Im in my final year at Uni and the Uni staff are piling pressure on us to start thinking about the future blah blah blah.

I really have no idea what to do. Ill hopefully graduate with a degree in Law. A career in law is a big nono for a number of reasons (financial and me generally not giving enough of a shit to go out and get relevant work experience etc). Plus the Uni isnt exactly one of the greatest in the country.

So Im considering a couple of different routes, Masters study or PGCE.

Who here has done/is doing a PGCE? Any thoughts on doing one? If I was to go down this route I would want to head into the 16+ side of things to teach English (hopefully). I got some info from the Teach.gov people at a careers fair a couple of weeks ago, still need to look at it actually.

Masters is a possibility but options are limited at our Uni and my tutor has already told me that I would be better off going elsewhere. Annoyingly I cant afford to head to another Uni as I cant afford course fees, living costs etc (currently living at home). Anyone here done a masters? What made you do it? Has doing a masters helped improve your chances of finding employment? Has anyone taken it further to PHD level?

Or I just stay working pulling pints in the local pub for the next X years..or I pack a bag and **** off around the world.

Whatever it is I decide to do applications need to be in by January (apparently)

Round the world.

Anyone going to ask the blindingly obvious question here, or would that be plain rude?

One thing I'll say is don't do a PGCE unless you really want to teach. I was in a similar position and did a PGCE and hated every minute of it. Perhaps that's just me, but I think teaching is a tough enough job when you actually want to do it, let alone when you don't!

let me guess dan? that question is "why dont you go and get a job you idle little ****?"

well, pretty simple. There arent any jobs around here, I live in a deprived area and I cant afford to move elsewhere to find work, not that I would have much chance of that anyway as I have no experience whatsoever in any field I would care to work in. I couldnt even land a job in McDonalds flipping burgers.

Oh, and the Uni careers service is shit.

So, why did you do a degree in Law when you have no intention of using it?

Sounds like you should do a masters…live at home and become a permanent student.
No wonder the country is in such as mess if you are the caliber of graduate being chucked out of our unis! 🙄

8)

Sorry it might just be me but why do people go to uni then come out and do **** all with what they've just spent 3-4 years doing?

Perhaps times have changed but when I left school, if you went onto further education you came out and persued that path. Ok, slight middle aged rant over … if I were you, I'd pack a bag, get out into the big world and see if anything there takes your fancy.

Well done for thinking about it, but if you don't know what you want to do I reckon buggering off around the world, or pulling pints in the local pub are valid options.

I'd recommend seeing a careers advisor. If the ones at your uni aren't great, then try looking elsewhere. Good luck.

So, why did you do a degree in Law when you have no intention of using it?

Because I, like every other disillusioned person on my course, thought "hey, yeah, law degree, be a solicitor, wow" and then after 3 months or so the grim realisation kicks in that "hang on…Im not at oxbridge…I'm worth nothing. Who the hell is going to look at me, with my degree from some shithole and then someone from Oxbridge and say "ah yes, Ill chose the one with the degree from the university of where?".

But by then its too late.

Oh yes, and even if I career in Law was a viable option then Im still stuck as the areas of law I am interested in are so specialized that careers are very few and far between. Sorry but sorting out wills, helping people buy and sell houses and getting chavs off for nicking cars doesnt really float my boat.

Well, my brother has a law degree, but certainly not from Oxford or Cambridge, and has a very good job with a large law firm.

Ill bet my right bollock he doesnt have a degree from Teesside.

You appear to have learned at least one valuable lesson at uni;

the world does not owe you a living.

You've been lucky enough to go through one of the best educational systems in the world and are disillusioned because you're not going to walk into a high paying super job?

How about this for an idea; go spend sometime as a volunteer paying a bit back to the society that has educated you so far?

…and if you can go off round the world, then moving a few miles to find a decent job shouldn't really be a problem should it?

…nice troll by the way..

Shame you didn't jack after the first 3 months when you realised it was sh1te … you might be a manager at McDonalds by now 😀

Don't be so touchy Creg… foxychick has the question I was talking about!

My carreer goes like this: Degree in anatomy for no other reason than I enjoyed it. Lab job for a year then 2 years of call centre work. MSc in Environmental management then 3 years work as environmental consultant. Then (as of 2 months ago) fling the office work to **** and run gardening business, be my own boss, make more money than before and finally able to shine and enjoy life!

