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?

[MiloAndEddie]

In terms of the ‘uni experience’ she’s planning on living at home anyway so unlikely to get the full experience

[MajesticWhine]

It's a tough one. But the job sounds like a decent opportunity, so my first instinct would be to take the job.

[WalkingDownTheStreet]

Uni without question.

[Mollymalone123]

Media Degree-take the job

[WalkingDownTheStreet]

@HerRoyalNotness

Take the job for a year. It will help her see what other sort of roles are available and work out if she enjoys them and what type of degree she’d need. I’d also encourage her to look at what type of jobs have been recession and pandemic proof over the past decade and lean towards those fields rather than media.

Media is sort of bullet proof.

[TheyWentToSeaInASieve]

To be a decent copywriter, she will need subject expertise to write with any degree of authority. Most of the writers I have hired had an English degree, though I found it more refreshing when someone with a degree in economics or history, or even maths, wanted to get into writing/editing. A media degree will not make her stand out (and possibly achieve the opposite effect).

A job and a degree in the evening would be the best career choice, in my opinion, but I would be wary of working for a small family company.

[Chloemol]

I would stay at the job. She can do a degree if she wishes via the OU m or there could be formal exams she could take to get a professional qualification

As a minimum she can defer for a year

[Springquartet]

I was in that position a long time ago and took the job. I would argue for it even more strongly now, as so many graduates go into admin jobs - and who knows what the job market will be like in three years. She will have a head start in terms of skills, experience and earnings.

If it doesn't work out she can always go to university next year and treat it as a gap year. I decided after three years of working to go to university and it was the right thing for me at the time - but I'd banked all that work experience.

[expat101]

If she was mine, and in current COVID conditions and her uncertainty over the course to begin with, I would defer Uni and take up the job.

As others have said, it sounds like it will lead to other educational opportunities that quite possibly the family business will assist with the costs on, being work related.

Secondly, being undecided as to which course she might have wanted to do, suggests to me that after a month or so, it still might not have been the ideal course for her to do. I know the Uni my daughter went to, allowed students to change or drop oit within so many weeks, but after that, you are committed to the fees for the following term (the country where we live anyhow).

Finally, in a year's time, with the roll out of vaccines etc, life should be getting back to normal. She would have a year's salary under her belt, will know whether its for her or not, and can make the choice to go to uni then.

It would be really unlikely the business will offer her the job if she does it the other way around...

[HoppingPavlova]

I’d be encouraging her to take the job. The Degree doesn’t sound like it will translate to a reliable job market and currently she has no idea what she wants to do post-Degree anyway. This will give her some breathing space.

[Mhc19]

Does she have a specific job she really wants and can only achieve by getting the degree or does she just want the uni lifestyle/ thinks uni is the natural next step. If there's no specific job, you could suggest she defers her place for a year (or 2 if allowed) and she gives the job a go in the meantime. It keeps her options open that way. If she's getting formal qualifications she could eventually move to a different firm paying more.

[SunshineCake]

Job.

My friends daughter took a job for her year out. She's not going to uni. Loves the job. They are paying for all her training.

[Puzzledandpissedoff]

She has no specific job in mind after her degree. It took her ages to decide what course to do at Uni as she doesn’t have a particular passion

In that case I'd definitely advise her to defer Uni, for a year at the very least
From friends I know who work in the field, media's extremely competitive and hard enough to succeed in even if you have real drive; without that, and having done a course just because someone "fancied it", there'd be little chance at all - to say nothing of the tuition costs which could easily have been for nothing

[EarringsandLipstick]

@CherryChapsticks

Encourage her to go to uni all day long

Absolutely this.

University experience isn't solely about 'the job at the end' (and anyway, those days are over). It's about a unique life experience, growing as a person, intellectually, socially, emotionally.

Not everyone gets the chance. She should absolutely take the chance to go.

[Cannotgarden]

Defer for a year. I teach at uni and plans are that a lot will still be online for the next academic year because we need to cater for international students who can't travel.

[Shedbuilder]

Former media professional now running a small construction company here.

I'd say defer for a year, take the job and see how she likes it. If she takes to the accounts and management aspects she might like to consider a degree in management or accountancy which could lead to far greater earning potential and job security than a media qualification. Maybe her employer would sponsor her. If she decides it's not for her there's nothing lost and she can go to university next year to study media with money in her pocket — and if Covid's died down, she'll enjoy it all the more. Lucky girl!

There are good jobs in the media, but they're in short supply, often involve short-term contracts and you can end up being a lifelong freelancer. A combination of media and management skills could be a winner and provide a more secure career.

[zannydo]

I did a media degree and my starting salary was 21k. I wish I can go back and study something else. It's a waste of time and you really need to make/have good contacts. Some of my uni friends have done well but most of them including myself went on way different paths. I would let her take the job and encourage her to do a different degree in the future.

[Frokkolini]

If your DD has the drive I think she should do both. Earn while doing her degree. She is in a job that she likes and they like her too.

Can she work weekends?

The next academic year will take a while to gather momentum so she won't feel too swamped by the first year hopefully. Then, come the second year she can drop the job and just plow away at studies if she wants and her work experience will look great on her CV when she has her degree. Win-win!

[SteveArnottsCodeine]

Uni. There will be other soulless admin jobs. University is about more than just the course you study.

[sipsmith1]

I deferred uni for a great full time job for two years, when it came to grad jobs the experience put me miles ahead of my peers. That job still is mentioned at interview now in my late 20s. Being two years older didn’t make any difference to the experience or making friends.

To add for all the media studies critics, my brother studied media and now works the BFI. He was really dedicated but it showed and he’s worked in lots of great media based jobs.

[Megan2018]

I work in HE. Take the job, see how it goes.
Uni for 2021/22 looks to be another compromised by Covid and won’t be the full experience.
Potentially reapply for uni for 22/23 or see if the employer will be willing to do a degree apprenticeship.
Media is a shit degree (and my faculty teaches it). If going to uni at least do a better subject. The government plans to reduce support for Media degrees and similar in favour of technical subjects so uni’s won’t be able to invest in them.

[GettingItOutThere]

defer a year and take the job

media isnt a good prospect at the moment to get into, its a bit of a painting degree

[Icantchangemyusername]

Take the job. I work in a uni and loads of students on these sorts of courses struggle to get jobs and just end up working in bars or retail.

[Twoforthree]

She might not get the full uni experience due to Covid mutations so take the job, defer uni and then make a decision later.

[EduCated]

I would agree with deferring for a year, though largely with a view to giving her chance to think through what she wants to do a bit more (which may still be media), and to give universities another year to get back to some semblance of normal.

How long would it take her to get to the £25k? On full time hours £18k is just over the National Living Wage, so a solid wage for a teenager (especially one living at home), but not so much if it takes a long time to reach the upper end of the pay and she wanted to start looking at mortgages etc. (depending on where you are in the country). She really needs to think ‘what next’ as someone upthread suggested - the job sounds good for now, but what in a years time, three years, five years.

I did something sort of similar, deferred and worked for a year in an entry level role. Turns out I was bored to tears within weeks and desperately ready to study by the time I got to uni, which set me up with good attitudes and habits for studying (and a decent cushion of money in the bank).

Whilst I saw a lot of my cohort go into similar type roles post uni, they seemed to move up and on quite quickly compared to friends who didn’t go to uni.