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I did (BSc at Bangor and PhD at Aberystwyth both in earth science field) and now work doing lecturing and research in a university geology department. Whilst there are many benefits, I think people need to think a bit more carefully about what university you choose and why (myself included with hindsight!) Think about what course you want to do and what you want to get out of it in the long run. You need to look at how the department you are interested is rated aswell as the university in general. The price of living varies hugely between places so if this is may need to be taken into consideration. I lived in cheap accomodation in Bangor, went out a fair bit but spend my weekends kayaking and climbing, working in the summer (full-time but with a 2/3 weeks Alps trip) and didn't have too much debt. In comparison my sister was in Edinburgh and has a lot more of an expensive lifestyle, so despite working all through her studies she had a lot more dept afterwards.
Also, courses with some sort of placement (or which help you find e.g. a summer job in the right field) aid hugely in getting a job related to your course (if you want) afterwards.
I also agree with those comments above that it doesn't necessarily help so much in the future with employment. I get a bit annoyed at how many parents push their children into going into a university education to get a "better" job. In many areas it doesn't help. Also, and this is not directly aimed at you, but for those people who are not sure, you won't lose anything by applying a year later (whether you do a "typical" gap year or do some "proper" work).
Yes because without a degree in Engineering, I'd be slightly less AWESOME.
I came from a time and place in the world where people like me didn't go to university except to work in the service industry - which I did at Birmingham Uni 1983. Looks like those days are back again.
Doing a BA at the OU currently.
I went to uni a couple of times to have sex with girls who lived on campus.
I enjoyed it.
I went to keele and did German and European studies. Its easy to say in hindsight but I wish I'd never been because what I wish I did now requires no degree and the time could have been much better spent with zero expectations laid on afterwards. As it is, I work in IT because IT grad schemes were 10 a penny 10 years ago. I hate and have zero ambition and zero prospects. Think carefully what you want from uni in every respect. You don't have to go to get pissed with your mates and play sport, although that's on plate for you if its what you want. But if you're not going to walk away with any career aspirations from it I'd say don't bother.
I did mech Eng in nottingham but if I had my time again, I'd not bother with university. It's not helped career wise and was nothing special socially.
lots of mechanical engineers on here..
I went to the university of life after graduating from the school of hard knocks.. I have no material wealth to show for it
Sheffield 2004-2008
MEng Chemical Engineering and Chemistry 2.2
If I did it again.........
I'd do some studying rather than filling my time with extra curicular stuff (thats OK to put on a CV, not just beer and girls).
I'd ask employers what degree/courses they recomended, rather than listening to the university (I would not do Chemistry again, a language would have been 100x more usefull).
I'd take a couple fo gap years, one to do a year in industry related to what I wanted to do (I did soemthing that required the same degree, but not the same job), and one for traveling. It would be much more fun (if more expensive) to go back now and do it all again with a bit more life experience.
Physics at Birmingham 92-96
Just about made it through..
Just completed my Masters course a few weeks ago. Aberystwyth 2005-2010. Did a four year bachelors including a placement year then a one year masters, both in robots and AI. Career wise the placement year has been invaluable, it's really plugged a hole that my course(s) left. I did a job working largely with SQL server and in both of my courses I did no databases at all. I've worked hard and played hard, met some amazing people had a good time. I'd do it again for sure!
yes
Strathclyde 77-80. Computer Science (* a very lucky chance hapening, after the dreadful Accounts and Applied Physics sessions I was attending I lucked upon some blokes in jeans and Ts ...)
I was a ****t and wasted the experience but luckily I was a natural at computing and got a degree.
Nowdays I'm a bit mixed on the value of a degree, esp if you can get your foot on the ladder without it, partly due to the cost and partly due to the horrible reality that if something is really common it's not that valuable (sorry). I'd maybe consider doing a course that led to the sort of career that relies on my physical presence, and/or aligns with likely future growth areas, or if a dgree was essential for my chosen career.
Make use of all the sports facilities, clubs and social opportunities. You have all your life to get pissed and stoned - I didn't start field hockey till I was a veteran (> 35)
My first job was conditional on having a degree certificate, I've never needed it since.
I think people have a misconception of Uni and think you have to be intelligent
that made me smile 😀
just graduated from st andrews, had a brilliant time and met some amazing friends. Without my degree i'd not be about to move to the alps to work for a company involved in providing advertising and environmental consultancy for the adventure travel industry. University isn't for everyone, but it can provide some incredible experiences and opportunities.
Durham (Grey). Politics.
Slacked off, so only got a 2.1. But I did meet Mrs (now Dr) North there, and we've been together for 14 years now.
I am of the firm view that undergraduate degrees, as they are not inherently that hard, are there to be enjoyed for what they are. Unless you have a burning ambition to do for a job what you study (engineering, law, medicine, etc.) then study what interests you.
