home

I stayed at home through years 1-3, and am staying at home this year too.

-If you lived at home, did you still experience the uni lifestyle?

TBH, no i didn't. I didn't go out every night on the p*ss, didn't turn up drunk to my lectures etc etc etc. I did however find that a mate always has room for you on his/her floor/sofa (Maybe even in the bed if you're good friends. With the female, not the male.) TBH, a lot of the people i got to know all lived at home too, and they live near me, so i go out with them on weekends and the like.

-What you studied at uni and if it helped you to get where you are today

Studying Elec eng and electronics, there are a plethora of job opportunities for people doing electrical engineering, from banking to energy companies, to computer firms etc etc etc, all paying good wages.

-How much it all cost

I'm current'y in about £12k debt, but i've saved a lot of that money, and i've also bought myself 2 cars, and 2 very expensive mountain bikes. I've also worked part time throughout, earning enough to run my car, and every day spends. The loan was there for special purchases :D

I know TBH, i'm regretting doing the course at the uni i'm at now, as we get treated like 'tards, and the lecturers are absolutely terrible. Still, only 7 months till i graduate hopefully, then AWAY i go, leave this country for a few months, and see the world :).

Uni choice is as important as course choice. you need to go to a good uni to stand any chance of success.
 
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If you are going to do it you have to be totally committed to doing it, and I mean committed. I've seen a lot of people who were brilliant at school but when they got to uni the uni lifestyle e.g. cheap drink, woman etc became their main focus and they just dropped like fly’s. I'm in the same postion as I want to go to uni to finish my photography degree but I'll have to move as its edinburgh which is around a hour and a half from Dundee and I've done everything I can in Dundee photography wise so at least that gets me into 2nd year! :D You'll enjoy it and if you do it properly the rest of your life!
 
Many people talk about "experience". While working from a young age does give experience, the chances are what you do at 18 will not be what you do as a career (I was an apprentice mechanic when I left school at 16 - 30 years later I'm selling IT services :shrug:).

You get an "experience" from Uni to. You will mature faster and become much more independant. You will also learn that you HAVE to meet deadlines and provide suitable content. Any employer will interpret this as you being able to understand direction, and can be left to complete a task.

I know that my son loves the indepenance that Uni has given him (even if he still can't iron his clothes!).

Steve
 
I went to uni (Northampton) but only after 2 gap years working in the field I wanted to work in, a gap year doesn't have to be about travelling, I found that the guys on my course that had worked their gap years were a lot more mature and got the work done, whereas the guys that had come straight from school didn't take it anywhere near as seriously.

I chose Northampton because it was my local uni therefore I could live at home, and more importantly have a job that I could keep all the way through uni. Not only did I manage to come out of uni without debt, I'd bought myself a nice car and had a few good holidays.

I didn't feel that living at home restricted me in anyway (I had lived away from home on my 2 gap years), in fact it was good to be back and not having to worry about cooking/cleaning/washing up etc especially when I was working on my dissertation. Parents are generally not going to convince you to go to the pub when you really should be working, but unless all your mates from home go to uni there will still be people around and you will make mates at uni/if you work too, so you won't miss out too much on the social scene.

When it comes down to choice of course one thing you have to consider is what it can lead onto in the future, I did computer science at a relativly rubbish uni and didn't have trouble getting a job after, my little brother did Maths at one of the top unis and hasn't been able to get a job so is going back to study more.

A lot of it really just boils down to if you want to go to uni to get a good qualification to lead you into a job, or if you want to go for the socila life...
 
I went to Uni in Swansea. Had a bloody fantastic time and wouldn't have missed it for the world. Made fantastic mates, met my wife, had a really good time living the student life. I say go for it, you have the rest of your life to work so put it off as long as possible!

Don't live at home, you will miss 99% of the best stuff about university. The whole education bit is just something you have to do to be able to justify the rest of the lifestyle. Oh how I miss 10 hour weeks, drinking all night, and living with 4 of my best mates.

Make sure the degree is something useful though, I was going to do American Studies just so I got a year in the USA, glad I didn't now though.

As a side note, my wife also works in Media as the Media Director at an advertising agency. Whilst she isn't fussed about degrees, her boss takes a considerable amount of persuasion to even consider someone without one.
 
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Never went to Uni myself, got bored half way through A-Levels, discovered motorbikes etc and just wanted to earn some money so left education and got a job.

No real regrets, I sometimes wonder what may have been had I gone but I had no idea at 18 what it was I wanted to do, some 20 odd yrs later I am still wondering:lol:

Don't be pressured into going though, whatever you end up doing you need to be happy in yourself that you have chosen your path, whatever that may be:thumbs:
 
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