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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:
CookL · 22/04/2021 18:12

My daughter did work experience with a firm of accountants. She was offered a trainee position which she took. At 29 she is now a chartered accountant and managing a branch of 7 employees. She earns £45k plus, drives an Audi TT and owns a 3 bed detached house with a 50% mortgage. Many of her friends that went to uni earn less than half she does. None have as good a career. Best decision she ever made was to skip
Uni.

MzHz · 22/04/2021 18:13

@Candyfloss99

Uni definitely or else she could find herself stuck in 25k jobs for the rest of her life.
No, that’s not likely

Or we’d all be earning the same we got in our first jobs.... experience and common sense are still highly prized

She could do both. Even do a pt unit course and work.

But I do think media is just a very expensive way of socialising with new mates...

AmigoingcrZy · 22/04/2021 18:13

I'd defer the uni place for a year and give it a go. Uni was a fab experience for me but 5 years post graduation im still earning 20k (job i love) so going to uni in the hopes for more money isnt always worth it if she loves the work then why not give it a go?

H007 · 22/04/2021 18:14

University all day long... I expect the vast majority of people who have been to uni would say uni.

CaraherEIL · 22/04/2021 18:15

Uni, best 3 years she’ll ever have.

EvilPea · 22/04/2021 18:15

I took the job. I regret not doing Uni as I hadn’t considered the ability to convert courses at a later date. I was oh so smug in my early 20’s on my huge wage compared to my newly Uni qualified friends. They soon overtook me and some. And I soon bottomed out in earning potential.

However, if they are willing to train her properly in accounts e.g AAT then that all day long. She will always have a job and something to fall back on and the ability to earn a big wage.

EnoughnowIthink · 22/04/2021 18:16

I would decide based on whether or not ‘media’ is how she sees her future. A couple of years in the workplace may give her a far clearer vision for her future and she would still be able to go to uni then.

Hobnobsandbroomstick · 22/04/2021 18:17

University all day long... I expect the vast majority of people who have been to uni would say uni.

I LOVED uni. But that was partly because I was living in a new city with lots of new experiences. Living at home like the OPs daughter is planning on wouldn't have been the same experience. Plus with covid threatening to potentially cancel freshers week this September and move lectures online again I would defer this year.

AC12theletterofthelaw · 22/04/2021 18:18

@Candyfloss99

Uni definitely or else she could find herself stuck in 25k jobs for the rest of her life.
I didn’t go to uni. I left school with an o grade in music and went to college and finally passed maths and English o grades. That’s all I have.

I manage two offices and a team of 18. I earn more than those graduates who went to uni that are in my team. They have debt. I don’t.

You are deluded to think not going to uni leaves you stuck in low paid jobs.

VaVaGloom · 22/04/2021 18:19

Uni experience normally unparalleled 2020 /2021 in no way the same experience

Dragongirl10 · 22/04/2021 18:20

As she is not wildly passionate about Media, and it is not the most respected degree from a future careers point of view, she should take the job.
Defer for a year and work hard and see what she can achieve within the job, training etc. It may lead to a training position within a much bigger company, or she could perhaps do a part time degree whilst working.
Then decide ....
There are thousands of graduates around with massive student debt and no career path from their degrees.
She could live at home and save a lot of money on 18k, enough to fund Uni if she still want to go, and avoid loans or maybe put towards a fund for a flat deposit.

Unless this Media degree is the world to her, she would be mad to turn down a job she loves, that is offering her a decent start salary and training......

GraceQuirrel · 22/04/2021 18:20

Stay in the job. My son went to uni and quit before final exams for various reasons. In massive debt now with no degree. He too had a lovely job whilst at school and in sixth form and could have been earning good money now with no debt. Hindsight etc. Lots of kids these days think they have to go to uni because their friends do (which I think was the trap my DS fell into).

Arbadacarba · 22/04/2021 18:21

She has no specific job in mind after her degree.

In view of that I would encourage her to take this job, but use the time to decide whether she wants university to be part of a long-term career path, with a view to taking a (possibly different) degree within the next few years, if this job isn't taking her where she wants to go.