Oh, and do remember that university staff aren't there for your benefit; you're there to pay for the infrastructure so they can do their primary job: research.
Undergrad at an Ex Poly, MSc in a completely different subject at Nottingham Uni more recently.
Couldn't have done the job I did immediately following graduation without my undergrad degree, it was a technical degree and a technical job.
Could do the job I'm doing now without either degree, but the MSc will certainly grease the wheels when it comes to promotions / applying for other jobs.
I think that now you have to be move careful than ever in choosing whether or not to go to uni, and which uni to go to. If you're chasing a grad job at the end of it, you really need to have solid A-levels and a good degree from a good uni, or go a step further and do a Masters to prove that you have a brain.
I mention this as I've known a few people turn down redbricks to go to places like Keele or NTU because it's where their mates / bird is going, and that's no way to decide on how to spend tens of thousands of pounds. The fact is that lots of employers just don't bother with ex-poly career fairs or grads.
Sheffield University - BSc Special Honors Mathematics. I had a great time drunk loads, then drunk loads more and did a bit of studying. If I had my time again I would probably have used my time more constructively. I really liked Sheffield, nice city, University a civic one but also had a nice campus feel. Generally, sheffield people were very student friendly. Good mix of people from all backgrounds.
Lancaster University - MSc Operational Research. Nice enough place to spend a year, but glad to move on at the end. Perhaps now I have discovered MTBing I would feel differently. Living on campus was pretty isolating, but they had good sports facilities and I was able to play Squash, my sport at the time, 1-2 times a day.
Loughborough University - PhD Management Sciences. Well at least it was near the M1 and I could drive by now. At the time, and it probably still does, had one of highest proportions of public school educated students, most undergraduate were either arrogant jocks, or arrogant business students or a combination of both. Had a very different feel to both Sheffield and Lancaster - perhaps it was the lack of cultural diversity - all the undergraduates seemed to have the same or very similar outlook on life, and one somewhat different from my own.
I would echo what OMITN says, study something you really enjoy and want to study, better a good degree backed up extra curricular interests, than struggling for 3-4 years on something that doesn't really interest you and then come out with a lower class degree etc.
Did my degree in Wrecsam but was living in Chester at the time so no change to normal life. Uni served a purpose to give me a qualification and Chester is/was quite a buzzing city. As I had lived and worked there I had a good circle of non uni friends and didn't participate in campus activities...
No, went to a polytechnic straight from school. Is my degree (geography / geology / ecology) of use in my current job - yes and no. I learnt more relevent and useful stuff at a night class (nature conservation) and on a training for work scheme (marketing for non business graduates). Also degree course has not taught me as many useful things as life for the job I do.
Dont feel you have to buy into going straight to uni because thats the way its done.
Edinburgh College of Art 82-86, Post Grad ECA 86-87. Great experience back then. Full grant and no tuition fees.
I've been self employed as an artist/painter ever since. I doubt if my degree made any difference, though I graduated with a First. Being self motivated and critical is more valuable.
Knowing some of the staff that teach there now and the dreadful work students feel they need to produce to be recognised, I wouldn't do it again now.
Yes. I spent a lot of time drinking and fornicating. It was marvellous.
Studied a little as well.
my daughter is currently at salford uni....she likes !
I always intended to find work with a local forestry or arb' contractor and work up from there, but after a chat with a guy I was working with at the time in my summer job, realised that Uni' was more than a qualification.
So I spent 2001-2005 riding bikes, climbing and power kiteing around Aberystwyth and mid-Wales whilst enrolled on HND and BSc Countryside Management. HND was my first choice as it would be simple enough to not intrude on leisure time. Ended up doing the BSc top-up to avoid leaving for a while.
Not entirely necessary for where I am now, experience and getting involved count for a lot. Bangor would have been better for Forestry, but I just preferred Aberystwyth for riding areas and beaches.
Had a great time. Met like-minded people, people I would have never met and got to ride bikes all week long.
Southampton Uni - Law, or if I'm honest Tae Kwon Do with Law as I was in the british squad and trained pretty much solidly with the odd break for lectures 🙂
Was great, don't keep in touch with a single person though. Decided I was destined for greater things than sitting behind a desk and reading alot of books (plus didn't want to risk the cost of the LPC). Somehow I ended up in IT. Sometimes wonder what it would be like if I stuck at it...(doubtful I would be earning that much more [i]per hour[/i])
Also if I had my time again I would have gone to Cardiff uni...
Currently at Loughborough, Agree on above point about alot of arrogant jocks.
Another engineer here, although Uni was useful for me not for the degree but because it made me a fully functioning (well, mostly) person.
Without it I'd still probably be crawlingly uncomfortable in my own skin and have a far more blinkered world view, and my CD collection would be pitiful.
