University, to go or not to go?

[LotusElise]

If you're undecided or feeling half-hearted about a subject, don't do it. As others have said, there are other routes into careers which might be better for you. Some of these might even lead to a funded or part-funded degree later, so don't write them off.
University is not worth it if you don't really care about your subject. You will be studying it exclusively for at least three years. I'm going to go against what a lot of people say and advise you not to go just for the lifestyle.

However, if you do care about your subject (or any other subject - are there others you might be able to study that you might've written off unneccessarily?) then definitely go.

[Gannex]

Don't go. You are not keen now, so you won't study hard, you won't excel, you'll rack up debt, and at the end of it you'll have a mediocre degree that will impress no prospective employers. Yes, you might get to go to lots of parties and drink a lot, but is that really a good reason to blow ten thousand quid and three years of your life?

Much better would be to go to work, whether in the RAF or anywhere else. Try to get ahead on your natural abilities. After four or five years of hard graft, struggling to pay bills, being pissed off at the people who are younger than you getting jobs above yours simply because they have a university degree, being patronised for not having a degree, being unable to join in the jolly conversations about university -- after four or five years of that, you'll be desperate to go to university and not have to work. That prospect, especially the notion of not having to work all day, will seem absolutely irresistible. You'll go, at the age of 23 or so, you'll be one of the more mature students, you'll be attractive to the younger girls, you'll appreciate the leisure and the social life, you'll know what you want to study, and you'll have an absolute blast. Also, you'll actually finish the programme, which is a long shot if you go right now.

So don't go now; go later.

[ArrowsFA1]

I'm going to go against what a lot of people say and advise you not to go just for the lifestyle.

If by lifestyle you mean going to a freezing loo in the middle of the night then it wasn't much of a lifestyle for me

Anyway, I agree. Don't go for the lifestyle. However, as a life experience Uni gets my vote. It will probably teach you more about life than the subject you're studying and that in itself is worthwhile.

Then again, life teaches you things whatever you do, as long as you're willing to learn

[Knock-on]

I do agree with Gannex that the main reason to go to Uni is to learn something specific.

Being honest, if someone came to me with a 2:1 or 2:2 in English or Sports Psychology, then it would go against them over someone without a degree; experience aside. If they had a bad grade in Physics or Chemistry, then it wouldn't go against them as they completed a proper course where I know you need to study.

[ArrowsFA1]

I do agree with Gannex that the main reason to go to Uni is to learn something specific.

Isn't that far more the case now that you're sure to end your degree carrying a fair amount of debt? That being the case, it's far more important than it ever has been to spend your future income very wisely.

[Knock-on]

Isn't that far more the case now that you're sure to end your degree carrying a fair amount of debt? That being the case, it's far more important than it ever has been to spend your future income very wisely.

All I am saying is that you don't necessarily have to go to Uni to achieve a good career.

Doing a good "drinking" degree will not furnish you with an advantage in the job market and can have the opposite effect. If I saw 2 CV's, one with a drinking degree and the other person who had up sticks and travelled for 3 years around the world, I would not hesitate to bring the latter in. Far more gumption and life experience than someone who drank away 3 years on a mickey mouse course in some flea pit accommodation building up 10 years worth of debt.

A very good friend of mine built her way up from catering work when she was 16 to being strategic within a major corporation by the age of 32. I started in catering and am now strategic in a small software company at the age of 37.

Neither of us went to university although I did complete 2 terms on a degree course in GIS back in the early nighties. However, I decided that I couldn't afford to do the course and support myself as I had no family so I quit and got a proper job.

If there is a good reason to have a degree for a position, then go for it. Otherwise, you may be able to get on the career ladder and progress faster without one.

And forget all this hype about needing a degree otherwise you hit a ceiling. After the age of 25, nobody would take any notice of a historical old piece of paper over your day to day performance anyway.

[AndySpeed]

As far as I can tell University is one of the best life experiences you can possibly have. Not only will you come out with a valuable degree to set you apart from people without one, you learn so much about living and being around people all the time that it's invaluable.

I'm currently at Lancaster and the atmosphere here is great. Knowing so many people around you, and being able to have so many resources at your fingertips is brilliant (but has never come at such a high price...)

In the long run, yes, I may have over £16000 of debt. But bear in mind that so long as you do graduate with a relatively good degree, and get yourself a job as good as the average uni leaver, you'll be paying off the loan and most likely earning more than most people who didn't go to uni.

University centres like Lancaster also seem to have a great nightlife and number of bars One of which I recently found myself work in

[Gannex]

As far as I can tell University is one of the best life experiences you can possibly have.

OK, but why is it better to have that experience straight after school than having it after a few years in the real world? I think university is a fine thing, but, like youth itself, it is wasted on the young. After a few years working bloody hard, a person really appreciates the easy lifestyle of a student, and is apt to make the most of it. But when it comes straight after years of being taken care of financially by parents, and years of being a bored high-school student, disliking book-work, it comes at completely the wrong time. No wonder young people at that stage of life just drink, party, learn little, and grow even less. And no wonder that people in their 20's, who know what it is to slog away for a lousy boss, being underpaid and overworked, revel in the opportunity to be a student, learn about the world, and get away from the treadmill for three years.

[ArrowsFA1]

...when it comes straight after years of being taken care of financially by parents, and years of being a bored high-school student, disliking book-work, it comes at completely the wrong time. No wonder young people at that stage of life just drink, party, learn little, and grow even less...

A bit of a generalisation there don't you think Gannex? With no parents around of course there is a sense of freedom and "I can do anything I want now", but while some make the most of that and little else, there are those who take their new responsibilities seriously and knuckle down. Then there are those who are capable of finding the middle ground.

Those who simply party hard, and take little or no responsibility would be likely to do the same whether at Uni or not, and probably would not be employed by Knock-on either way

Of course, there's nothing to say you have to go to Uni straight after high school / college, and doing so later in life is well worth considering. Then you'd have a different perspective on life, and different life experiences.

[LotusElise]

I'm actually returning to university this year to do a Masters degree and I fully appreciate what Gannex is saying. Now I've experienced working life I know what I want to do and I've worked out how to get there too.