Big dilemma for DD - what would you do?

[Blackenedsoul]

DD has accepted an offer for her Uni of choice to study Media in September. She’s been looking forward to going, had planned to live at home and travel the 20 minutes in every day.

She had a part time job for a few months in a local office attached to a very small but very busy manufacturing company. She’s very well thought of and works in the office on a Saturday, doing admin, answering enquiries, emails, booking appointments etc.

Today they’ve offered her a full time, permanent post in the office and have offered to start training her up in the use of their accounts systems etc, give her more responsibility. The salary is 18k to start rising to around a max of 25k once fully trained.

This has come as a bolt from the blue, DD really enjoys the job and thinks she’d be happy doing it full time but at the same time was also happy to go off and have the Uni experience, make new friends and study and have fun.

She’s aware that lots of students leave Uni and end up falling into admin roles vey much like this and is now wondering whether bothering with Uni is worth it.

We’ve told her the decision is entirely hers but she’s really finding it hard to decide.

So, the great of mumsnet - what would you do?

Take the job. Uni will still be available in a few years time, the job will be gone.
Uni is great, but unless it's an highly academic subject, I wouldn't bother, the debt is not worth it.

I met a lot of young people -late 20's/ early 30's - that "didn't make it" after uni in my old job. It's a sad reality, but there is such an thing as a worthless degree.

Defer for a year to keep her options open now but like other posters I'd question if a media degree is the best idea.
If she likes what she's doing now perhaps accountancy is one to consider?
I work in PR and handle a fair amount of recruitment as well as mentoring younger students. There are industry accredited postgraduate qualifications and courses on content writing / PR / marketing etc that will open up opportunities through internships and work placements - those are a super route to a solid career in the industry which can be well paid in many areas albeit works you very hard in return.
We also value hiring people with a mix of experience as it means that when we work with clients, we can bring a broad range of perspectives to the mix.
Well done to your daughter for making such a good impression that they want to keep her.

Surprise, surprise, a queue of oracles telling everyone how a media degree is ‘second rate’ and not worth doing.

I did a media degree at a good uni. It was fantastic. I really enjoyed it.

Now I’ve got a great job in journalism and have won several awards (I did a PG Dip in my chosen field) and so have loads of people from my course. At least two are household name TV news presenters, one is a respected foreign correspondent, one is running a football club, two are v high up in government comms and loads are directors at ad firms and do fancy marketing jobs for which they get paid much more than me.

There are also loads who didn’t go into the media but have jobs in other fields. Some did teaching post grads and there are others who went in completely different directions, just like in any other degree subject.

I don’t regret doing media for a second. I had a wonderful experience at uni, learned loads and although the pay in journalism is terrible, I don’t think there’s any job I’d rather do. It really, really doesn’t have to be about the money.

I’d tell her to defer her course, work for a year and reconsider next year.

Is it Oxbridge? UCL or similar? A media degree can be worth it if from a very good university. Otherwise, I’d defer for a year and take the time to think about it.

Just wanted to share my experience with an English and journalism degree, which many find useless. I did work in low-paid admin and call centre jobs for about three years but persevered and eventually got well-paid roles in publishing, government communications and a not-for-profit educational organisation. I would never have got any of these roles without my degree. At the same time, a lot of my friends with media degrees went to work in completely different industries but advanced quickly to higher paying roles due to important skills you learn at uni. These "soft skills" are often forgotten or laughed at but you can tell who's spent a few years putting their thoughts into writing, presenting complex matters in front of critical peers and things like that. I'm not saying your daughter should go to uni if she's happy with the job. Just wanted to make the point that Micky Mouse degrees are valuable if you put the effort in and don't give up in the sometimes disheartening job market.

I can't seriously see any small local company paying for a bookkeeper to do a degree which will probably incentivise her to leave them. It just isn't going to happen

Agree, @Nith, and those saying this is a pathway to accounting or that the family business will pay for her to do some other widely recognised qualification are assuming something that isn't supported by what the OP posted.

They will train her to use their system, in their industry.

When a family member needs a job they will dump her.

Honestly, I'd advise the job. Not because I don't think Media is a worthy course but because the OPs daughter isnt studying it out of any passion but because she had to pick something and it's the one she thinks she wouldn't mind. I honestly don't see the point of going to Uni and studying something 'just because'
Deferring is a great option or just working until she finds her 'passion' She could then return to Uni, or study part time or it may even be a desire to expand in the area she's working. She has a lot of options

She’s pigeon holing herself to a £25k a year job.
Does she have ambition to earn more than that?
Personally I would advise university over that but from my perspective my daughter will leave university with no debt as we will fund her so I’d sooner she go to university, have fun and keep her options open that take a job paying £18k.

In her shoes I'd go to uni, see the world and maybe end up in a small job not getting paid a lot, at least that is what happened to me. But, no I would not take a job with such limited scope over uni. I expect she is scared to leave home and start her new life. I know I was. I ended up doing voluntary work for a couple of years.

but I digress, if she really, really doesn't feel that committed to media studies now she could defer, take the job and then look into switching to another uni and another course next year if something fires her up.