Temp023 · 22/04/2021 18:21

Take the job, at the moment I don’t believe uni will be much fun until COVID is well gone and if she needs qualifications she can study for them later.

quarentini · 22/04/2021 18:21

She should take the job.....
Media is a non entity of a degree.
She will have no debt
Permanent employment
Training opportunities.
Take the job

Alis25 · 22/04/2021 18:24

Defer her place at university for a year. Gets excellent experience, saves some money and leaves all her options open.

lemonsyellow · 22/04/2021 18:25

@Candyfloss99

Uni definitely or else she could find herself stuck in 25k jobs for the rest of her life.
Lots of people with degrees earn 25k or less. I don’t think it’s a bad salary either. My DH, with a degree from Oxford and in his 50s, earns less than that.
Dragongirl10 · 22/04/2021 18:27

  • Candyfloss99

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

I didn't go to uni and would probably be considered very financially successful, (and l enjoy my work)

GintyMcGinty · 22/04/2021 18:28

Good opportunity just now.

But in 10 - 15 years time when she is trying to climb higher on the career ladder and getting blocked because she has no degree she will regret it.

PepeSilviaDoesNotExist · 22/04/2021 18:29

Honestly as she’s living at home I don’t feel she will probably love uni as much and can probably have just as much fun with her mates at home.

I loved uni but it was the life experiences outside of the actual course I loved. Sure I left in debt but I will never get to spend 4 years of my life dossing around and having a ball ever again so I see it as a positive. Now I work full time and I look back at how young and carefree life was back then. You have your whole life to work 9-5.

You will always be able to earn money but you can’t make more time.

VanCleefArpels · 22/04/2021 18:29

@H007

University all day long... I expect the vast majority of people who have been to uni would say uni.
My graduate child (academic subject at a Russell Group Uni, high 2:1 degree) is in an entry level job that he says any bright school leaver with a bit of gumption could do. This is not unusual amongst his peers, very few of whom get into the stellar salary grad schemes. He loved Uni beyond measure. But he would be the first to say he did not really need his degree and is cross that his school did not promote alternatives. Many of his colleagues are unemployed or in very low grade jobs, due to Covid etc

Given current uncertainties a job in hand is like the holy grail. And she might discover an interest in Eg marketing, HR, finance, company secretarial etc which she can take up at degree level later

notalwaysalondoner · 22/04/2021 18:32

It depends entirely on the university and the likelihood of her securing a career-type job after university. To be brutal, most organisations (including top media organisations) wouldn't be interested in a media degree compared to an arts/humanities degree (English, history etc.) from a top Russell Group university, very few of which offer media.

If it's not a top university, I'd explore taking the job but she should seriously consider what the career progression is - in 3 years time, will she only be able to apply to other similar jobs that also pay £25k, or is there a logical next step that is more senior so she can start to progress?

Deferring a year is the obvious choice and there aren't really any downsides - if anything she'll have a better experience starting next year as hopefully Covid restrictions will be non-existant.

TillyTopper · 22/04/2021 18:35

I'd advise taking the job, but trying to defer her Uni place for a year.
It would be good to see how the role pans out. She should also ask what formal qualifications she will get. She may find that AAT qualifications are better in the long run than a media degree anyway.

IdblowJonSnow · 22/04/2021 18:35

Hmm. If she was moving and having the full experience I'd say uni. And I disagree that media is a 'Mickey mouse' choice. How rude! And no, I didnt do media...

As she is staying at home though, I think deferment might be a good option if she can. If nothing else she can save up for a year. 18k is a lot at her age. I'd want their offer in writing though with details about the increase of up to 25k within whatever time frame.

thatsgotit · 22/04/2021 18:36

I'm with those who are saying defer. I did so, simply because I wasn't ready to go straight to uni from sixth form. Worked for a year in a very menial civil-service job, hated it. If I'd been on the fence about uni, that job experience would have actually spurred me to go. Grin (But was able to put some savings by for uni which came in very handy.)

Deferring would also give your DD more time to think about however much she does or doesn't want uni and get a clearer sense of her life goals. You never know, she may be bored shitless with the job by the time Sep 2022 comes round. Grin

Plus with times as they are atm, I can't imagine people are getting the uni experience they would otherwise get, and it's a shed load of expense to then not get the full experience.