• Question: Is it more worthy to go to University and get a part-time job or go straight to work?

    Asked by anon-181914 on 25 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Jason Chu

      Jason Chu answered on 25 Jun 2018:

      This very much depends on what you want out of University and life in general.
      I would argue that getting a degree does put you in a stronger position for different opportunities. Particularly with science-related jobs.
      Having a degree shows employers you’ve got a foundation for the science, you can commit to a 3/4 year programme, and you gain tons of transferable skills. Whether that’s writing skills, organisation, or presentations. You learn all sorts at university.
      You also meet lots of people your own age, and different mentors. Collectively this can be an incredibly positive experience to promote yourself in the future.

      However, with other career paths. Going straight into a job may be the way to go – but it depends on what their job requirements are!

    • Photo: Claire Donald

      Claire Donald answered on 25 Jun 2018:

      It really depends on the career path you want to take. If you want to be a scientist, having an undergraduate degree will be really helpful and make you attractive for a lot of science jobs. There are some jobs that you would be asked to have a PhD or a masters degree but in some cases you can gain experience at lower levels before you do that job which can be even more beneficial.

      When I did my undergraduate degree I worked 3 part time jobs during the summer holidays to fund me through the terms but I now have a job I wanted and really enjoy so it was worth it. I do know someone who quit college to work for a tech company and he now gets more money than anyone else I know so it really depends on which career you are thinking of doing.

    • Photo: Hannah Farley

      Hannah Farley answered on 25 Jun 2018:

      I don’t think either of them is more or less worthwhile – it depends more on what you want to do. University is a decent amount of time and money, so sometimes its a better option to do an apprenticeship. For some careers you do need a degree though, like medicine.

    • Photo: Ashley Akbari

      Ashley Akbari answered on 25 Jun 2018:

      I do not think one or the other is the default answer – it really does depend on what career or plan you have for later life and does university open up these options for you, or would say an apprenticeship or a work based role allow you to build up your experience more practically?

      Most of the time employers are looking for you to meet the criteria of the role you would like to apply for – sometimes this requires a degree or academic qualifications, other times experience.

      If you have a career in mind, have a look into what the requirements are and how you can best achieve these.

    • Photo: Lauren Burns

      Lauren Burns answered on 26 Jun 2018:

      Both do have their pros and cons, as my colleagues have said. Personally, the benefits of Uni are:
      1) you get a degree-level qualification (which is needed for many jobs);
      2) you get a whole world of new experiences and opportunities both personal and employment-related (should you seek them out);
      3) you can learn about new subjects that you wouldn’t have thought about before, broadening your horizons;
      4) you acquire new academic skills such as; report writing, essay writing, presenting, statistics etc.;
      >
      However, some of the challenges with this route:
      1) there is not a guaranteed job at the end of it – you may have to do an extra year in industry or some work experience and only if they like you above everyone else, then you may have a job lined-up when you finish, but this is not guaranteed;
      2) it is a lot of time and money – especially after you finish school/college, you may not want to do an extra 3 years or more;
      3) your career aspiration may have multiple steps before you get there, so one undergraduate degree may not be enough – therefore you are signing yourself up for more than 3 years.
      >
      At the end of the day, it is your life and your decision to make. Have a think about what you want to be and look up the requirements. If you don’t know what you would like to do, then a University course in what interests you wouldn’t go amiss as it can give you lots of extra opportunities as I said, and help you discover what you want to do afterwards. But! Bare in mind! Everyone you are talking to here has gone down the uni route for one reason or another, so have a chat with some people who have also taken the internship route as they may think of extra pros/cons to their decision 🙂

    • Photo: Laura Hemming

      Laura Hemming answered on 27 Jun 2018:

      As others have said – it totally depends on what you want to do really! There are lots of routes into science, but generally you have the best chance if you have an undergraduate degree in something.

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