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Original poster

Big dilemma for DD - what would you do?

686 replies

Blackenedsoul · 21/04/2021 20:49

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?

OP posts:
Reinventinganna · 22/04/2021 17:48

If her passion isn’t in media and she’s just doing it to do a degree I would take the job.

University will still be there in the future.

lemonsyellow · 22/04/2021 17:50

While she is there she will meet a diverse range of people, get opportunities that might change her outlook on life

She won’t, not now. It’s grim for students right now. They aren’t meeting any people, nor are there any opportunities.

VanCleefArpels · 22/04/2021 17:51

Take the job. A media degree is generally not considered high value (even in the media: you will find far more English and History graduates for example). She can keep up with her mates at weekends by visiting them wherever they are, and by the time they all graduate she will be well qualified, earning and debt free. It’s a no brainer

Pasteque · 22/04/2021 17:56

I didn't go to uni, got a job and worked my way up and now have a very well paid senior manager role. Lots of my friends did go to uni and now work in basic admin roles. My biggest regret in life is not going to university. I think it's a life experience and I really wish I'd had it. I've studied since but it's not the same as having that experience and making life long friends. Don't know maybe I have an idealised view of it having not gone 😄 deferring a year sounds like a good idea

BunsyGirl · 22/04/2021 17:57

Take the job and then look for a degree apprenticeship. There is absolutely no point in paying £9k a year for a media degree. My nephew is currently undertaking a degree apprenticeship. He earns £15k per year, pays no uni fees and when he finishes his degree after four years his starting salary will be £32k.

Embracelife · 22/04/2021 17:58

Of course it s worthwhile if she wants to do z media degree and pay a tax later to pay her loan back
It s her choice
But opportunities to work for a year is good too

OldEvilOwl · 22/04/2021 17:59

Job

MayorGoodwaysChicken · 22/04/2021 17:59

In her position I would take the job. Media won’t lead to a clear career path and she will have a shed load of debt without the usual uni experience at the moment. She can study again later but this is a good opportunity at a time when work opportunities for young people including graduates are appalling. I’d take the job, save like mad if living at home, and see how the next year or two pan out. She could also look at an open uni course alongside the work.

Morgysmum · 22/04/2021 17:59

I would recommend the job,
My other half has been to uni twice. Once after school, then again when our son was small, trying to get a better job.
So he has 2 degrees and is still stuck at the job, he got when at uni, the first time round.
She might get bored of the job and then decide to go to Uni, it might give her time to find herself, or what she wasn't to do in life. At 20 I didn't have a clue, my Oh, did a music degree, (his first) he loved music, but it didn't go anywhere.

RichTeaCheddars · 22/04/2021 18:00

Not read the full thread sorry!

Stay in the job. Try and get the training formalised into an apprenticeship so she gets degree equivalent qualifications.
Or study with Open University.

Obviously those suggestions are about getting the qualifications rather than the "uni experience". She might find some of her friends don't go to uni after all or if she has any hobbies /part of a sports team she'll find plenty of people to socialise with in the evenings without going to uni!

Mummytemping · 22/04/2021 18:02

I'd negotiate with the job and see if they would pay for her to do accountancy exams or business degree alongside the job. It could be good but ultimately she will find a glass ceiling if she doesn't get further qualifications.

Itgetsthehoseagain · 22/04/2021 18:03

job.

Localocal · 22/04/2021 18:04

Defer for a year and take the job. If she is going to end up in an admin role anyway, as lots of grads do, why not end up there without £50k in debt to pay off? If she feels she is missing out on uni, she can go next year. Lots of kids take a gap year and start at 19.

Fink · 22/04/2021 18:04

This is going to sound snobby, but if she were going to do a solid academic degree, or a full vocational degree that led to a particular career path, and it were at a really good uni, then I would say uni. But if it's the choice between a media degree and a job, then take the job. I'm not bashing media degrees for the right person, but it sounds like your dd just kind of drifted into it, in that case she'd be better off with the concrete prospect of the job. Even if you think now that she'd stay there forever out of a misplaced sense of duty, she may well change when she sees the reality of it day after day and decide to go to uni after a year or two. There's a lot of growing up done between the ages of 18 and 20 and she might see things differently.

Floweree · 22/04/2021 18:04

If I was her I would take the job, I was in the same scenario at 18, I had a Saturday job and they offered me full time. I took it as I enjoyed the job and didn't know 100% what I wanted to do. I did go to uni the year after, but I had a new direction and haven't regretted changing my degree choice and pursuing something different- i also had some savings and a solid employment reference which helped me secure a part time job easily. They might even fund some further study if she wants to stay home anyway. Uni will always be there, this job opportunity won't.

smilingontheinside · 22/04/2021 18:05

Having a child that went to uni came out with a great degree but had struggled to find work, now in 30's and doing something totally different to degree. I'd take the job with training and If she can defer get uni place I'd advise that. My friends two sons have done media at uni, one works in a clothes shop other in a well known beverage outlet. Her choice but if she can show she's capable, reliable and willing to learn as an employer that means more to me when recruiting than a degree. Goid luck to her in whatever she decides.

Itgetsthehoseagain · 22/04/2021 18:06

@Northernsoullover

Bloody hell. So many people falling over themselves to say uni. Its a media degree. Not medicine. You have ONE shot at funding for university. I'm sick of seeing women wasting it on psychology, criminology and media. Work, save and figure out what you want to do later. There are many many decent degrees out there which most 18 year olds don't know about that lead to well paid careers. Its never too late to study but for the love of God don't blow your student finance on a crap degree for shits and giggles.
This ^
KBILLY · 22/04/2021 18:07

I completely agree.

Janeyem · 22/04/2021 18:09

I deferred uni for a year, went and worked in France and was so much better prepped for uni life, used to cooking for myself, taking care of my life admin, managing a budget, and generally much more worldly wise. I ended up doing a different degree at a different uni as my plans had changed in that year!
I say defer, take the job and see how she feels in a year. If nothing else it will give her a financial cushion and the ability to pick up a part time job if she does decide to go to uni!

MagicSummer · 22/04/2021 18:09

Take the job! 'Media' is hardly a vocation!

grownuplefthome · 22/04/2021 18:10

She could ask them to fund uni day release part time study as part of her training

Candyfloss99 · 22/04/2021 18:10

Uni definitely or else she could find herself stuck in 25k jobs for the rest of her life.

MzHz · 22/04/2021 18:11

If she had a clear path in terms of degree and what she wanted to do... it’d be a dilemma

Media is such a woolly degree at the best of times

I think if she enjoys writing etc, then there are other options she could look at that are more transferable

To hedge the bets, I’d defer Uni for a year, do the job, save like mad, and then see what part of the working stuff she likes best and look at something like this

A salary like that for someone of her age is good. It’ll put her ahead of others at her age (whether she ends up doing uni or not) because she has a proven work track record

Mummadeze · 22/04/2021 18:11

Hmmm, I might be biassed because I had the time of my life at Uni and am now working in a high paid job in media, but if I was her I would go to Uni. I did various admin type jobs in the past that were fine but my interesting, creative career has brought me so much happiness that I just couldn’t have got from the kind of job she is being offered now. Each to their own though. I think it is irrelevant what we all think. Her gut / heart should help her make this decision.

MagicSummer · 22/04/2021 18:12

@Candyfloss99

Uni definitely or else she could find herself stuck in 25k jobs for the rest of her life.
University is not a magic entree into highly paid jobs!
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