I did the same as you at uni with regards to doing a non-relevant course.

Best to sit down, gently think it all over, and no matter how diverse or unusual, picture yourself doing something you'll enjoy and do whatever it takes to get there.

hello, same position here last year of an env. earth science degree, definately do not want to do a masters…or pursue my career path (yet anyway).
planning to begger off around the world after 6months of work to raise cash, gain some experiences and maybe realise what i want to do with my life in general…limitless oportunities out there bud.

remember you can pursue your career at a later date you dont have to rush into anything immeadiately (not something ul hear ur tutors say!)
if you dont know what you want to do…go explore the world you never know what might appear.
what ever you do though, dont sit on yer ass and do nothing, life is short!
doing volunteer work abroad is def on my to-do list though…

Considering doing a PGCE – well, do you want to teach?

Don't sell yourself short with a career in law – of the oxbridge Law students (actually Jurisprudence students 🙄 ) I know, nowhere near all of them went on to further law study. Besides, there are more solicitors dying than oxbridge can churn out!

Are you worthless? I always thought you were worth what you make of yourself. If you want it, go and get it.

Sorting out wills etc. won't exactly be bad work either and probably more interesting once you're doing it with a variety of folks in a real office.

Crikey – I already do volunteer, Im crew for the RNLI. And thanks for the troll accusations, youve made my day

Ill bet my right bollock he doesnt have a degree from Teesside.

I've got one from Teesside. I'd prefer a left bollock though.

A masters is worthless other than allowing you to do the student thing for another year.

I know this might be a radical suggestion, but you could get a job.

You only live once, go travelling.

Who says you have to work in law just because you have a law degree?

What do you actually want to do?

I know this might be a radical suggestion, but you could get a job.

Good idea, but terrible time for a graduate with no experience to be looking for a job. Terrible time for anyone really….

Good idea, but terrible time for a graduate with no experience to be looking for a job. Terrible time for anyone really….

Agreed. I knew things were bad when local law firms put back the dates for all new trainee solicitors to 2011 and beyond…I knew things were really bad when the CPS did the same thing 😯

maybe a work placement is a good idea, get paid to gain experience, see if you like a job….

Good point walla, hadnt thought of that. Thanks

Admittedly I have no idea what the graduate job market is like.

I bet the armed forces have a use for legal types. Now that's a growth industry.*

*A mate of mine makes an awful lot of money as an, err.. 'contractor' in the pmc sector.

Look at the jobs market. But you don't sound highly motivated by one area so may struggle. You don't need to move to look for a job, you can look for a job and then move. Register with some of the general gaduate job websites like Milkround. I got a Job in Somerset and just moved down there, the company was helpful in finding me temporary accomodation and I'd sorted myself out with a flat in a few weeks. Did the same when I moved back up North, found a job, packed my bags and left. Can be scary/difficult but it won't kill you.

What are you going to get? 1st, 2:1 2:2 3rd?

Doing further study isn't a good idea unless you are going to use it. You'll just get more debt ridden and more qualified for no reason.

The reason people do degrees even though they have no intention of using what they learn is influenced by the job market. Look at the Times top one hundred graduate employers. You want a job with one of the big four, a consultancy, big pharma company etc. you do not need specific knowledge unless you go technical. Most just want evidence that you are able to get a good degree because then you'll be able to learn whatever they want to teach you. You also learn more than your degree at Uni. This only works though if you are at the top end of graduates, especially now.

Creg…don't be so hard on yourself about where you have studied.
I did my degree back in the good old days when Unis were Unis, Polys were Polys, and crappy colleges were crappy colleges! I studied at a "bottom of the heap" crappy college in Huyton, Liverpool!
I have been in full-time work for the last 21 yrs and earn a reasonable salary.

There are lots of options for competent lawyers, all over the country – not everyone goes off to fight for grad places at big city law firms. I'm sure even the charities and humanitarian orgs pay better than bar work and may appeal more than defending criminals.