As it happens, my engineering degree has only been vaguely useful in my job as an engineer, its all the other life skills I picked up working part time in shops and generally scraping through that seem most useful.
**** me.............wot a set of swat's
is there a uneducated version of stw anywhere........... 😉
(Mr MC posting).
BSc (physics) and PhD (materials science) at Liverpool. Fantastic city to be a student in. Did 7 years there in the 90's (when Cream was a dance night at The Nation, not a global marketing behemoth) and probably didnt get around all the pubs and clubs. Locals arent any more anti student than in any city, I have many many more positive stories of encounters than negative.
Good for mountain biking with north wales on your doorstep. Seem to remember hearing Liverpool had the highest percentage of graduates staying in the city after, er, graduating, which I can believe. If I hadnt used my Phd to good effect fulfilling a dream by getting to live and work in the US I would probably have stayed.
I'm now a police officer in Oxford. Go figure.
wot a set of swat's
That would be, "What a set of swots", Ton.
Go and sit in the corner and think about what you have done.
🙁
HND in Building from Oxford Poly. Finished with £100 overdraft.
BA Fine Arts (Sculpture) Bristol Poly (turned into UWE while I was there). Finished with£3k of student loans.
HND lead to me now running my own company. And I take every other Friday off to ride.
BA means I can weld (VERY) badly and put up shelves straight.
Not certain I would want to do an arts degree now if it meant £30k+ debt at the end. Which is a real shame.
Durham (Hild & Bede)
I regret a lot of what I did at uni
but it was worth it 😀
Nope, apprenticeship. 2 weeks at college in halls of residence every 10 weeks, was paid rather well compared to most apprentices and also received expenses while I was away (anymore than 3 pints worth of receipts a night was frowned upon tho....). Loved the uni style lifestyle pissing it up every night while I was there and sometimes wish I'd actually gone to uni! Earning definitely made life a lot more fun tho, zero money issues where as the proper students up there and at home used to always seem skint! No student debt either, swings and roundabouts ain't it!
[i]PGreen - Member
Currently at Loughborough, Agree on above point about alot of arrogant jocks.[/i]
Not much has changed then in what must be close on 20 years for me.
Neilsonwheels - you beat me to it!
When I were a lad, universities weren't even invented.
Apart from Durham. Bede College Friday night was good, as was Dunelm. But I wasn't a student, I was a fitter for the City Council. Still had a student union card though.
Does that count?
Manchester Poly/ Met Uni, went just as the change happened. Did Environmental Science. It was OK, didn't quite get the grades I wanted but have done OK out of it eve if has taken a long time to get where I am now. In hindsight I'd have gone somewhere different as I didn't have that an exciting time. Since done MSc and other post grad stuff, I wish I'd have done the MSc straightaway but I got a job and experience before doing one. Doing OK with QUANGO in public health hoping to survive the cuts.
Go to a good university and more important do a vourse you enjoy and make sure it has work experience or get summer experience in the field you work in.
I went to bath, studied civil engineering. A long hard course, I had difficulties in my final year and only ended up with a 2:2
I still had 3 job offers out of the 6 I applied for. good uni, good experience, I had a year out, and a good set of extra cuticular activities.
Trent Poly - Mech Eng - Late Eighties
Lovely
Yes but wish I went later in life now.
Went from a high 2:1 to a low 3 by the end of it. Really off the rails and ended up fleeing the country to sort myself out.
Good experience, but could have been so much more productive
1990-93 at what is now University of Gloucestershire, BSc Geography. Bloody loved it so much went back in 1995 to do a Masters and lived there after for a while. 20 years later stil got 15 or so close friends from Uni, some of which settled in Cheltenham permamently and i'm down every two weeks watching Gloucester at Kingsholm. A move back may be on the cards soon.
dundee uni - 04-08
2:2 mech eng
turned down a phd developing my honours project into a much more complex model
entered my first graduate job last year after a year cycling round nz.
currently in africa. its opened my eyes thats for sure - always said i wouldnt do this - but **** it you only live once , cant see everything from my bike (unless i win the lottery)
I've just gone back to uni for the 2nd time having taken a gap year. Went to northumbria originally, now at the royal college of art/imperial college doing a double masters
Lancaster University - Social work - left though as erm I discovered Madchester in the summer and it seemed more appealing than Uni. I indulged too much so had to escape the drug culture so I moved to .....Holland 😯 I may not have thought that one through too well 🙄
UCNW - Bangor Uni 94-97 Psychology hills mountains what was ther enot to love?
Teaching post grad qual at a institute now a uni but it was rubbish
I went to Northumbria.....at least sometimes/
Aberystwyth 1981-85, Computer Science. Had a great time and came away with a degree that opened doors and got well paid job as a result. Now paying for my kids to go through Uni - I was on a full grant!