@JeanneDoe

She’s pigeon holing herself to a £25k a year job. Does she have ambition to earn more than that? Personally I would advise university over that but from my perspective my daughter will leave university with no debt as we will fund her so I’d sooner she go to university, have fun and keep her options open that take a job paying £18k.

How is the view from that ivory tower of yours?

Defer the place for a year - then after a year of working she can decide how she wants her career to develop and maybe pick a different main subject to study - Business management - accounting - design etc.

I think an undergraduate degree in Media is too vague to plot a standout career path, but if she's interested in a creative career she could still have it with the addition of some serious skills.

For example:

• Defer place
• Take the job - that's a year of great work experience and a chance to save up and get on a much better financial footing
• Change media to business management
• After graduation apply to be a project manager, or office manager for a small production company - gets great experience of the creative side of the job while earning
• If there is then still something in the media/creative field she really wants she can do a graduate qualification in a specialism like design, film making, screen writing etc

Or if she enjoys the project management / admin side then she has so many other options too.

Skills trump a 'media' degree for most employers. But I would enourage her to get the uni experience because that's about life growth as well as future job prospects.

@ChristmasTreeInJune

Is it Oxbridge? UCL or similar? A media degree can be worth it if from a very good university. Otherwise, I’d defer for a year and take the time to think about it.

At the risk of sounding a colossal snob, Oxbridge doesn't do media degrees. Neither does Durham, I don't think. UCL has something related to media but I'm fairly sure it's somehow ancillary (happy to be corrected).

Amongst Russell Groups, LSE, King's College London, Cardiff and Leeds all have well-regarded programs.

But the people who go into journalism/media from Oxbridge, Durham, etc. do it from academic rather than vocational degrees, with experienced gained through extracurriculars (e.g. student newspapers, films, etc.) and connections rather than formal training.

100% take the job, she can always go to uni after working her way up in the company if she really wants to. In todays climate uni isnt anythinglike it was most likely itll be online at some point again anyway.
Sounds like shes really good at her job.

I would wholeheartedly advise her to defer for a year!

I have never read so much insanity in my life.

Of course she should go to uni. Keep the Saturday job. Potentially pick up a few shifts on a quite week ad hoc.

Why would she wed herself to an 18k job! Potentially 25k.

God have some ambition. Shes clearly a hard worker and will go far with a little self worth

Defer. Living at hone and going to uni isnt going to give her an allround uni experience anyway.

Defer for a year.

I'm not interested in knocking media studies, but it stands out to me that this degree is neither something she is either wildly enthusiastic about, or that she has firm plans for. If the reasons she wants to go include getting the uni experience, then definitely defer.

It might be that over the next year she discovers what she does have a true passion for, and then she can apply for that.

And I say defer regarding the uni experience, 'cos Covid.

What do they manufacture? She could really carve out a career for herself

Also, would she consider English Lit rather than media? If she likes writing etc.

Uni no question, but maybe defer for a year because of the current situation.
She’s clearly a hard worker and the degree will add critical thinking, teamwork and problem-solving to her skill set.
It would be madness to give up a place on a well respected course (I’m assuming she’s done her research and it is a well respected media course) to work in accountancy if she doesn’t enjoy maths.
Some people on this thread clearly don’t have a clue about media btw.

Media studies is really not regarded well especially from a lower ranking Unim the friends I know who did it were really bored, having lectures just one or two hours a week, and it was a slack course (at an ex Polytech).
They sell you a dream they do.

Deferr and think about doing accountancy, she could earn more.

www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/top-10-pointless-degrees-56750/

The lack of a strong passion for the uni course she has a place on or for a job the course would lead to makes the idea of deferring seem like a bit of a no-brainier to me. If she’s impressed so strongly in a Saturday job at this age, she will likely do well in an office environment and will probably want a degree at some point. But it’s something she can do later, either next year or in 10 years time (part-time with the OU or similar if she wants).

If all her friends are going to uni she may find she feel a bit left out and I think she probably will be missing out a little on having her horizons broadened. But it is really easy, at 18, when you don’t have a passion for what you’re studying to float through the experience and not get that much out of it. Deferring in these situations is normally a good choice.

(It sounds like she will do lots of general office administration, not just accounts but even so she shouldn’t get hooked on the accountancy = maths idea. Accounting is not like school maths and lots of graduate accountancy trainees are arts graduates. Nevertheless, if there’s an area of the business she really enjoys and would like to progress in, she should ask if it’s possible to have more of that incorporated into the position).

Honestly, a lot of people seem to have missed that we've had/are in a pandemic. Uni is going to be crap this next year too, unemployment is going to be huge, she doesn't know exactly what she wants to do, it's not a passion. She's been offered a job, on equal pay to the vast majority of graduates. Doing the same, or better, jobs most graduates are doing.

Cushy, well paid, graduate jobs are very few & far between!

Businesses will be looking for experience over degrees. There will be loads of young people looking forward jobs, with degrees (better ones than 'media') but very few with any actual experience.

Someone said 25k not a good salary....it is for a local job and at her age. I'd rather that than end up thousands of pounds in debt to go to Uni personally