Reply to: For those of you with kids looking to go to uni

[d000hg]

Poor you.

Come again? It's their lives that are going to be awful, not mine...

I like my educated hospitality, retail and customer service staff you get so much better service.

The pink-trousered students aren't working at Starbucks, that was rather the point. And I find local northern folk are far more helpful and friendly as servers. Jolly middle-aged ladies and gents who are happy to have a job, rather than wearing the weight of an unjust system that forces them to work for a living.

[SueEllen]

Fair enough. If you were working to fund your degree then nobody can really claim it was wasted - can't imagine too many of the students round here doing manual labour when they could be in Starbucks in their pink trousers

Poor you.

I like my educated hospitality, retail and customer service staff you get so much better service.

Unfortunately B means lots of places have gone back to hiring 16 and 17 year olds...

[d000hg]

Could have done but wouldn't have done. Bar work, motorcycle courier, security guard, loading trucks all done while studying. Leaving home just for a tulip job wasn't an incentive, there were plenty of those available in Cornwall. Uni was the reason to go, working a tulip job was a side effect.

Fair enough. If you were working to fund your degree then nobody can really claim it was wasted - can't imagine too many of the students round here doing manual labour when they could be in Starbucks in their pink trousers

[TheDude]

I didn't pay £150k for private schools per child to go to a low ranking university

Going straight into the army instead - good show!

[DaveB]

All true but you could just have gone to London and got a job waiting tables for 3 years

Could have done but wouldn't have done. Bar work, motorcycle courier, security guard, loading trucks all done while studying. Leaving home just for a tulip job wasn't an incentive, there were plenty of those available in Cornwall. Uni was the reason to go, working a tulip job was a side effect.

[d000hg]

Spent most of my time at Uni drinking and pissing about before scraping a 3rd in the end, What it did give me was a better perspective on life. Growing up in Cornwall if I hadn't gone to Uni in London I'd never have expanded my outlook on the world, met such a diversity of people and experienced anything like the same range of cultures and perspectives. It's not just about the academic side of things, Uni lets you see the world beyond your own local bubble and realise that not everyone is the same as you and your mates back home.

All true but you could just have gone to London and got a job waiting tables for 3 years

[Eirikur]

I didn't pay £150k for private schools per child to go to a low ranking university

[TheDude]

Spent most of my time at Uni drinking and pissing about before scraping a 3rd in the end, What it did give me was a better perspective on life. Growing up in Cornwall if I hadn't gone to Uni in London I'd never have expanded my outlook on the world, met such a diversity of people and experienced anything like the same range of cultures and perspectives. It's not just about the academic side of things, Uni lets you see the world beyond your own local bubble and realise that not everyone is the same as you and your mates back home.

Until I went to university I never realised how much of a head start some people get in life.

I knew a few people from London, nice enough but not particularly bright and who studied fairly useless degrees.

Their families made sure they were juiced straight into decent jobs in media and the arts.

[DaveB]

Spent most of my time at Uni drinking and pissing about before scraping a 3rd in the end, What it did give me was a better perspective on life. Growing up in Cornwall if I hadn't gone to Uni in London I'd never have expanded my outlook on the world, met such a diversity of people and experienced anything like the same range of cultures and perspectives. It's not just about the academic side of things, Uni lets you see the world beyond your own local bubble and realise that not everyone is the same as you and your mates back home.

[SueEllen]

I'd never have gotten into Oxford

Ok Secretary of State for something or other probably Education.

[ladymuck]

+1

I went to uni at 30, had found a job that I liked started as an apprentice doing day release.

I admit on day 1 I did wonder what the heck I had let myself in for, but turned out to be the best thing I ever did

When I looked around at university as a mature student, there seemed to be very little by way of options. It did all seem very geared up for up to 20 year olds.

Maybe I was looking at the wrong courses or wrong universities!

[ladymuck]

you wanted to come home to find your Fiancée banging your mate?

Having never been engaged, that aspect of the film is irrelevant for my tenuous connection purposes

[Halo Jones]

That's the thing. Kids of that age have no clue of what they want to do.

Could I go back in time I probably wouldn't bother with university until I am say 23-24 years old. And this is what I'm going to do with my kids: surely I won't force them to go straight into uni. Just take a break, travel for a bit, see what's out there and then go to uni if you want to when you want to.

+1

I went to uni at 30, had found a job that I liked started as an apprentice doing day release.

I admit on day 1 I did wonder what the heck I had let myself in for, but turned out to be the best thing I ever did

[vetran]

I had no clue what to do on leaving college and nothing at university appealed enough to "be poor for 3+ years" as I saw it.

So I got a job as an Accounts Junior and ultimately ended up where I am now. I don't feel I lost out because of it; it's one of those sliding doors* things where it would be interesting to know whether I'd be in the same place if I had gone to university.

*this was a 1998 fillum featuring Gwyneth Paltrow, for thems that may not know

you wanted to come home to find your Fiancée banging your mate?

[ladymuck]

You would be PM....

I'd never have gotten into Oxford