Travelling would be my choice. Slightly regretted starting work straight after school as I never really took thechance. As suggested, PGCE if you aren't sure is risky. Ditto masters really. What do you enjoy doing outside of uni? Find some volunteer work in that area, then try and make a career out of it. Easy 😀

More jobs for people with legal degrees than just barristers and solicitors- lots of big corporations have legal teams for all sorts of reasons, where you're not required to be a solicitor.

And, when did it become it mandatory for university study to have anything to do with careers?

SKI SEASON

I would get out and travel and spend a year maturing.

Some do degrees for fun or not sure what to do and also change their mind.

I was lucky that I chose medical science-it was fun and loads of different areas to work in let alone qualified biomedical scientist.

I chose PGCE 2nd'ry in Chemistry as I worked in schools and had an absolute blast with the kids-even the bad ones.

Wage is naff £28K max? but I managed to mark all the work at lunch and go home by 3pm.

Presenting lectures and getting kids to enjoy themselves and do well was great.

Get some experience in SAS' schemes before you apply.

I think there are some valuable comments on here but also some negative ones that aren't going to help you and you need to pick which bits you want to use as advice and which to ignore and not get annoyed about.

I went to uni as it was "the done thing" and I kind of got pushed into it by my parents (went in Sept 1997) looking back it was the best thing I did. Great experiences, lots of sport, growing up massively. I did a degree in Psycholinguistics! Now people ask "why do a degree ify ou know you aren't going to use it?" well considering you have to decide at 16 what you want to do at uni it's no surprise. I did that degree as Linguistics interested me and the "psycho" bit made it sound cool. I could've gone on to do speech therapy however it was another few years to qualify and it didn't really interest me.

I don't think you should do Masters unless it's in something that REALLY interests you and you think you could get a job in. As people say it's more studying, debt and then back to where you are now. Mr MC did a PhD and enjoyed it, did 5 years worth of post docs etc and loved it! had the huge opportunities of working abroad (lived in America for 2 years and says it was the best years of his life) however after 5 years in the industry got bored and started again in a completely different field.

Have you thought about jobs that maybe you wouldn't normally? Police, fire service, paramedic, army, those kind of roles that often people brush under the carpet but when you look into it they seem really cool.
If you volunteer for the RNLI have you thought about coast guards or something like that? don't know if they have full time jobs.

I would love to have the opportunity to travel however you have to think about the money aspect and career. So many people do it now, it won't progress your career opportunities unless you do something like volunteer work in slums of south america.

what does interest you? what jobs have you alwasy thought "i wonder about that?" I used to buy Guardian and just surf the jobs looking at stuff and thought "oh that's interesting" and do some digging, you will then start getting a feel for it.

you mention "scrots" have you thought about prosecuting? working for the CPS? Just trying to give you some ideas to get your mind ticking over.

I moved back home and went back to working in my local bike shop while keeping an eye on the jobs market, doing a bit of travelling (just a week at a time away with the bike, nothing startlingly adventurous).
About 6 months after graduating a job came up that I liked the look of, I had the interview at Christmas time, got the job with an offer to start in May (the company at the time was involved in loads of building work hence the delay).

No point in rushing into things especially if you're not sure about what you want to do. Try and be positive though, there's loads out there that you could do – Margaret Thatcher had a degree in Chemistry!

AGree with Crazy legs but you just need to think sensibly though too! 😆

you have to think about the money aspect and career. So many people do it now, it won't progress your career opportunities unless you do something like volunteer work in slums of south america.

I never really thought about it like that. Surely the point is to cram some experiences in, learn new things and open your eyes to the world before you have to start work.

MMM RichPenny I think if you ask a lot employers they see a year of travelling as a waste of time bumming and it doesn't help ANY career prospects. However they view volunteer work very differently and you learn so much from doing it plus it shows things like you're willing to give up your own time! Definately do something constructive if you travel don't just bum from country to country.

Personally, I don't believe that you have to do your travelling straight from uni. I guess it depends on your situation later in life, but at nearly 30 I'm still in a position where I could easily drop everything and go abroad for as little/long as I wanted. Those who say you have to do it when you're young have probably gone down the society accepted route of 1) career, 2) married, 3) kids.

Creg, sounds pretty woolly, but I'd just do what you really want to. If you don't want to work then don't and do something else fulfilling to you. Likewise if you've got an eye on a job, take the opportunity and do all that other stuff later. And if you don't, DON'T regret it!